Dr.Ernie Ward
Veterinarian, entrepreneur, and author who has spent three decades helping pets and people live healthier, longer lives.
For three decades, Dr. Ernie Ward has worked to help pets live longer, healthier lives, and built the businesses and tools to make it happen. A 1992 University of Georgia graduate, he founded the field’s leading pet obesity organization and its new clinical counterpart, built and ran an award-winning veterinary hospital, helped bring genetic testing into everyday cat care, and helped reframe how we think about pet nutrition and its impact on the planet. Known nationally as America’s Pet Advocate.
Three efforts, one principle
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 is the public-facing home for pet owners and veterinary teams: body condition tools, calculators, and the annual prevalence survey that tracks pet obesity nationwide.
Visit APOP → Clinical & ProfessionalWorld Pet Obesity Association
The clinical sister organization, now launching to build global standards for clinical obesity and to bring clinical pet obesity into everyday veterinary practice worldwide.
Visit WPOA → In ProgressCompanion Animal Obesity
A multi-chapter veterinary textbook with Wiley, establishing the four-tier classification framework and the diagnostic backbone for clinical obesity in dogs and cats.
About the book →More than a veterinarian
Dr. Ward advises from experience he has actually lived. He has owned and operated an award-winning hospital, founded and led companies, and helped build the tools the profession now relies on.
Built it before he taught it
Dr. Ward built and ran an award-winning veterinary hospital for two decades. He was among the earliest to formalize weekly team training, published in Creating the Veterinary Experience in 2000. His guidance comes from the owner’s chair, not the lecture circuit.
A serial pet-health innovator
Co-founder of a group purchasing organization serving thousands of independent clinics, and a founding advisory board member of Companion AI, a veterinary AI company since acquired, with earlier ventures in home diagnostics and connected pet-health devices.
Standards the profession adopted
Prompted by the Rimadyl safety crisis of the late 1990s, 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 bring at-home genetic and oral-health testing to everyday cat owners.
Shaping the field worldwide
Inaugural chair of WSAVA’s Strategic Advisory Committee and longtime chair of the practice management program and scientific committee at the Southern European Veterinary Conference.
Practices what he preaches
An Ironman triathlete, USA Triathlon coach, and certified veterinary food therapist, Dr. Ward applies the same lifestyle-medicine lens to both ends of the leash.
Defining how AI enters veterinary medicine
Dr. Ward authored the first WSAVA guidelines for the responsible use of artificial intelligence in veterinary practice, now awaiting formal adoption. It is an early effort to put sound judgment and guardrails around the profession’s fastest-moving tool, before the tool sets the terms.
Tackling the toughest topics in vet med
One of the longest-running veterinary podcasts, this award-winning weekly conversation with Beckie Mossor, MPA, RVT, has tackled the profession’s hardest questions since 2016.
Writing that moves the field
The Clean Pet Food Revolution
With coauthor Alice Oven, Dr. Ward argues that dogs are omnivores that need specific nutrients, not specific ingredients, and that the belief every dog requires a high-protein, meat-heavy diet is marketing rather than medicine, with a real cost to pets and the planet.
Order the bookCompanion Animal Obesity (Wiley). A multi-chapter clinical textbook coauthored by Dr. Ward, a comprehensive clinical reference on diagnosing and managing obesity in dogs and cats.
Also by Dr. Ward: Creating the Veterinary Experience and Creating the Veterinary Appointment, early practical guides to veterinary team training and the client experience, plus Chow Hounds and Better You, Better Dog, Better Life.
On practice, leadership, and care
Dr. Ward’s long-running column for Today’s Veterinary Business. This list updates as new columns publish.
Dr. Ward has written for the profession since 1999, including more than 50 articles for Veterinary Economics (1999–2017) on practice management, leadership, and communication.
A trusted voice, on stage and on air
Dr. Ward keynotes the profession’s largest stages, trains veterinary teams, shapes its global standards, and has represented veterinary medicine across national media for two decades.
- Lectures across North America, Europe, South America, and Asia
- 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)
Let’s build healthier lives for pets and people.
For interviews, speaking engagements, collaborations, or a note about the work, the fastest way to reach Dr. Ward is by email.