Dr. Laurie Hess
Dr. Laurie Hess is board-certified by the American Board of Avian Practitioners in Avian (bird) medicine and served as the President of the Association of Avian Veterinarians from 2009-2010. She is also an active member of the Association of Exotic Mammal Veterinarians and the Association of Reptilian and Amphibian Veterinarians.
After graduating summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa from Yale University, Dr. Hess received her veterinary medical degree from Tufts. She then completed a one-year internship and a two-year residency in avian and exotic pet medicine and surgery at the world-renowned Animal Medical Center in New York City.
Dr. Hess has lectured both nationally and internationally about exotic pet care and has published numerous articles and book chapters on birds and other exotic species.
She is especially interested in exotic pet nutrition. In the late 1990's, she completed groundbreaking nutrition research on the importance of pelleted diets in birds. She presented these findings both in Europe and in the U.S. and later published the research in 2002.
Dr. Hess is a guest exotic pet expert for Animal Planet and has appeared on Animal Planet's exotic pet shows "Peculiar Pets 101" and "Little Pets 101," as well as on Drs. Foster and Smith's TV series, "Faithful Friends."
She was a guest on CBS’s morning show, “The Doctors,” where she discussed exotic pets for people with allergies, and she appeared on the WPIX Morning News in New York City where she highlighted the benefits of exotic animals as pets. Dr. Hess has been a featured veterinarian on CBS's popular news magazine show, "48 Hours," and she appeared weekly as the "Exotic Pet Vet" on the New York/New Jersey/Connecticut cable station, RNN TV. Dr. Hess also has been a regular guest on Hudson Valley Talk Radio on the Saturday morning segment, "Family Pet Time with Dr. Joe," on AM stations 920, 1260, and 1420 and has also appeared live on BlogTalkRadio.
Dr. Hess has written numerous articles on exotic pets for syndicated columns nationwide and blogs regularly on well-known pet websites such as PetConnection.com.
She is a senior editor of the Journal of Avian Medicine and Surgery and a guest editor of the Journal of Exotic Pet Medicine, Veterinary Clinics of North America (Exotic Animal Series) and of Exotic DVM Magazine.