Choon Neo Siow and Dennice Wilson grew up in very different environments, yet both found deep connection with the animals around them. As a child in Southern California, Dennice sought out pets and animals everywhere she could. Choon Neo lived her early years in Singapore’s urban jungle and occasionally encountered monkeys and wild boars in the surrounding rainforest. Those early experiences, paired with their personal relationship with pets, shaped a shared lifelong compassion for animals, especially their dogs.

ancy Ehrlich was in her early twenties when she took her dog to a veterinarian for a checkup, and a female veterinarian walked into the exam room.

“I hadn’t seen that before,” Ehrlich said. “Right then, I knew what I wanted to do with my career.”

 She left her home state of New York and went to UC Davis for undergraduate coursework in the sciences. She applied to the School of Veterinary Medicine in the 1970s but was not admitted, in part due to the limited number of spots open to women at the time.

“As a first-generation student, I have learned that it matters not where you come from, but what you do with the support you have been given. As I look forward to graduating in 2025, I am humbled by the generosity of benefactors who invested in my future and that of other students.