Cindy Adams

Cindy Adams is Professor in the Department of Veterinary Clinical and Diagnostic Sciences at the University of Calgary, Veterinary Medicine, where she developed and implemented the Clinical Communication Program in Calgary’s new veterinary school. She honed her professional understanding of human-animal relationships serving from 1980-1992 as a social worker in child welfare, women’s shelters and the justice system. Animals were frequently involved in that work. Combining the very different perspectives gained from her experiences in social work and a doctorate in veterinary epidemiology, she became a faculty member at the Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph (1996-2006). There she designed and directed the first veterinary communication curriculum in North America and pioneered a research program regarding communication in veterinary medicine.

She helped initiate the Institute for Healthcare Communication, Bayer veterinary communication project. Her research has focused on communication education, veterinary-client communication in large and small animal contexts, animal welfare, companion animal death and human grief. Founder of the International Conference on Communication in Veterinary Medicine, co-author of Skills for Communicating in Veterinary Medicine she has presented widely and advised veterinarians, veterinary practice teams and veterinary educators throughout North America, Europe, Australia and the Caribbean.