Our Team

Dr. Nicholas H. Dodman is one of the world’s most noted and celebrated veterinary behaviorists. Dr. Dodman attended Glasgow University Veterinary School in Scotland where he received a BVMS (DVM equivalent). He subsequently became a surgical intern at the Glasgow Veterinary School before joining the faculty. He received a Diploma in Veterinary Anesthesia from the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons in 1975.

In 1981 Dr. Dodman immigrated to the United States where he became a faculty member of Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine. He was board certified in veterinary anesthesia and analgesia in 1982. Around that time, Dr. Dodman became interested in behavioral pharmacology and the field of animal behavior.

After spending several years in this area of research, he founded the Animal Behavior Clinic – one of the first of its kind – at Tufts in 1986.  He received additional board certification in animal behavior from the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists in 1995.  Dr. Dodman began to see clinical cases in 1987 and since 1990; he has devoted all of his time to his specialty practice of animal behavior.

Since the mid 1990s, Dr. Dodman has written five acclaimed bestselling books that have received a tremendous amount of national press.  His first book, The Dog Who Loved Too Much (Bantam Books, 1995), was an unqualified success as was his second book, The Cat Who Cried for Help (Bantam Books, 1997).  His third book, Dogs Behaving Badly (Bantam Books, 1999) was again a bestseller. If Only They Could Speak (W.W. Norton & Co., 2002) was released 2002 and again in 2007 after The Wall Street Journal listed it as “One of the Five Best Dogs Books.” His next book,The Well-Adjusted Dog (2007) was intended as a bible for dog owners everywhere; Dog Ownership 101, so to speak and then came Pets on the Couch (Atria Books 2017), a summary of the findings of his life’s work. In addition to his own books, Dodman has contributed to and edited two Tufts books, Puppy’s First Steps (Houghton Mifflin 2007) and Good Old Dog (Houghton Mifflin 2010).  

Dr. Dodman is internationally recognized and sought after as a leader in his field.  In addition to his trade books, he has authored two textbooks and more than 300 articles and contributions to scientific books and journals.  He also holds several US Patents for various inventions related to the control of animal behavior.  Dr. Dodman appears regularly on radio and television including:  20/20, Oprah, The Today Show, Good Morning America, The early Show, Dateline, World News with Peter Jennings, Discovery Channel, NOVA, Animal Planet, Fox TV, the BBC and CBC, CNN’s Headline News, Inside Edition, MSNBC, NOVA, NPR’s “Fresh Air” and A&E.  He is an ad hoc guest on WBUR’s “Radio Boston.”   Good Morning America producer Patty Nager dubbed Dr Dodman their ad hoc pet behavioral expert. 

Her research interests include teaching methodologies for veterinary behavioral medicine; reducing canine and feline stress during veterinary care; the use of behavior-modifying medications to reduce canine anxiety and arousal; and the relationship between pain, disease, and behavioral changes in dogs and cats. Her professional interests also include dog-bite prevention through a better understanding of canine social signaling and the use of structured, facilitated dialogue to promote constructive discussion of evidence-based approaches to dog training and management.

Dr. Borns-Weil has authored peer-reviewed publications and textbook chapters, including contributions to Blackwell’s Five-Minute Veterinary Consult Clinical Companion: Canine and Feline Behavior, the Merck Veterinary Manual, and Feline Behavior and Welfare.

Aishwarya Kulkarni is a healthcare data scientist, program evaluation specialist, and bioinformatics researcher with more than 10 years of experience applying statistical analysis, machine learning, and data science to biomedical, clinical, and population-health research.

Her professional experience includes research and analytical roles at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Washington University in St. Louis, Genesis Biotechnology Group, BreakSight, NorthKey Community Care, and Brightli. Across these positions, she has analyzed complex clinical, genomic, electronic health record, demographic, and behavioral-health datasets; developed predictive and classification models; created reproducible research workflows; and built dashboards and reports to support clinical research, program evaluation, quality improvement, and evidence-based decision-making.

During her work at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Aishwarya collaborated with clinicians, molecular biologists, and computational scientists to formulate research questions, conduct statistical analyses, interpret findings, and prepare publication-quality figures and manuscripts. She is a co-author of seven peer-reviewed biomedical publications appearing in journals including Nature Communications, Nature Cell Biology, the Journal of Clinical Investigation, PLoS ONE, Blood, and Experimental Hematology.

