Rachel Hector

Growing up all over the world, one thing was a constant in my life: animals of all kinds and the desire to become a veterinarian. I could be counted on to befriend the neighborhood cats and spend more time at a party getting to know the resident dog than anyone else. I spent years working with abused and neglected horses and owned and trained horses throughout my undergraduate studies in animal sciences and subsequently veterinary school at Oregon State University. Early on in my veterinary education, I knew that I wanted to pursue specialty training because I wanted to keep learning and innovating after graduation - at first I just didn't know which specialty to choose. After veterinary school, I worked at an equine surgical referral practice outside of Vancouver, British Columbia for two years prior to completing a residency and board certification in veterinary anesthesiology at Colorado State University in 2017. My favorite thing about anesthesia is that it combines aspects of all specialties. To do it well, one must understand surgery, oncology, internal medicine, cardiology, and pharmacology to name a few. For someone with an interest in just about everything, anesthesia is the ultimate specialty. Although I love working on all species, my area of expertise and research focus is primarily equine. Some of my particular interests include equine post-operative pain management, improving anesthetic recovery safety, behavior and handling of nervous and frightened horses in a hospital setting, and anesthetic management of horses with colic and endotoxemia.