I first became involved with the Iditarod in 2014 when I moved to Barrow, Alaska and was working under Sarah Coburn as a licensed veterinary technician. She, that year, was also volunteering for the Iditarod and invited me to join and that was my start with volunteering with the Iditarod and I fell in love with it.

What is your Why? Why are you here TODAY and involved with the Iditarod?

I’m here today on the urine collection team again, and involved with the Iditarod actually, because my family breeds Samoyeds. So I started very, very young. My very first dog, childhood dog, was a Samoyed and it was a sled dog and she was actually the start of our breeding line. And because I was involved with the mushing community as a child, I continued to do it to this day.

Tell me about just one of your most memorable Iditarod experiences:

One of my most memorable Iditarod experiences was actually last year when it was my first year in veterinary school and I had the opportunity to bring some of my classmates that weren’t part of the UAF program down for the Iditarod to watch and kind of get involved in the Iditarod as well. They just came down to watch last year, but this year one of my classmates, one of the students, also came with me and is now part of the urine collection team and it’s actually really amazing and wonderful to be able to share these experiences with my classmates that are not from Alaska and show them a different part of the Alaskan community that they’ve never experienced before.

What in life do you know for sure?

I have an extreme passion for veterinary medicine and sled dog medicine and I will continue my veterinary career in Alaska for the rest of my life and for as long as I can, be a part of the Iditarod Veterinary Team.