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April 01, 2020

Mobini, Willis elected to AVMA Board

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Two members of the AVMA House of Delegates were elected in February to the Association’s Board of Directors. Georgia delegate Seyedmehdi Mobini and Washington state delegate Sandy Willis ran uncontested races to replace the directors of districts IV and XI when their terms end this summer.

Dr. Mobini
Dr. Seyedmehdi Mobini

Dr. Mobini of Macon, Georgia, will replace Dr. José Arce as the board representative for Florida, Georgia, and Puerto Rico, whereas Dr. Willis of Mukilteo, Washington, will succeed Dr. Rena Carlson as the representative for Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming.

The board directors–elect officially begin their six-year-term on the Board this August during the AVMA Convention in San Diego.

Dr. Mobini is a professor of veterinary science at Fort Valley State University in the College of Agriculture, Family Sciences, and Technology. He is a diplomate of the American College of Theriogenologists.

After receiving his veterinary degree in 1977 from Pahlavi University School of Veterinary Medicine in Iran, Dr. Mobini completed a mixed animal externship in Ireland and a residency in bovine surgery and medicine at Auburn University. Later, he worked on a dairy farm and served on the faculty at Pahlavi and Tuskegee universities. Additionally, he has served as a relief veterinarian in small animal emergency clinics and several mixed animal practices in Alabama as well as a small ruminant extension veterinarian for the state of Georgia.

Dr. Mobini has dedicated time throughout his professional career to organized veterinary medicine, including as a member of the Georgia VMA board of directors and the American Association of Small Ruminant Practitioners. He has represented the Georgia VMA in the AVMA House of Delegates since 2015, first as an alternate delegate, then as a delegate.

Dr. Mobini was the AASRP representative to the AVMA Animal Welfare Committee from 2001-04 and a member of the AVMA Legislative Advisory Committee from 2011-17. He currently serves on the AVMA Committee on Veterinary Technician Education and Activities.

“As a proud veterinarian for 42 years, with a diverse education and practical knowledge of the veterinary profession in the United States and other parts of the world, I have been engaged in organized veterinary medicine for many years and have a passion for the veterinary profession and the AVMA,” Dr. Mobini said in his candidate statement. “I am confident that I possess the tools and experience to successfully work with our District IV team to fulfill the responsibility of this position.”

Dr. Willis
Dr. Sandy Willis

Dr. Willis is a small animal internist for Phoenix Lab, a veterinary diagnostic laboratory in Mukilteo, Washington, that was recently acquired by Zoetis Inc. She received her veterinary degree in 1984 from the University of California-Davis and later became a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine.

In addition to Phoenix Lab, Dr. Willis has worked for Antech Diagnostics and Hill’s Pet Nutrition and as medical director for Seattle Humane.

Along with her role as Washington state delegate in the AVMA House of Delegates, Dr. Willis chairs the House Advisory Committee. As HAC chair, she serves on the Strategy Management Committee and Budget and Financial Review Committee and as a voting member of the American Veterinary Medical Foundation board of directors.

Dr. Willis has been a site visitor for the AVMA Council on Education since 2013. She served on the AVMA Governance Performance Review Committee, chaired both the task force and working group on volunteer engagement, and organized the Communications Section of the AVMA Convention from 2008-14. She is a past president of the Washington State VMA and is active in the Puget Sound VMA.

“My leadership style is collaborative. I feel it is important that people are heard on an issue,” Dr. Willis said in her candidate statement. “Moving forward, however, a leader needs to mold varied opinions toward a definitive decision and direction. By putting myself in positions over the last five years that require me to think on my feet, listen, and choose a direction, I have fine-tuned my leadership skills. I have learned how to communicate effectively and, most importantly, listen.”