Doctor Thijs van Loon graduated in 2000 from the Utrecht Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. After graduating, he worked for 3 years in a mixed private practice. After the first year with a lot of general practice, he started to focus on equine anesthesia and internal medicine. In early 2004 he returned to the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Utrecht and received a training position in veterinary anesthesiology, pain management and Intensive Care. Simultaneously with the training programme, Thijs started a doctoral research into local pain relief techniques in horses (including epidural anesthesia) and into the objective measurement of pain manifestations. 

In 2012, Thijs passed his exams for the European register of specialists and became a diplomate of the European College of Veterinary Anesthesiologists and Analgesia (ECVAA). In the same year he completed his PhD and defended his dissertation in the Academy Building in Utrecht entitled “Analgesia in the Horse, various approaches for assessment and treatment of pain and nociception in equines”. 

Between 2012 and 2021 Thijs continued to work at the Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care of the University Clinic for Horses in Utrecht. He has guided countless students, interns and specialists in training. In addition to his work in the clinic, he continued research into making acute and chronic pain measurable in horses and donkeys. This resulted, among other things, in the development of the EPWA (Equine Pain and Welfare App) app. This app, with which pain signals in horses and donkeys can be objectively measured, was developed with the cooperation of colleagues and research students, supported by the Friends of Veterinary Medicine Foundation and the Paardenkamp Foundation. A version that can be used for working horses and donkeys in developing countries is being developed, with support from Brooke Hospital for Animals. 

Thijs has been working at SMDC since in September 2021. Both in Heesch and in the international clinics of Altano, he uses his knowledge and experience to supervise (sometimes complex) anesthesia and sedation procedures and to contribute to the further development of pain relief for various disorders. Thijs also provides refresher courses in anesthesia and pain relief for Altano Academy. Since the beginning of 2023, Thijs combines his work for SMDC and Altano with working at the department of clinical sciences at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. 

Thijs is currently moving back to Utrecht University to further commit to clinical teaching, patient care and clinical research in the filed of pain management and assessment.

Dr. Stacy Tinkler is an independent consultant based in Ireland. She dedicates part of her professional life to working equid volunteer veterinary projects through the Equitarian Initiative and has a passion for international veterinary medicine. She has been working with working equids and on projects in Central and South America for the past 20 years and has most recently been a volunteer veterinarian at the Gambia Horse and Donkey Trust and the American Fondouk in Fes, Morocco. Dr. Tinkler is the former Head of Veterinary Services at The Donkey Sanctuary Ireland, where she worked for ~3 years. Prior to this, Stacy worked in large animal internal medicine and equine ambulatory practice at Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine for 11 years. Since graduation from the University of Minnesota, College of Veterinary Medicine in 2005, she completed her large animal internal medicine residency in 2010 at the University of Minnesota, College of Veterinary Medicine after a 1-year internship at Chaparral Animal Hospital, a private equine practice, in Phoenix, Arizona. She also completed a master’s degree in public health from the University of Minnesota in 2014.