Symposium 2016 Speakers

Kim Ashby
(Rehabilitating Orphaned Opossum, Advanced Skills for Rehabilitating Orphaned and Injured Opossum, Triage and Initial Care of Mammals)
Kim Ashby holds a North Carolina Wildlife Permit for Small Mammal Rehabilitation and began working with orphaned and injured wildlife in 2006. She is the Assistant Director of the Board of Directors for Wildlife Welfare, Inc. She earned a BS in Nursing from The Catholic University of America and, when she worked outside the home, was a Certified Emergency Nurse with a special interest in trauma nursing. Kim lives in Raleigh, NC with her husband and sons. The Ashbys began home educating their children in 1999. She is the owner of Creative Tutors, Wake Co, NC, a certified Interactive Metronome Provider with Pediatric IM certification and an Irlen Syndrome Screener.

Linda Bergman-Althouse
(Squirrel Ailments)
Linda began volunteering at the Outer Banks Wildlife Shelter in Morehead City, pursuing her passion in wildlife conservation and rehabilitation, nineteen years ago. She achieved her certification as a state wildlife rehabilitator and continues to actively volunteer at OWLS, working clinic in rehabilitation, mentoring new volunteers and facilitating tour groups. Linda is proactively concerned with the loss of wildlife habitat due to progressive development in Onslow and its surrounding counties and regularly attends community and civic meetings to voice those concerns through education, as well as, rally support. Linda holds a Masters of Science degree in educational psychology and is currently contracted by the Department of Labor to facilitate transition workshops for exiting military members aboard Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, Marine Corps Air Stations New River & Cherry Point and Army Posts Fort Bragg, NC & Fort Hood, TX.
Linda grew up in rural Macon County, Illinois, is Eastern Illinois University Alumna, an author, a retired U.S. Marine, College Psychology Instructor, Industry Training Developer & Line Build Designer, Wildlife Rescuer and Rehabilitator, current board member and Past President of Wildlife Rehabilitators of North Carolina, Inc. and staunch advocate for animal rights and conservation of our natural resources.  Linda resides in Onslow County, North Carolina with her husband, John and four (indoor only) cats; Kitty, Seven, Shadow and Frizbee.

Kimberly Brewster
(Launch, Grow and Support a Wildlife Rehabilitation Nonprofit)
Business efficiency, marketing & performance expert, Kimberly specializes in small to mid-sized businesses, start-up companies, and nonprofit organizations, providing business advice and strategies for improved growth, efficiency, and sustainability. Kimberly has over 19 years of experience working in all aspects of business operations including over 15 years in nonprofit management.

Sharon Burke
(Anthropomorphism in Wildlife, Eating on the Fly! Basics of Raising Aerial Insectivores)
Sharon got her start in wildlife rehab in college, volunteering at Big Cat Rescue & Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary in Florida.  After graduating with a degree in Biology & Psychology, she moved back to the Philadelphia area where she spent as much time as possible volunteering at the AARK and Schuylkill Wildlife Rescue.  She was hired on as intern, seasonal supervisor and eventually full-time Clinic Supervisor at TriState Bird Rescue and Research.  Today, Sharon works in a relief capacity at TriState and helps out with training sessions of all sorts.

Cathy Burns
(Flying Squirrels)
Cathy became a Certified Veterinary Assistant through Coastal Carolina Community College in Jacksonville in 2007.Shortly after that she started volunteering at Possumwood Acres Wildlife Sanctuary as she was taking the Wildlife Rehabilitation classes offered also through Coastal. When she finished the classes she became a State licensed Wildlife Rehabilitator in 2008 for mammals and reptiles. She continued to volunteer at PAWS first as a Rehabber then assisting with the education programs both on site and then off site. She now coordinates all of the programs and presents most of them. 
In 2012 she was awarded the Golden Rule Education Award 2012 for Onslow County.
Starting in 2010 she became the facilitator of the Possumwood Acres Facebook.
She has operated her own wildlife rehabilitation center out of her property in Richlands NC since 2009. In 2012 with the completion of cages she became a Federally Licensed Wildlife Rehabilitator.
In 2012 she was hired as an instructor for the Wildlife Rehabilitation courses for CCCC in Jacksonville, NC through their Continuing Education program. 

Sergeant Mark Cagle
(Unlawful Reptile Trade in NC)
Sergeant Mark Cagle is a graduate of East Carolina University with a degree in history and education. He taught school for 7 years before becoming a wildlife officer in 1997. He lives in Plymouth with his wife Erin, their miniature Dachshund, “Peanut” and Great Dane, “Titan.”

