By Jim Bell
When Dr. Julie Ryan-Johnson learned that she had been chosen to receive the Animal Health Foundation’s 2024 Cortese-Lippincott Award, “it was a huge surprise and quite an emotional moment for me,” she said.
That moment took Dr. Ryan back to her first job when, at the age of 11 she worked at the practice of Dr. Joe Cortese. “I knew I wanted to be a veterinarian,” she said. “That’s why I wanted to work for him. I wanted to learn. And he was like a dad to me.”
That also inspired her interest in charitable work “because at the time Dr. Cortese was doing a lot of feral cat spaying and neutering. And one of his clients started an organization to help animals. He was very involved in that.”
The honor also was entirely appropriate for her. The award is presented annually to someone who has “gone above and beyond” to make the world a better place for humans and animals, who excels in community service and education in the veterinary community and who supports the human-animal bond.
Dr. Ryan, who has worked at Boehringer-Ingelheim more than 13 years, runs the shelter and nonprofit programs by providing support of nonprofits with programs involving everything from infectious disease consulting to fund-raising to organizational development.”
It is a job she loves and hopes to continue well into the future. “I really enjoy what I’m doing,” she said. “I love my job. I get to do so much give-back. My company is so supportive and generous with philanthropy.”
Giving back, however, does not stop there, for Dr. Ryan. She also uses her vacation time to do charitable work abroad as well as in the United States. “When I go, I usually go for a week or 10 days. Unfortunately my trips are sometimes determined by disaster situations.” One such trip took her to Poland to help Ukrainian refugees fleeing the Russian invasion in 2022 with their pets.
“I was working with an organization called IFAW – International Foundation of Animal Welfare – through Greater Good Charities,” she said. “Helping pet owners ensure that the animals were healthy enough to take on the next part of their journey was one small thing we could do to help ease their stress and pain. We had helped hydrate, care for travel wounds and then supplied them with everything from pet food to harnesses and leashes. Our tent was open 24/7 with veterinarians and translators.”
Dr. Ryan is the vice chair of Greater Good Charities, and, through the organization, she is able to take such purposeful trips, she said.
The work is rewarding, she said. “It’s wonderful. You’re with a lot of like-minded people who just want to contribute any way they can. These are definitely not glamorous trips – but I love the people I am with.”
Dr. Ryan was nominated for the Cortese-Lippincott Award by Dr. Laura Weatherford and Vivien Flockhart of Boehringer-Ingelheim.
‘The idea for the nomination came from Vivien, who is on the Animal Health Foundation board with me,” Dr. Weatherford said. “Also a co-worker with Julie, Vivien thought she would be a great person to receive the award. But Vivien was busy so I filled out the nomination form based on what she told me and some web searches about Julie.”
Dr. Weatherford said Dr. Ryan was nominated “for all she has done to help people and their pets – and for the greater good of animals.” When she went to Poland to help Ukrainian refugees, Dr. Laura said, “she examined, treated and helped find new homes for pets that owners couldn’t keep.
“She also went to Maui after the 2023 fires to bring donated medications and supplies and to return with several hundred pets from the Maui shelter so there would be room for owned pets on the island.”
Dr Weatherford also noted that – as leader of the BI shelter group – Dr. Ryan helps animal shelters across the country get grants for equipment or to provide care for underserved communities. “We think she is a wonderful role model for our profession.”
“From my perspective,” Vivien added, “Julie is a force of nature for good. She is a bright light in a dark place for countless animals and an equal number of people.”
Dr. Ryan was born at UCLA and raised in Orange County. Her father was a professor at Irvine Valley Community College and her mother was a nurse and later a school principal. She grew up in San Juan Capistrano and earned her undergraduate degree at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. She attended veterinary school at the University of Wisconsin and did an internship at Virginia Tech.
After receiving her DVM degree, she worked in small animal and equine practices in Southern California, then moved to the Orange County Animal Shelter. She left there for a stint at Mars Petcare, then returned as shelter director.
She met her husband, Dr. Gary Johnson, at an SCVMA chapter meeting. He founded Dana Niguel Veterinary Hospital in Dana Point in 1982 and is now retired.
The Ryan-Johnson household includes three dogs, a horse and a male cat named Madam George that Dr. Ryan brought back to Southern California from her trip to Ukraine.
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