WASHINGTON – The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association named Kathy Simmons, DVM, as chief veterinarian for the NCBA. Simmons will focus on animal care and health regulatory issues, both domestic and international.

Simmons practiced veterinary medicine for 27 years at the Herndon-Reston Animal Hospital in Herndon, Va., according to NCBA.  She studied biology and biochemistry as an undergraduate at Virginia Tech Univ. She earned her doctor of veterinary medicine degree from the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech in 1984. For the past 11 years, Simmons has been managing her family’s cow-calf operation, S&S Farms, in West Virginia, where they raise registered black Angus cattle.

Most recently, Simmons spent a year as a congressional policy fellow for the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Veterinary Medical Association. She served in the office of US Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) focusing on health policy issues, according to NCBA.

“As I learned many years ago working with my family on our farm, cattlemen and women must have the ability to work with their veterinarians to implement science-based, comprehensive herd health plans and provide the utmost care for their animals,” Simmons said. “Regulations and policies affecting animal health should not stifle their ability and must be science-based.

“Cattlemen and women work each day to raise healthy cattle and provide your families with the safest beef supply in the world,” she added. “This is a one-of-a-kind opportunity that will enable me to use my practical veterinary and policy experiences to ensure cattlemen and women have all the cattle health resources and tools they need while also maintaining an active role on my family’s farm and working alongside America’s cattle farmers and ranchers.”