Susan Campbell
(Wintering Hummingbirds)
Susan Campbell, a resident of the Sandhills region of North Carolina, has been conducting hummingbird research across the state since 1999.  She not only bands hummingbirds year round in North Carolina but amasses photographs and significant observations relating to hummingbirds from the mountains to the coast.  Susan is an affiliate of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences (Raleigh).  She receives information, questions, etc. directly by mail, phone or email. 

Jean Chamberlain
(Enrichment, Preparing Songbirds for Release, Imprinting)
Jean has been a rehabilitator for about 25 years, specializing in raptors for 20 years.
Jean presents many wildlife education programs each year for Wildlife Rehab, Inc in the Forsyth county area. She organizes and helps teach the wildlife rehabilitation course at her local community college. She designed and teaches WRNC's Refresher and Basic Courses and chairs the committee that organizes the symposium each year.
Jean is past president for WRNC, is on WRNC's Board and is the web administrator for WRNC. She created Raptor ID on IWRC's website and is on the Curriculum Development Committee for IWRC's courses.
Jean has an undergraduate degree in mathematics and 2 years of post graduate work in human information processing (learning and perception). She is now retired after a career in Information Technology.

Dr. Carolyn Clay
(Toxicology)
Dr. Carolyn Clay graduated with honors from the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine. During her time in veterinary school she was involved in Wildlife Medicine and rotated through the Wildlife Center of Virginia. After graduation she joined a small animal practice also focusing on avian and exotics species. Her passion for wildlife medicine continued in private practice and she joined the practice development team of the Richmond Wildlife Center in 2011. In 2013 the Richmond Wildlife Center opened as Virginia's second licensed nonprofit veterinary facility dedicated to sick and injured wildlife. The Richmond Wildlife Center also provides care to sick and injured non-native exotic animals found feral and abandoned in the wild. Dr. Carolyn Clay serves as a veterinarian and board member for the Richmond Wildlife Center. She is also a permitted wildlife rehabilitator and educator for the center.

Leighann Cline
(Introduction to Raising Orphaned Mammals, Wildlife Capture and Restraint)
Leighann Cline found her passion for wildlife at Washington State University where she graduated with a B.S. in Zoology. After moving to Virginia she started work at The Wildlife Center of Virginia where she got her first real taste of Wildlife Rehabilitation.  She has since had the chance to work with an amazing variety of animals from Hummingbirds to Black Bears!

Mathias Engelmann
(Raising Barn Owls from Egg to Release)
Mathias is the Senior Rehabilitation Coordinator at the Carolina Raptor Center. His responsibilities include the daily care of rehab birds - feeding, treatments, and new admission exams. He designs and constructs many of the new flight and rehabilitation cages. He also instructs new volunteers and interns in their training programs, maintains banding records, and coordinates raptor food deliveries.

Nina Fischesser
(Working With Your Vet, Rehab in Higher Education)
Nina has been rehabilitating wildlife for over 20 years, is Director of the Blue Ridge Wildlife Institute at Lees-McRae College where, as a professor, she teaches Basic Wildlife Rehabiltiation, Wildlife as Partners in Education, and Clinical Wildlife Rehabilitation. She served as the founding president of the Wildlife Rehabilitators of North Carolina (WRNC). She is a member of the National Wildlife Rehabilitators Association and served on the National Symposium planning committee. Nina has an MA in Environmental Education and Communication, a B.A. in Therapeutic Recreation, and worked 11-years as a field instructor for the North Carolina Outward Bound School.

Sabrina Garvin
(It's All About Poop)
Sabrina Garvin has been rehabilitating wildlife for over 15 years. She is the Executive Director of Southwest Virginia Wildlife Center, a Category 3 wildlife rehabilitation center which takes in over 1200 cases annually, and maintains state and federal rehabilitation permits. 

Kevin Geraghty
(NC Sea Turtle Protection Program)
Kevin is an amateur photographer who began shooting with a digital SLR camera in 2006.  His favorite subject became the sea turtles of Emerald Isle.  He discovered his love for sea turtles while volunteering with the Emerald Isle Sea Turtle Protection Program and the NC Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores.  Kevin has expanded his photographic interests into other areas including nature, people, and events around Carteret County. He has had photos published in Our State, the Carteret County Chamber of Commerce magazine, Salt, Island Review, Coaster, Tideland News, and the Carteret News Times.
He loves to visit Possumwood Acres Wildlife Shelter to photograph their amazing animals.
He uses a Canon 7D with various fixed and zoom lenses.

Dr. Joni Gnyp
(Falconry and Wildlife Rehab, HPAI Prevention Plan)
Dr. Joni Gnyp went to the University of Minnesota for her undergraduate degree and North Carolina State University for her Veterinary Degree. She works full time in her mixed animal veterinary hospital in Rocky Point, and she operates a small, but thriving Raptor Rehabilitation Center out of the veterinary hospital. The Cape Fear Raptor Center provides surgical and medical care to raptors that benefit from specific treatments that are limited to a veterinary setting. Her vision for the future is to be a resource to local rehabilitators who have raptors that have extensive injuries with the goal to treat and repair, and then return them to the original rehabilitator.
In her “free time” she trains and competes with German Shepherd Dogs with her husband in the sport of Schutzhund (European Police Dog sport) and practices falconry as a licensed falconer along with her husband. She has a Quarter Horse named Pitch who carries her on many mountain adventures.

