Veterinary Innovation Podcast

This week, Shawn Wilkie and Dr. Ivan Zak sit down with Dr. Jake Rodgers, a relief veterinarian and founder of Rodgers Veterinary Care and Vet Buddies, to address a critical flaw in veterinary medicine: breakdowns in care between clinic visits. With 52% of pet owners skipping needed care, traditional discharge sheets are no longer enough to maintain client compliance and continuity of care.
Dr. Rodgers explains how Vet Buddies bridges this gap by pairing pet owners with veterinary students under clinical supervision to manage a living medical record and provide ongoing support. You will learn how this relationship-first model provides students with hands-on communication experience, offloads busy practitioners, and creates a scalable framework for independent practice.
Learn more about Vet Buddies.
Dr. Jake Rodgers recommends "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari.

This week, Shawn Wilkie and Dr. Ivan Zak talk with Gary Peters, co-founder and CEO of PupPilot, about how AI front-office technology is helping with front-desk understaffing and burnout in veterinary practices. Gary shares how PupPilot manages inbound and outbound calls, texts, and emails using AI voice models and dynamic PIMS integrations built for veterinary teams.
He explains why human-healthcare platforms fail in veterinary medicine and how PupPilot's hardware and software make it possible to automate scheduling, post-op check-ins, and website content updates. This episode offers practical insights into how clinics can eliminate phone overload, improve client compliance, and capture lost booking opportunities.
Learn more about PupPilot.
Gary Peters recommends the YouTube channel and podcast by Dwarkesh Patel.

This week, Shawn Wilkie and Dr. Ivan Zak catch up with Neshmeen Faatimah, the founder and CEO of Nuzzle Technologies, Inc., to discuss how AI-powered simulations are transforming veterinary communication training.  
After losing her cat during a complex care journey marked by communication breakdowns, Neshmeen set out to solve one of veterinary medicine's most overlooked challenges: teaching vets how to navigate difficult conversations with clients. Nuzzle's platform allows veterinarians to practice realistic case scenarios with AI-simulated pet owners, helping teams improve trust-building, treatment discussions, cost conversations, and clinical decision-making in a low-stakes environment. 
This episode is a fascinating look at the intersection of AI, behavioral science, education, and the future of veterinary mentorship.
Learn more about Nuzzle Technologies.
Neshmeen recommends "Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In" by Roger Fisher, William L. Ury, and Bruce Patton, a foundational text on negotiation and alignment that helps reframe vet-client interactions.

This week, Shawn Wilkie and Dr. Ivan Zak welcome Guilherme Coelho, Co-founder and CEO of Maven Pet, to discuss how AI-powered pet wearables are helping owners better understand their pets' health between vet visits. They discuss how Maven combines sensor data, app-based inputs, and artificial intelligence to build a "digital paw print" for each pet and detect early signs of illness before they become critical.
Guilherme explains why the modern pet owner is moving beyond simple GPS tracking in favor of deep health insights that provide peace of mind, especially for pets with chronic conditions. Learn how Maven is changing the conversation in the vet office by empowering owners with continuous data that supports more accurate diagnoses and effective treatment monitoring.
Learn more about Maven Pet.
Guilherme recommends the Youtube - Head of Growth (Anthropic): Anthropic is automating its own growth for insights into rapid AI scaling.

This week, Shawn Wilkie and Dr. Ivan Zak welcome Dr. Lisa Beagan, founder of Your Vet Direction, to discuss how AI-supported triage can bring more structure, consistency, and safety to veterinary intake.
The conversation explores one of the most overlooked risks in practice operations: asking front-desk teams to make triage decisions without the clinical tools or training to do so confidently. Dr. Beagan shares how her platform, Your Vet Direction, helps guide CSRs through the right questions, prioritize urgency, and support better decision-making while keeping humans firmly in the loop.
The episode offers a practical look at how structured AI can reduce variability, improve efficiency, and help veterinary practices modernize one of their most critical workflows.
Learn more about Your Vet Direction.
Dr. Beagan recommends "The Coming Wave: Technology, Power, and the Twenty-first Century's Greatest Dilemma" by Mustafa Suleyman for its insights on AI guardrails.