VetSalus are delighted to welcome Ilyse Jennens to the board. To find out more about Ilyse, please read on.
Ilyse Jennens is a farm veterinarian based in North Waikato, New Zealand. Ilyse’s passion lies in preventative herd health, supporting farmers to improve animal welfare, efficiency, and the long-term sustainability of their businesses. To enable this, she has completed InCalf and Mastitis Advisor accreditation and became a member of the Australian and New Zealand College of Veterinary Scientists by examination in Dairy Cattle Medicine.
Alongside her clinical work, Ilyse manages a small branch within Franklin Vets and serves on the Franklin Vets Board. Ilyse contributes to Franklin Vets’ sustainability initiatives, driven by the belief that veterinarians can play an important role in creating positive outcomes for animals, farmers, communities, and the environment.
Beyond practice, she has also enjoyed contributing through governance and leadership roles. Until recently, Ilyse chaired a community dairy farming trust focused on increasing the wealth, sustainability, and satisfaction of dairy farmers in her region. This has given her the opportunity to learn more directly from farmers and be more exposed to the challenges they face and also the many ways they continue to adapt to change and seek ways to improve.
For the past year, Ilyse has served as a New Zealand RIG Director for VetSalus. VetSalus' focus on improving animal health, welfare, and sustainability across the global food chain strongly aligns with her own values. Through this role, she has been inspired by the impact veterinarians are making in this space globally through collaboration. Ilyse is excited by the opportunity to support both New Zealand and international veterinarians and farmers to embrace practical, science-based approaches that build more resilient and sustainable farming systems for the future.