Elizabeth Hanrahan
(Turtle Case Studies, Reuniting and Fostering Wildlife)
Elizabeth Hanrahan began working in wildlife rehabilitation in 1985 while serving as Executive Director of the Hall County, Georgia, Humane Society. She received her initial training from veterinarians and has taken classes through IWRC, NWRA, Carolina Raptor Center and the Wildlife Center of Virginia. In addition she frequently presents papers, workshops and classes and has published for NWRA, IWRC, and WRNC and teaches at three campuses of College of the Albemarle.  Elizabeth and her husband live in Ocracoke. Elizabeth supports Wildlife rehabilitation by providing private birding and eco tours in Eastern North Carolina and the Outer Banks. She and her husband, Dr. Calvin Hanrahan, a Physical Therapist, have two grown sons  Volunteer activities while on Ocracoke included Sea Turtle rescue, and transport, first responder for the Marine Mammal Stranding Network, tour leader for NPS summer birding programs, volunteering for Ocracoke Preservation Society and providing Environmental Education curriculum and classes at Ocracoke School.

Carla Johnson
(If you can’t see them, are they there?: Zoonoses, Handling Wildlife Calls)
Carla has been rehabbing for over 20 years, is on the board of WRNC and Wildlife Rehab, Inc., her local rehab group. She has coordinated wildlife rehabilitation classes through the local community college in Winston-Salem, NC and presented countless environmental education programs to the surrounding community. Carla is responsible for maintaining WRNC's membership records, is on the symposium committee and helped put together and teach the refresher course for WRNC. She is currently the vice president for WRNC.
In her spare time, she rescues dogs from puppy mills and natural disaster situations, is the Southeastern Region coordinator, treasurer as well as one of the board of directors for Chihuahua Rescue & Transport, a national 501(c)3 organization and enjoys working to place unwanted Chinese Crested dogs.

Jessica Kiracofe
(Wildlife Nutrition)
Jessica is currently an Environmental Studies Major at the Virginia Commonwealth University. Jessica brings with her 11 years of combined wildlife rehabilitation and veterinary medical experience. She has volunteered and served as a wildlife rehabilitator, educator, and trainer at Blue Ridge Wildlife Center in Winchester, VA and has also worked as a veterinary assistant in small animal practice. Jessica wears many hats at the Richmond Wildlife Center, a licensed veterinary facility dedicated to wildlife, where she serves as a wildlife rehabilitator, veterinary assistant, and surgical assistant. In addition to her technical roles at the Richmond Wildlife Center she also is an animal trainer and educator. Jessica enjoys and excels at providing an engaging captive habitat for patients at the Richmond Wildlife Center.

Jackie Kozlowski
(Maximizing Education Programs through Improved Management of Non-Releasable and Captive-Bred Raptors, The Development of a Flight Conditioning Program for a Rehabilitation Setting)
Jackie is a relief supervisor at TriState and she works full-time as an avian trainer for Animal & Bird Conservation Connections (ABCC). 

Dr. Gregory Lewbart
(Non-invasive Turtle Shell Repair)
Greg has degrees from Gettysburg College, Northeastern University, and the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine.  He worked for a large wholesaler of ornamental fishes before joining the faculty at the North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine in 1993 where he is Professor of Aquatic Animal Medicine and a diplomate of the American College of Zoological Medicine.   He helped found the Turtle Rescue Team in 1996 and has been its faculty advisor since that time.

Kelley ODell
(Three T’s: Tricks, Tips, and Techniques of Young Mammal Care: Everyday Rehabbing Hacks) 
Kelley has been a licensed home rehabilitator of small mammals since 2006.  She is an active member of Wildlife Welfare, Inc. and WRNC, and also volunteers and fosters for Wake County Animal Center.  She works fulltime as a receptionist at a law firm in downtown Raleigh.  She lives in Raleigh with her dog, cats, chickens and bunnies.

Betty O'Leary
(Avian Physical Exam Lab, Feather Imping Lab)
Betty has been working with raptors for 25 years. She worked 23 years at Carolina Raptor Center. She has cared for both the permanent resident birds used for education, and the birds in rehabilitation. She has a raptor banding permit and for 4 years she operated a hawk watch and raptor banding station during fall migration at Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge. She enjoys teaching others on raptor rehabilitation and care, and performing necropsies.

