Dr Hamaide graduated in 1990 from the University of Liège, Belgium. She did her residency in Small Animal Surgery at Michigan State University and became European Specialist in Surgery (ECVS) in 1998. She also holds a PhD thesis on the study of vesico-urethral function in the dog. She is currently Professor of Surgical Oncology and Chair of the Department of Companion Animal Clinical Sciences at the University of Liège.

A radiologist certified by veterinary boards on two continents, Dr.Dominique Penninck is a professor of diagnostic imaging at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine. Situated at the nexus between the Foster Hospital for Small Animals and the Hospital for Large Animals, the Cummings School's diagnostic imaging section comprises some of the most important diagnostic tools for veterinary cases: radiography (X-Rays), computerized tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), ultrasound and interventional radiology.

Dr. Penninck was born in Burundi, Africa, and grew up in Belgium. After attending the Universite Catholique du Louvain, Belgium's largest French-speaking university, she went on to earn her veterinary degree and, later, a PhD, at the University of Liege in Brussels. She is a diplomate of both the American College of Veterinary Radiology and the European College of Veterinary Diagnostic Imaging, for which she served as president from 2006-2008. She is a member of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine and the Veterinary Ultrasound Society.

Prior to joining the Tufts faculty in 1989, Dr. Penninck served as a small animal practitioner in Belgium, an ultrasound consultant at the University of Montreal's veterinary school, undertook a radiology residency and later was a lecturer at the University of California at Davis.

Since 1996, Dr. Penninck has written chapters in eight textbooks on various radiological textbooks and served as the editor of the Atlas of Small Animal Ultrasonography (Blackwell, 2008). She is also a prolific publisher of scientific journal articles, and has been invited to speak at imaging conferences in Italy, the Netherlands, Canada, Spain, France, Belgium, Sweden and throughout the United States.

Dr. Matt Read graduated with a DVM with distinction from the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Canada in 1998. Following graduation, he completed a residency in veterinary anesthesiology and a Master of Veterinary Science in wildlife anesthesia, and he became board-certified with the American College of Veterinary Anesthesia and Analgesia (ACVAA) in 2002. Following his residency, Matt taught at the University of Georgia for two years before returning to Canada and developing and supervising the anesthesia services in two large specialty hospitals in Toronto and Calgary. Matt then joined the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Veterinary Medicine where he spent eight years teaching vet students and serving the community before moving to Ohio where he practiced as an anesthesiologist and served as specialty team leader at MedVet for seven years. In 2026, Matt took on a new challenge and joined the Center for Veterinary Dentistry and Oral Surgery in Maryland, a large dental referral center where he is excited to develop the anesthesia service and care for new patients. Matt has delivered over 130 lectures and workshops around the world and is co-editor of two textbooks, Veterinary Clinical Skills and Small Animal Regional Anesthesia and Analgesia. He dreams of someday going into space and opening an ice cream shop in the Caribbean, not necessarily in that order.

Dr. Maria Soltero-Rivera is a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Dentistry and Oral surgery at the department of Surgical and Radiological Sciences, UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Soltero-Rivera completed her residency-training program in dentistry and oral surgery at PennVet and has worked as a visiting scientist at Dr. Joe De Risi’s lab focusing on illuminating feline gingivostomatitis causative agents using metatranscriptomic next-generation RNA sequencing technology. She is a Diplomate of the American Veterinary Dental College (AVDC). Dr. Soltero-Rivera’s clinical and research focus is on oral medicine. Her lab investigates diagnosis and treatment of chronic oral inflammatory disease in dogs and cats as well as viral and host interactions with the goal of translational implications in the human field.