Dr. Kate Hurley receives 2025 AVMA Animal Welfare Award
May 8, 2025—Dr. Kate Hurley, DVM, MPVM, a pioneer in shelter veterinary medicine, is the 2025 winner of the American Veterinary Medical Association’s Animal Welfare Award, the association announced today.
The AVMA Animal Welfare Award is presented annually to an AVMA member veterinarian in recognition of their achievement in advancing the welfare of animals via leadership, public service, education, research/product development, and/or advocacy. It is one of three Animal Welfare and Human-Animal Bond Excellence Awards presented annually by the AVMA and supported by Merck Animal Health.
“I am deeply honored and humbled to join many of my own animal welfare heroes who have been recognized by this award from the AVMA,” said Dr. Hurley. “When I worked as an animal control officer so many years ago, my coworkers and I felt disconnected from the veterinary profession and struggled to keep the animals in our care healthy without that support. To be part of the story of shelter medicine from its earliest days to its evolution as a flourishing specialty within the AVMA—bringing the best our field has to offer to the animals that have the least—has been the joy of a lifetime. I am profoundly grateful to the extraordinary colleagues, supporters, teachers and students who have helped build shelter medicine into such a vibrant field, and to the AVMA for centering the importance of animal welfare in all aspects of veterinary medicine.”
“Throughout her distinguished and influential career, Dr. Hurley has been committed to improving the lives of animals housed in shelters through innovative, evidence-based approaches,” said Dr. Sandra Faeh, AVMA president. “The lifesaving impact of her work cannot be overstated. We are proud to name Dr. Hurley as the 2025 winner of this prestigious award.”
Dr. Hurley, a resident of West Sacramento, CA, began her career as an animal control officer in 1989 at the Santa Cruz SPCA. This introduction to animal welfare fueled her decision to return to school to obtain her veterinary degree. After graduation from the University of California, Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, she went to work as a shelter veterinarian in California and Wisconsin. In 2001, she returned to UC Davis to undertake a residency in Shelter Medicine, during which she investigated and characterized one of the first documented outbreaks of Virulent Systemic Feline Calicivirus.
Dr. Hurley has built on this experience with extensive research on feline upper respiratory infection in the multi-cat environment, other emerging or re-emerging diseases affecting dogs and cats in shelters, and the relationships among housing, health, wellness and adoption for shelter animals. In 2005 she became the director of the UC Davis Koret shelter medicine program.
Two of Dr. Hurley’s signature achievements are co-authoring the “Association of Shelter Veterinarians’ Guidelines for Standards of Care in Animal Shelters” and co-editing the textbook “Infectious Disease Management in Animal Shelters”. She also co-authored the first-ever vaccine guidelines specifically for shelter dogs and cats.
Dr. Hurley co-chaired the organizing committee for a specialty in Shelter Medicine, a process that culminated in 2014 with approval by the AVMA of a Shelter Medicine specialty within the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners. Most recently, in partnership with Dr. Julie Levy at the University of Florida Maddie’s Shelter Medicine Program, she launched the Million Cat Challenge, a campaign to save one million cats in North American shelters. This campaign has exceeded expectations and, to date, five million cats have been saved.
Dr. Hurley’s award will be presented during the annual AVMA Convention on July 19 in Washington, DC.
Serving more than 108,000 member veterinarians, the AVMA is the nation's leading representative of the veterinary profession, dedicated to improving the health and wellbeing of animals, humans and the environment. Founded in 1863 and with members in every U.S. state and territory and more than 60 countries, the AVMA is one of the largest veterinary medical organizations in the world. Informed by our members' unique scientific training and clinical knowledge, the AVMA supports the crucial work of veterinarians and advocates for policies that advance the practice of veterinary medicine and improve animal and human health.