Toni O'Neil
(Non Protected but Perfect for Practice, Fluid Therapy)
Toni holds a B.S. in Zoology with a minor in Wildlife Management from the University of Maryland . She has been  rehabilitating since 1991and holds both state and federal permits, specializing in songbirds and waterfowl.  Toni has held administrative positions with ARC and has taught classes for CRC, ARC, and Carolina Wild Care, as well as teaching the Basic and Advanced Wildlife Rehabilitation courses through the local community college.  She gives many presentations to schools, scout troops, and civic groups in her community.  Toni believes in a strong state-wide networking system to assist rehabilitators at all levels, and encourages them to participate and become involved in reaching out to others.  She believes that communication between rehabilitators is vital to further education, share ideas, and keep up-to-date on the changes in wildlife medicine.  Currently, she is the Director of Possumwood Acres Wildlife Sanctuary in Hubert, NC, and enjoys working closely with the coastal residents of Onslow County. Toni is president and a board member of WRNC.

Dr. Maria Palamar
(HPAI Prevention Plan)
Maria Baron Palamar is originally from Argentina. She has a DVM from Argentina and a PhD in wildlife biology and conservation from NCSU. She was hired as the first wildlife veterinarian for the wildlife resources commission in 2013 and she really loves her job. 

Dr. Lauren Powers
(Avian Necropsy)
Dr. Lauren Powers is a 1994 graduate of Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine.  She completed a residency in avian medicine and surgery at North Carolina State University in 1997 and became board-certified (American Board of Veterinary Practitioners-Avian Practice) later that year.  She has been a staff veterinarian at Carolina Veterinary Specialists and service head of the Avian & Exotic Pet Service since 2002 and regularly offers services to wildlife rehabilitators and nature museums.  She frequently speaks at local and national veterinary conferences and has published numerous scientific papers and book chapters. 

Michelle Ray
(Basic River Otter Care)
Michelle Ray has been an active wildlife rehabilitator since 1994. She is an independent wildlife rehabber and typically cares for between 300 and 400+ mammals and reptiles annually from her home in Lincolnton. Michelle was a vet technician for over ten years and has served as Hospital Administrator at an animal hospital in Charlotte for the past 13years. She also works with Grandfather Mountain, The Nature Museum and Discovery Place in Charlotte, providing them with wildlife advice, and caring for some of their wild charges.

Ann Rogers
(Three T’s: Tricks, Tips, and Techniques of Young Mammal Care: Everyday Rehabbing Hacks)
Ann Rogers started with wildlife rehabilitation over 20 years ago while she was still working at her “day job” as a computer software developer for the National Center for Health Statistics, where she would sneak baby animals into work with her to feed them!
She has been a member of Wildlife Welfare, Inc. since its inception over 20 years ago and works to train and mentor new home rehabilitators of small mammals.  She is a current board member of WRNC.
She is the mother of two grown sons who both live on the west coast, so she focuses her maternal nurturing on wild animals, as well as her two Boston Terriers and two pet house sparrows.

Melissa Stanley
(Wildlife Nutrition, Toxicology)
Melissa is the Founder and Executive Director of the Richmond Wildlife Center, Virginia's second licensed nonprofit veterinary facility dedicated to sick and injured wildlife. The Richmond Wildlife Center also provides care to sick and injured non-native exotic animals found feral and abandoned in the wild.  Her role also includes that of a permitted wildlife rehabilitator, educator, veterinary and surgical assistant. Her career in veterinary medicine began while at The University of South Carolina, Columbia. While there she worked as a veterinary assistant at a small animal clinic which also admitted wildlife patients. She was afforded a brief rotation as a veterinary assistant through the veterinary hospital of Riverbanks Zoological Park and Botanical Gardens before transferring to Virginia Tech. She was employed as a surgical technician for both the Small and Large Animal Clinical Sciences Departments of the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine. Melissa was also a Research Assistant for two research projects while employed at the veterinary school. In addition, she assisted with wildlife patients admitted through the veterinary school's wildlife medicine program to include a Black Bear Research Project. She left the technical side of veterinary medicine to head to the business department of the veterinary school. This launched her business career, gaining experience necessary to afford her the skill-sets to successfully lead her own wildlife medical center. Melissa holds a Bachelor of Science in Finance from Virginia Tech with studies in Animal and Poultry Sciences, Wildlife Science and Biology.

Jackie Wylie
(Basic Cottontail Rehabilitaton for the Beginner)
Jackie has her NC Wildlife permit for small mammals. She has been rehabilitating small mammals since 2007. Jackie wasSecretary and Director at Large, with an emphasis on fundraising and special events, with Wildlife Welfare, Inc. Jackie works full time with Nationwide Insurance where she is a field underwriter.

Additional speakers will be added as the program is finalized and we receive the speaker bios.