Gregory D. Sunvold

Ph.D. Chief Scientist

With almost 30 years of pet food industry experience and over 500 scientific publications and global patent applications, Dr. Greg Sunvold is recognized for his expertise in pet nutrition to improve and create many diverse pet products marketed globally. After completing his thesis research on the role of fermentable fibers in dog and cat diets and obtaining a PhD in Nutritional Sciences, Dr. Sunvold spent time in various corporate technical roles at P&G with the Iams and Eukanuba brands. He has conducted technology development and clinical research in the microbiome, gastrointestinal health, obesity, diabetes, renal and other area research areas.

Dr. Sunvold’s focus on innovation resulted in his management of a global pet technology patent portfolio. His collaborative research efforts have included isolating novel probiotic strains, clinically demonstrating efficacy of prebiotics, probiotics and other microbiome management tools, and developing novel product forms for delivering live probiotics.

He also has many years of product design and formulation experience that have impacted pet products around the world. Having actively practiced in the microbiome field throughout his career, Dr. Sunvold leverages deep technical knowledge to actively identify ways to apply microbiome innovations into the pet food industry. Throughout his career, Dr. Sunvold has been responsible for implementing nutritional innovations into hundreds of pet food products fed to pets around the world.

Dr Jan Bellows

Board Certified Veterinary Dentist

Dr. Bellows is one of only 190 Board Certified Veterinary Dentists™ in the United States. He began practicing veterinary medicine in 1977 at Pembroke Animal Clinic in Pembroke Pines, FL. Dr. Bellows was certified boarded in Veterinary Dentistry by the American Veterinary Dental College in 1990.

Dr. Bellows grew up in New York, attended the University of Florida for undergraduate training and Auburn University for his veterinary degree. He completed a medicine and surgery internship at the Animal Medical Center in New York City.

Doctor Bellows has received numerous awards in his career including the Florida Veterinary Medical Association Gold Star Award in 2012.

William A. Brenneman

Chief Statistician

William Brenneman is an Adjunct Professor at Goshen College, an Adjunct Professor of Practice at Georgia Tech and a retired Research Fellow and Global Statistics Discipline Leader at Procter & Gamble. Throughout his career at P&G he worked on a wide range of projects that dealt with statistics applications in the areas of design and analysis of physical and computer experiments, reliability, process control and statistical engineering. His practical experience at P&G led to over 20 publications relating to current or new statistical methods. He also directed the Global Statistics Discipline at P&G which consisted of over 60 trained statisticians worldwide working on both clinical and non-clinical applications.

He received a Ph.D. in Statistics from the University of Michigan, an MS in Mathematics from the University of Iowa and a BA in Mathematics and Secondary Education from Tabor College. William is a Fellow of the American Statistical Association (ASA), a Fellow of the American Society for Quality (ASQ), and a member of the International Statistical Engineering Association (ISEA), the Institute of Mathematical Statistics and the Institute for Operations Research and Management Sciences. He has served as ASQ Statistics Division Chair, ASA Quality and Productivity Section Chair, Associate Editor of Technometrics and on the ISEA Advisory Board. William also has eight years of experience as an educator at the high school and college level.

Dr. Gavin Casper 

Veterinary Mobility Specialist

Dr. Gavin Casper grew up in Florida. His love of animals started at a young age surrounded by dogs and horses. At age six, he started training his own dog in obedience, and before entering college, he had experience training and competing in multiple dog sports including Agility and Flyball.

Dr. Casper studied animal science at the University of Florida before moving to Prince Edward Island in Canada and beginning veterinary school at the Atlantic Veterinary College. During veterinary school, Dr. Casper developed a passion for integrative medicine and cultivated an interest in nutrition, rehabilitation, and reducing stress in his veterinary patients.

Dr. Casper is a certified Fear-free veterinarian. He is certified in Veterinary Acupuncture and Chinese veterinary medicine, as well as Veterinary Chiropractic. He loves to spend time with his two- and four-legged family.

Jessica Bagel

Clinical Trial Manager 

After receiving her DVM degree at North Carolina State University, Dr. Jessica Bagel spent over 13 years working at the Veterinary Hospital at University of Pennsylvania. While working there, she ran and oversaw all the clinical trials for the Referral Center for Animal Models of Human Genetic Disease.

Her work there led to groundbreaking research to discover new therapies for inherited diseases. With over 20 collaborative scientific publications, Dr. Bagel is passionate about, and understands the importance of, research for the development of new treatment options as well as for the advancements of therapies for both human and animals.

Dr Margie Scherk

Veterinary Feline Specialist 

Margie graduated from the Ontario Veterinary College in 1982. In 1986 she opened Cats Only Veterinary Clinic in Vancouver, practicing there until 2008 when she retired from regular practice. She has been board certified in Feline Practice with the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners since 1995.

While in practice, she published several clinical trials, including the first paper on transdermal fentanyl patch in veterinary medicine. She has written many book chapters, co-edits the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery, has served extensively on committees with the AAFP, North American Vet Licensing Exam Board, Winn Feline Foundation, WSAVA and ABVP. She is a Paw Project advocate, with the goal to end declawing in Canada. She continues to assist colleagues with case management and enjoys teaching about all things feline, including improving interacting with cats, analgesia, nutrition, gastroenterology and kidney disease.

Dr Stephanie McGrath

Veterinary Cognitive and Clinical Science Specialist

Dr. McGrath is an Associate Professor in the Neurology Service at Colorado State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. She went to Michigan State University for veterinary school and completed an internship at Red Bank Veterinary Hospital. Dr. McGrath did her neurology residency at Colorado State University and has been a faculty member since 2012. Dr. McGrath's clinical trials program focuses on canine and feline aging and cognitive decline, brain tumor therapies, and epilepsy. Recently, Dr. McGrath became the Director of the Brain Research Center at Colorado State University, which provides a pipeline for brain researchers at CSU and a resource for trainees.

Dr. Matt Kaeberlein

CEO of Optispan, Co-Director of Dog Aging Project

Dr. Matt Kaeberlein is an American biologist and biogerontologist whose research interests are focused on biological mechanisms of aging to facilitate translational interventions that promote health span and improve quality of life.

He has published more than 200 scientific papers, has been recognized by several prestigious awards, and has Fellow status in the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the American Aging Association, and the Gerontological Society of America (GSA).

The Dog Aging Project, conducts rigorous scientific research designed to define, explain, and ameliorate the effects of aging. The Dog Aging Project is committed to helping dogs live longer, healthier lives and Matt Kaeberlein brings this wealth of knowledge to PetLab Co. helping to design evidence-based products to increase lifespan and health-span of dogs.