Blánaid has been a part-time associate at Bay Cities since her graduation from the Ontario Veterinary College (OVC) in the Spring of 2009. Blánaid was born and “dragged up” in and around Belfast, Northern Ireland. Never having any family pets as a child, she realized she wanted to become a veterinarian at age 13 when she began volunteering at an animal shelter with some friends. She emmigrated to Canada with her family in 2002 and shortly thereafter began a degree in Biological Sciences at the University of Guelph. In 2005 she was admitted to OVC where she was an active member of the College community as Vice President of her class, representative of the Class of 2009 to the Central Veterinary Students’ Association, sat on the organizing committees of the Leadership Conference and Students of the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association Symposium 2008, was a member of the OTS Veterinary Fraternity as well as the OVC Alumni Association.Blánaid is currently working full-time on her Master’s degree in Public Health at the University of Guelph. She hopes one day to work on the prevention and control of diseases that are passed between people and animals (zoonotic diseases). She is also Vice President of the OVC Alumni Association. Blánaid has two orange tabby cats at home in Guelph named Tiernan and Stylo.