Dr. Downing is Hospital Director of The Downing Center for Animal Pain Management, LLC. She has received many regional, national, and international awards, including the Excellence in Veterinary Medicine Award in 2001 from the World Small Animal Veterinary Association, the Erwin Small Distinguished Alumni Award in 2016 from the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine, and most recently the 2020 Leo K. Bustad Companion Animal Veterinarian of the Year Award from the AVMA. Dr. Downing is a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation, a Certified Veterinary Pain Practitioner, and she was the third veterinarian in the world to earn the Diplomate credential in the American Academy of Pain Management (a human pain management organization). She was a founder of the International Veterinary Academy of Pain Management, and served as that organization’s second President. In addition, she has served as President of the American Association of Human-Animal Bond Veterinarians (now called the Human-Animal Bond Association). Dr. Downing is an internationally sought-after speaker on a wide variety of topics including pain management, physical rehabilitation, physical medicine, hospice/end-of- life care, anesthesia related topics, and overcoming compliance obstacles/issues inveterinary medicine. In 2016 she completed her Master of Science degree in Clinical Bioethics from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in NYC and Union Graduate College with the intention of translating the practices of clinical bioethics for application in veterinary medicine. This commitment includes framing the imperatives of the Fear Free movement, as well as comprehensive acute and chronic pain management, as obligations grounded in bioethical principles. She is now working on a Doctorate in Clinical Bioethics at Loyola University of Chicago. .