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Diversity and Inclusion

EveryCat Health Foundation welcomes and promotes diversity and inclusion for all who are seeking to create, support, deliver and share the science of understanding, healing, curing, and caring for every cat, every day.

EveryCat Policy on Diversity and Inclusion

EveryCat Health Foundation was formed to promote the health and welfare of all cats by developing or participating in projects for their betterment, including the funding of research and education. The mission is most effectively fulfilled through a commitment to inclusiveness as a core policy and fundamental operating principle. It is the policy of EveryCat Health Foundation to engage in an active and ongoing process that affirms human diversity in its many forms, encompassing but not limited to ethnicity, race, gender, sexual orientation and identification, age, economic circumstance, class, disability, geography and philosophy. EveryCat Health Foundation seeks diversity to ensure that a range of perspectives, opinions, and experiences are recognized and acted upon in achieving our mission.

 

 

EveryCat Health Foundation Celebrates Black History Month and the Diversity of Cat Lovers Everywhere

 

 

Meet some notable Cat Lovers

John Lewis  (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020)

“Too many of us still believe our differences define us.”

Congressman, Civil Right Leader, Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient..

Cat lover.

 

Josephine Baker  (January 3, 1906 – April 12, 1975

“Surely the day will come when color means nothing more than the skin tone…”

Vaudeville entertainer, World War II Resistance Fighter, Civil Rights Activist.

Cat lover.

Lena Horne  (June 30, 1917 – May 9, 2010)

“You have to be taught to be second class; you’re not born that way.”

American Singer, Dancer, Actress, Civil Rights Activist.

Cat lover.

Harry Belafonte

American singer, songwriter, and actor. Grammy, Emmy and Tony award winner, Kennedy Center Honors and National Medal of Arts recipient. Civil rights activist, UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.

Cat lover.

Cee Lo Green

American singer-songwriter, rapper, record producer, and actor. 5-time Grammy winner, BET award winner, and Brit Award winner. The Voice coach and judge for 4 seasons.

Cat lover.

Marlon James

Jamaican novelist, Writer in Residence and Associate Professor of Literature, Macalester College, Man Booker Prize for Literature recipient, podcaster.

Cat lover.

Alice Walker

American novelist and poet. National Book Award for Fiction winner, Pulitzer Prize for Fiction recipient. Contributing Editor of Ms. Magazine. Civil and social rights activist.

Cat lover.

Yaphet Kotto

Motion picture, television and Broadway stage actor, author and scriptwriter. 4-time Emmy Award nominee. 4-time NAACP Image Award Nominee. Singer.

Cat lover.

Louis Armstrong  (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971)

American jazz musician, composer, singer and actor. Grammy Award winner and Grammy Hall of Fame inductee. Rock and Roll hall of Fame and Louisiana Music Hall of Fame inductee.

Cat lover.

Nina Simone (February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003)

American Singer, songwriter, musician. 4-time Grammy award nominee and Grammy Hall of Fame inductee. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee. Civil rights activist.

Cat lover.

Meet the EveryCat Health Foundation
Diversity and Inclusion Committee

Hasan Alhaddad, Ph.D

Assistant Professor of Genetics, Dept. of Biological Sciences, Kuwait University

Kuwait City, Kuwait

Hasan Alhaddad, Ph.D

Assistant Professor of Genetics, Dept. of Biological Sciences, Kuwait University

Kuwait City, Kuwait

Hasan is an Assistant Professor of Genetics at Kuwait University (hagenetics.org). He received his scientific training with a focus on feline genetics at the University of California, Davis. He earned his Ph.D. in 2013 and since then he has published several studies on the population genetics of cat breeds and on the mapping of genetic basis of phenotypes and diseases. He currently is the principal investigator of a research laboratory that focuses in addition to feline genetics on the molecular and morphological variation of camels.

Kathy Calhoun

EveryCat Health Foundation Treasurer

Chicago, IL

Kathy Calhoun

EveryCat Health Foundation Treasurer

Chicago, IL

Kathy has served on the Cat Fanciers Association (CFA) for 20 years. Most of those years as CFA’s Treasurer and a few years as Midwest Regional Director. Kathy also currently chairs a number of committees for CFA which include the International Division, Audit, Budget, and Diversity & Inclusion. Kathy serves as CFA’s delegate to the World Cat Congress and as treasurer for both the CFA Foundation and the Maine Coon Breed Council. Kathy is also a member of several CFA Clubs.
Kathy has been in the CFA Judging Program for 15 years and is an Allbreed Judge. She has had the opportunity to judge all over the world including Asia, Europe, Latin America, Canada, Russia, New Zealand, South Africa, Australia, and of course the United States.
Kathy got her start in cats exhibiting household pets. In 1991, she established her cattery, 5800 Dreams, along with her son. Her love of cats and passion led her to breed and show Maine Coons, American Wirehairs, American Shorthairs, Tonkinese, Russian Blue, and Lykoi’s. She has received national wins with both her Maine Coons and her American Wirehairs.
Kathy is a graduate of the University of Illinois in Champaign, Illinois, and is retired from PepsiCo. She lives in Chicago and has the pleasure of spending time with her family including her son, daughter-in-law, and her grandson.
When not involved with judging or her many organizational responsibilities, Kathy loves the theatre, music, dining (not cooking), and spending time with her friends and her cats.
Here is a little-known fact – Kathy can play the bagpipes!

Virginia Rud, CVT

EveryCat Health Foundation Outreach and Education Specialist

Muscatine, IA

Virginia Rud, CVT

EveryCat Health Foundation Outreach and Education Specialist

Muscatine, IA

Virginia joined EveryCat Health Foundation in 2019. Her responsibilities include promoting EveryCat and its mission at various cat shows and related events, pet and animal industry trade shows, and veterinary conferences, plus managing EveryCat’s Webinar series, social media, and newsletter. Without a doubt, her favorite responsibility is talking to people about EveryCat Health Foundation and sharing the significance of EveryCat’s mission to improve the lives of every cat, every day, through EveryCat-funded health studies.

Virginia studied English at the University of Minnesota, and, after years in Emergency Communications, she quit her job and followed her passion into Veterinary Medicine. She received her Vet Tech degree in 2001 and has practiced in rural and urban veterinary hospitals, with both large and small animal patients. Prior to joining EveryCat, she worked for the National Association of Veterinary Technicians in America, taught in several Veterinary Technology Programs, and served as Veterinary Technology Program Director at a community college in Iowa.

Virginia considers herself an extroverted introvert, and when she isn’t working, she likes to read, write (yes, she plans to someday write the great American novel), and travel. She shares her home with her partner Jim and her German Shepherd Dog, Seger.

Alas, currently no feline companions.

“To know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. That is to have succeeded.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson