Each year, the RUSVM Alumni Awards recognize outstanding graduates that are leaders, rising stars, and committed volunteers. We are pleased to recognize and celebrate the 2025 Volunteer Service Award recipient, Ysabel Wright, DVM ’17, MSc ’20.
A Commitment to Community
Some people are simply born to it. For Dr. Ysabel Wright, that’s equally true for her calling to give back, as it was for her education at RUSVM that led her to a thriving veterinary career. Her drive to help others has been a constant from her childhood, through the early years of her veterinary practice at a rural mixed animal at a county government facility in Ohio, and her concentrated efforts to build sustainable veterinary services on the island of St. Kitts through her recently founded nonprofit.
“My parents instilled this in me from a young age. I grew up surrounded by service,” she says. Dr. Wright’s uncle and aunt moved their family to Jamaica as missionaries, and her parents devoted themselves to fighting causes like homelessness and hunger, throughout Ohio and on a mission trip to New Orleans to help after the infamous damage from Hurricane Katrina. “As I’ve grown older, I’ve come to understand the deep connection you can make when you meet people and really listen to them and their needs,” she adds. “It’s what makes the flame burn even more.”
Visioning a Nonprofit to Bridge Animal Care Gaps
Dr. Wright met her husband, a native of St. Kitts, while in school where she developed a fast love for the island and its people. Despite her interest in a full-time veterinary position on the island, the financial and logistical realities of student loans and a high cost of living made it unfeasible at the time. But her interest never stopped, and she envisioned something more powerful: a nonprofit mission-based effort to bring crucial veterinary care to farmers and their animals through collaboration, training and visits.
Winning the support of both the Prime Minister and Ministry of Agriculture, Dr. Wright launched a nonprofit: Veterinarian Alliance – Venture for Accessible Care, aimed at creating sustainable veterinary support for the animals and farmers of St. Kitts. Fast forward to today with the nonprofit officially incorporated in early summer 2024 and results that have accelerated beyond what Dr. Wright could have first imagined. What started as a plan to make missionary-like trips to the island has evolved into the building of a long-term veterinary infrastructure and farmer education program. “It’s not just about treating animals but about training people who care for them. That means working with farmers, animal owners and even seasoned veterinarians to bridge knowledge gaps,” she says.
The challenges are still real: limited diagnostics, outdated tools and the shortcomings of traditional farming methods, but the vision for the future is clear. With the help and support of people both stateside and in St. Kitts, Dr. Wright is now developing affordable diagnostics, preventative care, technical training including ultrasonography and other practical needs surrounding husbandry. She’s doing all of this while expecting her second child in November and jokes that she has two new babies coming—one a child, and one a cause.
Service-Driven for Life
“I don’t do what I do for awards,” Dr. Wright says. “It’s something I’m meant to do.” And to those considering volunteerism after their studies she advises: “Think about what you love. Then ask yourself how you can realistically make it part of your life. Service doesn’t have to be everything, but it can be something important.”
