Tanja Kisslinger is Director of Communications at Veterinarians Without Borders North America/Vétérinaires Sans Frontières Amérique du Nord.
Tanja is a senior communications leader and cross-cultural storyteller with more than 20 years experience supporting global health, humanitarian, and international development initiatives. She has led communications, public engagement, brand and content management strategies for organizations including CARE, SOS Children's Villages, Save the Children, and Medair, working across diverse and often fragile contexts to connect local realities with global audiences.
Her work is grounded in ethical, community-centred storytelling that brings visibility to systemic inequities, humanitarian crises, and locally driven solutions. Over the course of her career, Tanja has lived and worked across Africa, Asia, and Europe, shaping narratives alongside communities affected by displacement, food insecurity, gender inequality, and health crises.
Most recently, Tanja led CARE Canada’s multi-year Feed Her Future public engagement campaign, which focused on the social and gender norms shaping nutrition and health outcomes for women and children in Southern Africa. At Veterinarians Without Borders, she leads strategic communications across international development, humanitarian response, and companion animal health programming—amplifying the organization’s One Health approach and strengthening engagement with partners, supporters, and volunteers.
Tanja holds a Master’s degree in Criminology, an Honours degree in Psychology, and professional certifications in cross-cultural and emergency communications.
In this edition of Ask an Expert, we spoke with veterinarian Dr. Elena Garde, whose career has spanned wildlife disease research, zoonotic disease, disaster response and community-based animal health across Canada, Latin America and beyond.
Register now for our World AMR Awareness Week 2026 webinar, which brings together experts in antimicrobial resistance (AMR), animal health, and One Health to examine where progress is being made in the global response to AMR, why gaps persist between policy commitments and implementation, and what stronger coordination across human, animal, and environmental health can contribute to meaningful, lasting change.
Written by Janine Mitchell, Executive Director of VWB, in recognition of One Health Day (November 3), this article draws on the FAO Global Conference for Actions on One Health in Agrifood Systems and the VSF International General Assembly to explore what it takes to turn One Health commitments into action—from building equitable partnerships and strengthening collaboration to ensuring practical systems and accountability.
