Division of Environmental Health
Adjunct Associate Professor
Email: stkalcic@westernu.edu
Download CV (pdf)
Biography
A native of Croatia, Dr. Tkalcic has earned her DVM degree in 1995 from the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. She continued her graduate studies in the USA, and has completed her PhD (2001) and residency training in Veterinary Pathology (2003) at the Department of Veterinary Pathology and Athens Diagnostic Laboratory, University of Georgia, Athens, GA. Since that time her interest involved international veterinary medicine and the role of pathologists in food safety, public health, bio- and agroterrorism. She is an Associate Professor of Veterinary Pathology at Western University of Health Sciences since 2003, where she is involved in collaborative research and various pathology expert activities involving marine mammals and birds (Marine Mammal Care Center, International Oiled Bird Rescue, Attwater’s Prairie Chickens, Infectious bronchitis, Avian Influenza), and had brought aboard many veterinary students as volunteers and participants in student summer research projects regarding ocean health. Dr. Tkalcic is an active proponent of interprofessional collaboration, Interprofessional Education, Problem Based Learning in medical education, and a speaker/presenter at several local and international conferences in the field of medical education, One Health, ocean health, comparative and marine mammal pathology. She is currently a member of several aquatic medicine organizations (MAR3INE, IAAAM, AMEE, ACS), Medical advisory board member for the Los Angeles Zoo, and co-advisor for several student clubs and Universities. She is also the adjunct faculty for the Department of ecology, agronomy and aquaculture, University of Zadar, Croatia, and School of Public Health, SDSU. Dr. Tkalcic was presenter for the 1st and 2nd International Congress on “One Health” in Melbourne, Australia (2011), and Bangkok, Thailand (2013). She is recipient of the Dr. Ljudevit Jurak Award for Comparative Pathology by the Croatian Medical Academy, corresponding member of the Croatian Medical Academy, member of the Scientific Board of the Jurak Symposium on Comparative Pathology, and the 2017. Croatian Women of Influence award recipient for Science and Technology.
