Dr. Catherine R. Belanger is on the board of directors with Veterinarians Without Borders North America/Vétérinaires Sans Frontières Amérique du Nord Canada.
Catherine is a veterinarian who graduated from the Ontario Veterinary College in 2019. After graduation, she spent time in a small animal emergency practice as well as the Meat Hygiene division of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. She has experience volunteering in both local and international veterinary outreach programs.
Currently, she is a PhD student in the Department of Population Medicine at the University of Guelph, where she is receiving training in veterinary epidemiology, zoonosis, and One Health. She concurrently works as a student epidemiologist in the Foodborne Disease and AMR Surveillance Division of the Public Health Agency of Canada.
#VETSVolunteerVoices aims to bring you the stories of our passionate VETS program volunteers from the field. Meet Ian Parfitt, a GIS Mapping Advisor who spent three months in Cambodia (January–April 2025) supporting organic agriculture and digital transformation with our local partner, AVSF Cambodia.
Megan Sylka, Senior Program Officer at VWB, shares how her recent visit to Kenya revealed the powerful ripple effects of the VETS program—highlighting how Community One Health Champion Shelmith Mwai is transforming her dairy farm, her family dynamics, and her community through knowledge, leadership, and collaboration.
This article examines how a One Health approach can transform food safety systems by addressing the interconnected health of people, animals, and the environment—highlighting the importance of cross-sector collaboration, innovations like Canada’s CFSIN, and global strategies to mitigate risks such as antimicrobial resistance, climate change, and zoonotic disease.
