Dr. Newman received a B.S. in Biochemistry at the University of California, Riverside in 1979. She earned a Ph.D. in Anatomy at the University of Washington in 1984, and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology until 1988.

Since 1989, she has been involved in tissue banking at the American Red Cross Tissue Services and the Northwest Tissue Center, both nationally-known human tissue banks that are accredited by the American Association of Tissue Banks (AATB). She served as Technical Supervisor and Associate Director, and was responsible for donor recruitment, procurement, processing, and cryopreservation of all types of allografts.

Prior to founding Veterinary Transplant Services, Dr. Newman was a Research Scientist at the Northwest Tissue Center. She is currently an Affiliate Assistant Professor of Orthopaedics at the University of Washington in Seattle and a Certified Tissue Banking Specialist (CTBS). Her research centers around tissue banking issues, including: cryopreservation of allografts (cartilage, heart valves, skin, and hematopoietic stem cells), viability assessments, clinical allograft outcome studies, and quality assurance validation studies. She now maintains consulting activities for a number of human tissue banks.

She has actively served the American Association of Tissue Banks as a member of the Standards and Procedures Committee, as a tissue bank inspector, and as an elected member of the Board of Governors and Chair of the Tissue Bank Council of that organization. She was the principal author of the AATB Technical Manual for Cardiovascular Tissues (1992) and a co-editor of the AATB Standards for Tissue Banking (1993 and 1996) as well as other publications related to cell and tissue banking.

She enjoys being an integral part of a team whose main focus is improving the quality of pets' lives; translating advancements in human medicine to benefits for animals. Her favorite pastime is “Shep”, her energetic German shepherd.

Ms. Cadle is responsible for the quality control operations at VTS and also provides support for all aspects of our technical activities. Donna is a member of the American Association of Tissue Banks (AATB) and as a tissue bank specialist is knowledgeable in procurement and processing activities, protocols for clean room environments, and sterilization, (including planning, preparation, aseptic clean room practices, packaging, clean-up, and maintaining general readiness for procedures.) She also assists the Director in operating VTS by providing supervision and development of the Quality Assurance Program. As the Quality Assurance Supervisor she is responsible for documentation management, creating and maintaining standard operating procedures, and equipment qualification and maintenance.

Donna Clements, MS
Practice Manager

Ms. Clements earned a Master's Degree in Library Science, with an emphasis on research, from California State University, San Jose in 1982. Her undergraduate degree is in Geography from Cal Poly University, Pomona.

She has participated in the development of Veterinary Transplant Services since 1999. She serves as our practice manager, with responsibilities for general management of business growth and development. She also serves as an executive assistant to the Director and maintains our ever-evolving Standard Operating Procedures Manual. Donna has experience in aseptic graft procurement and processing in controlled clean room environments, equipment operation for orthopedic allograft production, and in the quality control procedures involved in tissue banking.

She trains working Border Collies and maintains an active interest in all canine athletes.

Mr. Hall studied animal biology at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, AZ where he got his first experience working with animals as a lab assistant and also at a pet retail shop. Prior to joining VTS, he spent over ten years as an animal technician at a Seattle biotech. His primary duties included small animal procedures, laboratory maintenance and animal care.  

As a Tissue Bank Specialist and through his prior work as an animal technician, he is experienced in aseptic technique and general laboratory procedures. These also include clean room protocols such as procurement, tissue processing, packaging, and microbiology procedures.

In his spare time he enjoys family, travel, music and the outdoors. He shares his home with three cats, Dot, Salem, and Figaro.

Ms. Leach has over fifteen years of experience in manufacturing production and assembly. She has experience in inspection, packaging, production, and tool construction.

Peggy plays a vital role in the function of VTS. She is actively involved in assisting with quality control activities and is responsible for maintaining general readiness for procedures. She ensures that equipment and supplies are properly maintained and prepared for use in procedures, including creation of packs, sterilization, and clean-up. Peggy is also responsible for general maintenance & cleaning of the laboratory/clean room, offices and equipment and general assistance with day-to-day activities as needed for smooth operation of VTS. When she's not keeping VTS in line, she's busy raising 2 rescued kittens and a senior.

Mr. Mayer earned a Master’s Degree in International Management at the School of Global Commerce and Management at Whitworth College in Spokane, WA in 2006. He received a Preliminary Diploma in Business and Economics from the University of Trier in his home country, Germany.

While contributing to the company’s domestic marketing activities, he focuses on the development of international markets enabling VTS to respond to the many requests for VTS bone grafts from veterinarians outside the USA. With prior experience in business development and marketing, he has skills in market research, business planning, and outreach. Believing in the positive effects of a highly interdependent world, he enjoys the opportunity to contribute to global business.

He enjoys traveling and connecting with people from all parts of the globe.

Mr. Morgan is our Production and Facilities Manager. He is experienced in working with and in clean room environments. He is adept at aseptic surgical tissue procurement and processing. He has direct experience working in the areas of procurement and processing of bone, soft musculoskeletal, and corneal tissues, as well as in processing and cryopreservation of hematopoeitic stem cells. He specializes in the matching of large segmental bone allografts for tumor and trauma patients. He finds this aspect a most rewarding part of tissue banking, since it is part of a team that provides matching grafts for those patients that, only a few years ago, would have certainly had limb amputation as their only option. He maintains our computer network and manages the day-to-day activity in our lab. He is also interested in furthering the development of our donor program, working with veterinary clinics to expand awareness of the option of tissue donation.

Matt received his A.A. in Veterinary Technology from Pierce College, Steilacoom, WA in 2001. Prior to joining VTS he worked as a licensed technician in both large and small animal hospitals. He also has prior experience as a Quality Assurance Inspector in the aerospace manufacturing industry.

As Production Manager, Matt is responsible for maintaining VTS’ inventory of transplant grafts, ensuring that grafts are available when patients need them. He supervises the technical staff and also ensures the functionality of the building systems and tissue bank equipment. As a Tissue Bank Specialist, he is experienced in aseptic surgical procurement techniques and employing and maintaining equipment for allograft production, processing and packaging. Matt enjoys being a part of a team providing unique products and service that advance animal health care.

His personal interests include alternative energies, astronomy and his adopted animals; the cat, Elvis and dogs, Lucy and Mabel.