AVMA Award winner made her own luck, friends along the way

Dr. Lori Teller (Texas A&M ’90) considers herself an introvert at heart. When she was a recent graduate, and uncertain that organized veterinary medicine was for her, she had to be persuaded to serve for “just a short term” with the Texas VMA (TVMA) Board of Directors. What started as reluctance grew into a lifelong passion for leadership and service, expanding through multiple organizations at every level.

Dr. Teller accepted the 2025 AVMA Award on July 19 during the keynote at the AVMA Convention 2025 and the 40th World Veterinary Congress in Washington, D.C. The award recognizes contributions to the advancement of veterinary medicine in its organizational aspects.

Nominating Dr. Teller for the award were Dr. Bridget Heilsberg on behalf of the TVMA and Dr. Diana K. Thomé, Washington delegate in the AVMA House of Delegates (HOD).

In her notification letter, Dr. Janet Donlin, AVMA CEO, wrote of Dr. Teller’s commitment to the profession evidenced in many ways, including “advocacy for the integration of veterinary telemedicine into practice” and “support of those in underrepresented groups to ensure opportunities are provided to lead and contribute to the future of the profession.”

Dr. Donlin wrote that through these efforts, Dr. Teller “helped shape a more inclusive, innovative, and forward-thinking future for the profession.”

Taking an interest

At 5 years old, Dr. Teller knew she wanted to be a veterinarian. Her father, a physician, told her she needed to understand that the job wasn’t just playing with puppies and kitties. So, at 12, she shadowed her family’s veterinarian. On the first day, she passed out during a blood draw in a hot room. When the staff members asked if she was OK, she said, “Yep. I’ll be back tomorrow.” She shadowed every summer at the clinic until she was 16 and started working there after school.

Following graduation from Texas A&M University (TAMU) College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, Dr. Teller began working at Meyerland Animal Clinic in Houston.

She also started volunteering with the Harris County VMA, and then the TVMA. That’s when her leadership journey took off, thanks to the TVMA’s leadership program, which helped her understand what organized veterinary medicine does at a granular level.

While at TVMA, Dr. Teller helped develop the first certified veterinary assistant program in the U.S., which now serves as a model for other states. She later became TVMA president and involved in the association’s advocacy efforts, helping her to understand regulation that impacts what veterinarians do every day and what can be done at the state level by law.

An inflection point

A cancer diagnosis at the age of 31 proved to be an inflection point in her life.

“That’s awfully young to get a wake-up call. It made me stop and reflect on what it was that I wanted to do,” Dr. Teller said. “It pushed me to become a better veterinarian.”

Now in remission, and following her becoming a diplomate of the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners in canine and feline practice, she saw an opportunity to join the newly created AVMA Animal Welfare Committee (AWC). The application period coincided with the first Animal Welfare Judging and Assessment Contest in 2002 at Michigan State University. She attended to learn more about that aspect of the profession and meet people who could mentor her in this area. Her application to the AWC was accepted.

“I loved that committee. It got me engaged in what the AVMA does and the impact of policies that the AVMA makes that really improve animal life, human life, and the veterinary profession,” she said.

This opportunity led to involvement on several other AVMA committees and task forces, including as chair of the State Advocacy Committee, alternate delegate for Texas in the HOD, and District 8 representative on the AVMA Board of Directors. Dr. Teller eventually was elected as the 2022-23 AVMA president, and later as chair of the American Veterinary Medical Foundation.

“I think the big thing people don’t understand about organized veterinary medicine is it’s not just all the amazing things these groups do to support the profession, but the number of amazing people you meet …  from all facets of the profession. I’m constantly amazed at what we can do as veterinarians and the contributions individuals are making to the profession and people around them,” Dr. Teller said.

Paying it forward

Outside of the AVMA, she co-founded the Women’s Veterinary Leadership Development Initiative in 2013, as a way to increase the number of women in the top ranks of organized veterinary medicine, industry, and academia.

She herself joined the veterinary faculty at TAMU in 2018, where she currently works as a clinical professor of telehealth and serves as chief of primary care services.

Dr. Teller considers herself fortunate to have had many mentors who made her love the profession and “who were willing to stop what they were doing, hear me out, and give advice—whether I took it or not.”

She recalls one time as a new graduate, she was the only veterinarian in the clinic when a blocked male cat came in with a full bladder right before closing. She became frustrated as she tried in vain to pass a urinary catheter. So, Dr. Teller called her boss, afraid the cat wouldn’t survive.

“I knew she was in her PJs but she came in 10 minutes, and in 30 seconds had passed the catheter. I apologized profusely. She said, ‘I’ll tell you a secret: When I was an associate, I had a cat that was blocked and could not for the life of me unblock it. I called the owner, who left a wedding to help me unblock the cat,’” Dr. Teller recalled.

Her former boss went on to say, “‘Just knowing that somebody was there who had my back and paid it forward … It is fully my job to pay it forward and help recent graduates and students—whoever it is—to do right by themselves and their patients. I need to know you’re going to pay it forward when the time comes.’”

And so Dr. Teller has, many times over.

Dr. Lori Teller expresses her appreciation for the people who believed in her and helped her to get to where she is today during a recorded acceptance speech for The AVMA Award, which was played at the AVMA Keynote on July 19 at AVMA Convention 2025 and the 40th World Veterinary Association Congress in Washington, D.C. (Video by Matt Zingale)