Dr.Ernie Ward
Veterinarian, entrepreneur, author, and advocate for healthier pets, people, and veterinary teams.
For more than three decades, Dr. Ernie Ward has helped pets live longer, healthier lives by bringing together veterinary medicine, preventive care, communication, and innovation. He is a pioneering voice in pet obesity, nutrition, senior pet care, and veterinary wellness. His work spans clinical practice, education, media, technology, and global advocacy, all guided by one purpose: helping animals and people live better lives.
Meet Dr. Ernie Ward
Dr. Ernie Ward is a veterinarian, author, entrepreneur, speaker, and longtime advocate for pets and the people who care for them. His career has moved across exam rooms, veterinary teams, boardrooms, classrooms, media, and global professional organizations, always with a focus on practical solutions that improve everyday care.
From founding the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention to helping advance clinical standards for obesity medicine, senior pet care, nutrition, and veterinary innovation, Dr. Ward has spent his career translating big health challenges into tools, conversations, and systems veterinary teams can actually use.
Three platforms. One mission.
Helping animals and the people who care for them enjoy healthier lives. That principle runs through a public advocacy brand, a clinical sister organization now launching, and the field’s emerging clinical reference.
Association for Pet Obesity Prevention
Founded in 2005, APOP gives pet owners and veterinary teams practical tools for weight management and client education, plus an annual survey that tracks pet obesity nationwide.
Visit APOP → Clinical & Professional StandardsWorld Pet Obesity Association
The clinical counterpart to APOP, advancing global standards for diagnosing, classifying, and managing clinical obesity in companion animals worldwide.
Visit WPOA → ForthcomingA resource for clinical obesity
A multidisciplinary Wiley clinical reference, in development, establishing the four-tier classification framework and diagnostic backbone for obesity in dogs and cats.
About the book →Built in practice. Leading the profession.
Dr. Ward advises from experience he has lived. He has owned and operated a veterinary hospital, founded and led companies, advised emerging technologies, and helped build tools and standards used across veterinary medicine.
Experience rooted in practice
Dr. Ward built and ran an award-winning veterinary hospital for more than two decades, work that shaped two of his books on veterinary teams and the client experience.
Building tools for practices
As co-founder of a group purchasing organization serving thousands of clinics, Dr. Ward has long supported independent practice ownership, home diagnostics, and connected pet-health devices.
Standards the profession adopted
Prompted by real-world patient safety concerns, Dr. Ward developed the long-term medication monitoring guidelines later adapted by IDEXX, and helped pioneer modern senior pet care.
Care that starts with the genome
As veterinary medical lead for a pioneering pet-genetics company, Dr. Ward helped connect at-home genetic and oral-health testing with practical conversations about feline health, risk, and longevity.
Shaping standards beyond borders
Dr. Ward serves in leadership roles with international veterinary organizations worldwide, including as inaugural chair of WSAVA’s Strategic Advisory Committee.
Lifestyle medicine on both ends of the leash
An Ironman triathlete, USA Triathlon coach, and certified veterinary food therapist, Dr. Ward brings the same lifestyle-medicine lens to pets, veterinary teams, and the people who care for animals.
Guardrails for the profession’s fastest-moving tool
Dr. Ward is helping the profession think through how artificial intelligence should enter veterinary practice, with a focus on clinical judgment, patient safety, workflow, ethics, and responsible use.
Tackling the toughest topics in vet med
Since 2016, Dr. Ernie Ward and Beckie Mossor, MPA, RVT, have co-hosted The Veterinary Viewfinder Podcast, an award-winning weekly conversation on the issues shaping veterinary medicine. From practice culture and leadership to clinical controversy, client communication, technology, and the future of care, the podcast brings candid, practical conversations to veterinary professionals.
Writing that moves the field
The Clean Pet Food Revolution
With coauthor Alice Oven, The Clean Pet Food Revolution challenges familiar assumptions about pet food and asks how science, nutrition, alternative proteins, and sustainable sourcing could reshape the way we feed dogs and cats. The book explores a simple but important idea: pets need the right nutrients, not necessarily the same ingredients we have always associated with pet food. It also looks at the environmental cost of feeding the world’s pets, and how better formulation can support animal health while reducing that footprint.
Order the bookVeterinary Clinical Obesity: A Multidisciplinary Approach
Dr. Ward is developing a multidisciplinary clinical reference on companion animal obesity, written for veterinary teams who diagnose, classify, and manage obesity in dogs and cats.
Also by Dr. Ward: Creating the Veterinary Experience and Creating the Veterinary Appointment, practical guides to veterinary team training and the client experience, along with Chow Hounds and Better You, Better Dog, Better Life.
Practical thinking on practice, leadership, and care
Dr. Ward’s long-running Opening Shots column for Today’s Veterinary Business answers real questions from veterinary teams on practice management, leadership, communication, culture, and the changing realities of veterinary work.
Dr. Ward has written for the veterinary profession since 1999, including more than 50 articles for Veterinary Economics on practice management, leadership, client communication, and team training.
A trusted voice
Dr. Ward brings a practical, experienced voice to veterinary conferences, media interviews, panels, and industry conversations. His work connects clinical care, communication, team culture, business leadership, and the future of pet health.
- Lectures across North America, Europe, South America, and Asia
- Named #6 on Consult Clarity’s 50 Essential Thought Leaders in Veterinary Medicine, globally
- Speaker of the Year, VMX and WVC conferences
- 2018 Veterinary Journalist of the Year
- Briefed the U.S. Congress on veterinary drug policy, 2024
- National Practice of Excellence Award, youngest-ever recipient
- “Opening Shots” columnist, Today’s Veterinary Business
- Resident veterinarian, the Rachael Ray Show (2007–2014)
- Vetty Award-winning podcast host
- Author of five books; 100+ articles, texts, and training videos
- Co-inventor on a 2016 U.S. patent for a connected smart pet-feeding system
- Boards & committees: WSAVA (Strategic Advisory chair, Financial Advisory), Morris Animal Foundation, Grey Muzzle, CATalyst Council, Cat-Friendly Practice, Mission Rabies; founding member of VetPartners
- Past: Petplan Pet Insurance advisory board (2003–2019)
Build healthier lives for pets and people.
For interviews, speaking engagements, collaborations, or questions about Dr. Ward’s work, email is the fastest way to get in touch.