- Leslie Storms has been appointed chief operating officer of National Veterinary Associates (NVA).
- Dr. Stacy Burdick, DVM, MBA, DACVIM (SAIM), has been promoted to chief medical officer across NVA’s general practice, specialty and emergency hospital network.
- Burdick is the first executive to hold a companywide chief medical officer role spanning NVA’s major areas of veterinary care.
- Storms will oversee business operations across NVA’s network of approximately 1,300 hospitals.
- The appointments are intended to strengthen coordination across operations and veterinary medicine as NVA advances its broader business and clinical strategy.
National Veterinary Associates has expanded its senior leadership team with the appointment of Leslie Storms as chief operating officer and the promotion of Dr. Stacy Burdick to a newly expanded, companywide chief medical officer role.
The appointments, effective Aug. 6, establish broader leadership across operations and veterinary medicine as NVA works to connect resources and expertise throughout its network of approximately 1,300 hospitals.
NVA said the leadership changes are part of the next phase of its strategy, which includes improving the experience for pet owners, expanding access to care and advancing veterinary medicine across general practice, specialty and emergency settings.
By placing Burdick in a chief medical officer role spanning the entire organization, NVA is also seeking to give clinical considerations a larger role in companywide decision-making.
“NVA’s next phase is about transforming the pet family experience to be personal, easy and accessible, while advancing medicine across every stage of life,” NVA CEO John Bruno said in announcing the appointments.
Storms takes companywide operations role
As chief operating officer, Storms will lead business operations across NVA and work to connect expertise, resources and capabilities throughout the hospital network.
She most recently served as president of Ethos Veterinary Health, overseeing NVA’s specialty and emergency network of more than 140 hospitals.
Storms has more than 25 years of executive experience spanning healthcare, medical technology, life sciences and pharmaceuticals. Her career includes nearly two decades at Johnson & Johnson, where her roles included U.S. president of orthopedics within Johnson & Johnson MedTech and president of Ethicon U.S.
She has also held positions with Janssen U.S., Noramco, Corning Life Sciences and Eli Lilly & Co., and serves on the board of directors of Covista.
Burdick to lead medical strategy across NVA
Burdick will join NVA’s executive leadership team and oversee the company’s medical strategy across general practice, specialty and emergency care.
Her responsibilities will include medical quality, clinical leadership and initiatives designed to improve outcomes for patients, clients and veterinary teams.
A board-certified small animal internal medicine specialist, Burdick has more than 25 years of experience in clinical practice, hospital leadership, organizational transformation and medical strategy.
Most recently, she served as chief medical officer of Ethos Veterinary Health. In that position, she oversaw the medical integration of four legacy organizations into a network of more than 140 specialty and emergency hospitals.
Her work has included efforts to elevate veterinary nursing, strengthen medical and operational leadership, and expand the use of outcomes measurement and benchmarking to support evidence-based clinical practice.
Burdick previously held national medical leadership positions within NVA-Compassion First and served as chief of staff and medical director at NVA’s Red Bank Veterinary Hospital. While at Red Bank, she launched the hospital’s Interventional Radiology and Endoscopy program and led a veterinary team of more than 80 doctors.
The expanded role gives Burdick responsibility for clinical strategy across NVA’s broader hospital network and is intended to create a more connected approach to veterinary medicine throughout the organization.
Information sourced from the company’s press release.
