Our Veterinary Consultant Team
Since 2007, our veterinary consultant team has brought our industry, academic, clinical practice and research experience to assist dozens of veterinary companies, pharmaceutical companies, start-ups, CROs, laboratories and other organizations expand services and enter the veterinary market. We provide practical, real-world advice for developing veterinary pharmaceuticals, animal medical devices, animal diagnostics and other products for the animal health market. In addition, our team members have formed companies with our own money and understand the challenges of developing, manufacturing and commercializing veterinary products.
Veterinary Consultant Expertise
Veterinary product development and commercialization can be a complex process owing to multiple species and regulatory agencies. Our veterinary consulting team and animal health advisors assist animal health companies in navigating this complex environment. We help our clients understand the animal health market, as well as development options, veterinary product regulations, and veterinary distribution tactics. Many clients come to us after receiving advice from consultants or firms that are not licensed veterinarians and/or lack clinical, regulatory or start-up experience but are seeking our veterinary industry and clinical experience to advance their efforts.
Craig Woods DVM, MS, MBA (Prinicipal Veterinary Consultant)
Craig formed Woods Consulting, LLC in 2007 and has assisted dozens of companies in advancing veterinary drugs, biologics, devices and diagnostics for the animal health market. Craig was in academia from 2015-2021, most recently as the Director of Infectious Disease and Biosecurity Projects at Arizona State University (ASU). Prior to ASU, Craig was the Director of the Institute for Healthcare Innovation at Midwestern University (2015-2021), where he oversaw human (PII-PIV) and veterinary clinical trials including serving as PI on SARS-CoV-2 studies during the outbreak. From 1998-2015, he held senior level positions in the pharmaceutical industry in business development, regulatory affairs, and veterinary clinical research. Over the years, Craig has established US based operations for international clients and founded his own companies in immuno-therapeutics, medical devices, and other technologies for veterinary and human medicine. Craig provides business development, veterinary regulatory, and technology commercialization guidance concerning veterinary biologics, veterinary drugs, animal medical devices, veterinary diagnostics, and other veterinary products. He has published in the Journal of Rheumatology, Toxicon, and Journal of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care (Google Scholar) and provides veterinary clinical study services at Arizona Animal Hospital (Scottsdale, Arizona).
M.S. – Veterinary Anatomy – University of Missouri
D.V.M. – Veterinary Medicine – University of Missouri
Licenses and Research Fellowships
Arizona Veterinary Medical License (1995-present)
Howard Hughes Undergraduate Medical Fellowship – genetics
Graduate Biomedical Research Fellowship – biochemistry
Affiliate Veterinary Consultants
Rachel Venable DVM, MS, DACVIM (Oncology)
Dr. Rachel Venable serves an associate veterinary consultant and is Board Certified as a medical oncologist from the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine. After completing her residency, Rachel spent over eight years in specialty oncology practice before starting Pet Cancer Care Consulting, her own oncology consultation business. Rachel has participated in various clinical studies and has published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, American Journal of Veterinary Research, and BMC Veterinary Research. She has presented scientific research at local and national conferences. She is a member of many organizations and a director on the Arizona Veterinary Medical Board. She is the local committee member for the Institutional Biosafety Committee.
D.V.M.-University of Missouri, Cum Laude
M.S.-Colorado State University
Internship-Small Animal Medicine-University of Georgia
Residency-Medical Oncology-Colorado State University
Natacha Montalvo DVM, MS
Dr. Montalvo is a clinical research veterinarian with 10+ years of experience in small animal companion medicine, clinical studies and biomedical research. Dr. Montalvo graduated as a DVM in 2004 from “UNEFM” and worked in small animal medicine and surgery in her home country of Venezuela. In 2008, she joined Texas A&M’s Institute for Preclinical Studies (TIPS) as a Research Assistant where she completed a master’s degree in Biomedical Sciences with a focus on genetics. She continued at Texas A&M’s TIPS as a Post-Doctoral associate until 2012. Subsequent to TIPS, she held research and project management positions at START Cancer Pre-clinical Studies and the Metis Foundation. Dr. Montalvo focuses on study design and market research at Woods Consulting, LLC.
D.V.M.-The Francisco de Miranda National Experimental University
M.S.-Texas A&M University
Valarie Woods MS
Valarie has focused her career in the areas of consumer market research and testing. After graduate school, Valarie started her career at the Dial Corporation, where she advanced to senior scientist and development leader in research and development. Valarie has special interests in consumer testing, market research, sensory analysis, operating procedures, and statistics.
Education:
BS – Biology – University of Missouri
MS – Food Science – University of Missouri
Special Interests:
Market Research: consumer testing and market research and analysis.
Documentation: SOPs, guidelines, technical writing, and data management
One Medicine Approach
“Human and veterinary medicine are confronted with similar problems and employ similar means for their solution; and, taken together, they deal with a large group of animals sufficient to justify the contention that they are two branches of one medicine.”
Bradley OC. What is Comparative Medicine?. Proc R Soc Med. 1927; 21(1):129–134.
This statement, made in 1927, underpins our philosophy and commitment to advance medicine for humans and pets. We routinely work with physicians and scientists to advance human and veterinary medicine in parallel. A few of Dr. Woods One Medicine project photos to the right.
Links to One Health
One Health Initiative
Animal Health Institute
Academia (2020):
Conducting a human COVID-19 surveillance study in emergency room workers at Arizona hospitals during early phase of the pandemic
Academia (2019):
Evaluating a novel tumor imaging agent in dogs with cancer to help visualize tumor margins in real-time during surgery resection
Industry (2011):
At venom research laboratory in Mexico, working on the development of scorpion and pit viper antivenoms
Industry (~2005):
studying T-cell receptor peptide immune therapeutics in dogs with comparable diseases to humans
Animal Health Network
Woods Consulting, LLC works closely with each client to understand their specific veterinary consultant requirements and business strategy. Our comprehensive expertise allows us to manage the vast majority of projects in-house. If needed, we work with other animal health consultants within academia and the animal health industry to assist on specific areas such as technical sections for new animal drug applications. Under these conditions, we establish confidentiality agreements, subcontractor agreements and other necessary agreements.
Our collaborative network of veterinary project and veterinary product development consultants consist of statisticians and data analysts, veterinary market research professionals, veterinary practitioners and specialists, research scientists, and key opinion leaders. We also can leverage our extensive network within veterinary companies to assist clients in licensing their technologies for the animal health market, or identifying domestic and international veterinary distributors to represent veterinary products.
Lectures and Presentations
Our veterinary consultant team can also provide speaking engagements to the biomedical community (contact us). Several topics we routinely present on to researchers, students and the medical community are listed below.
The Animal Health Market: Overview of the animal health market, technology licensing strategies, commercialization of veterinary products, regulations, and the development process of veterinary drugs, biologics, nutraceuticals, devices, and diagnostics.
Comparative Medicine: Comparative diseases between humans and dogs, and de-risking drug development through veterinary clinical trials.
Alternate Careers for Veterinarians: Opportunities in the pharmaceutical industry for healthcare professionals.
Venoms and Toxins: Venom phenotypes of snakes, antivenoms and envenomation in veterinary medicine