Annual Conference Technician Track Speakers

Courtney Burbage is an LVT and has been part of the Auburn University Emergency and Critical Care team since 2013 as well as supervisor of the Small Animal ECC since 2023. Her interests include geriatric and hospice care, emergency and critical care and teaching technical nursing skills.

Dr. Pete Christopherson is a former Professor of Pathobiology at Auburn University. He earned his DVM from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and completed a combined clinical pathology residency and graduate training program at Auburn. Board certified by the American College of Veterinary Pathologists, he later earned a PhD in veterinary hemostasis. He subsequently joined the Auburn CVM faculty and served as director of the clinical pathology and hemostasis laboratories until 2024.

Dr. Sue Duran is a consultant for Gates Healthcare Associates, Inc., in Veterinary Pharmaceutics and a former 43-year member of the Auburn CVM faculty, where she retired as Professor and Director of the Large Animal Pharmacy in the Department of Clinical Sciences. She has taught more than 2200 continuing education programs on pharmacology, pharmacy law, the opioid crisis, compounding and the development of sustained release medications.

Katie Ray is an LVT working in large animal anesthesia at the Auburn University CVM. In that role, she has worked with a wide variety of animals including primates, lions, giraffes, tigers, hogs, horses, zebras, camels, pigs, kangaroos and goats.

Missy Streicher has been a veterinary technician for over 30 years with the last 25 dedicated to dermatology, first in a private practice setting and then at Auburn University. She has served on the organizing committee for the Academy of Veterinary Dermatology Technicians and has held a VTS in Dermatology since 2015, when the ADVT was recognized as a technician specialty by NAVTA (North American Veterinary Technician Association).