Aishwarya holds a Master of Science in Bioinformatics from the Indiana University School of Informatics, a Graduate Certificate in Bioinformatics from the University of Cincinnati, and a Bachelor of Science in Biotechnology from the University of Pune. Her technical expertise includes R, Python, SQL, SAS, Power BI, Tableau, statistical modeling, predictive analytics, data visualization, and research-data validation.

At Be BiteSmart℠, Aishwarya contributes her experience in research methodology, data preparation, statistical analysis, interpretation, and scientific reporting. Her role helps ensure that Be BiteSmart’s educational and research initiatives are grounded in carefully analyzed evidence and communicated clearly to both professional and public audiences.

Her commitment to this work is also personal. A lifelong animal advocate, Aishwarya has two rescue dogs and has volunteered as a foster for animal-rescue organizations, helping dogs transition into permanent homes. This experience has strengthened her appreciation for the diversity of canine behavior and for the importance of applying rigorous, evidence-based research to improve the lives of dogs, children, and families.

Pierinna Tenchio (IAABC-ADT) is an accredited dog trainer, journalist, editor, translator, and educator from Uruguay whose career bridges communication, education, and animal behavior.

As an IAABC-ADT (Accredited Dog Trainer) through the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants (IAABC), she has demonstrated professional competence in evidence-based, humane dog training, meeting rigorous standards in applied behavior, learning theory, and ethical practice. She also serves as Language Director for the IAABC, coordinating multilingual translation projects and supporting the organization’s global educational initiatives.

With more than 30 years of experience in journalism, Pierinna is currently Editor-in-Chief of El Telégrafo, one of Uruguay’s leading regional newspapers, where she oversees editorial content, reporting, and newsroom operations.

In parallel, she has worked as a professional English–Spanish translator since 2010, specializing in literary, legal, medical, veterinary, marketing, and educational translations, as well as website localization, e-learning materials, and children’s books. Her extensive experience includes collaborations with international organizations and the translation of professional resources related to animal behavior, education, and healthcare.

Pierinna has completed formal training in dog training, canine body language, and Tellington Ttouch®, combining scientific knowledge with practical family education. Together with her son—a musician—she co-founded DogFam, a family project dedicated to helping families create safer, stronger relationships with their dogs through education, training, and behavior consulting.

Through DogFam, they design and present engaging educational workshops for children that teach canine body language, safe interactions with dogs, and bite prevention using music, storytelling, games, and interactive activities. Their mission is to foster empathy, responsible dog guardianship, and harmonious coexistence between children and dogs.

Combining expertise in communication, translation, education, and canine behavior, Pierinna is committed to making complex information accessible and promoting evidence-based practices that improve the lives of both people and animals.

A trained programmer and accomplished composer, musician, recording engineer and producer, John has spent nearly two decades working across the creative and technical sides of digital media. His experience encompasses recording, mixing and mastering; audiovisual production;web and full-stack development; data science; AI-enabled systems; and technologies including APIs, automation and multimodal media.

For Be BiteSmart, John helps transform educational concepts and expert knowledge into professionally produced digital media—bringing together sound, voice, music, video, technology and emerging AI capabilities in support of the organization’s child-injury prevention mission.

John Alejandro Guarenas Fersaca is a multidisciplinary audiovisual producer and technologist whose career spans professional audio engineering, music production, multimedia, software development and artificial intelligence.

Based in Greater Buenos Aires, John graduated as a Programming Technician in 2006 and later studied Data Science through IBM on Coursera. His technical work now includes web development, workflow automation, APIs, AI-enabled systems and multimodal technologies. At the same time, he has built a substantial creative career as a composer, multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, recording engineer, mixing and mastering engineer and producer.

John has worked across virtually every stage of audiovisual production, including recording, engineering, mixing, mastering, arranging, programming, multimedia editing and production sound for film. His familiarity with tools such as Blender, After Effects and Illustrator also gives him a broad understanding of visual production and allows him to work effectively across
multidisciplinary creative teams.

For Be BiteSmart, John helps transform expert educational content into professionally produced digital media. He brings together voice, sound, music, video, software, automation and emerging AI capabilities to create engaging and scalable child-safety education.

What makes John especially valuable is the breadth of his experience. In many organizations, his responsibilities would be divided among a programmer, sound engineer, producer, multimedia specialist and AI developer. John understands how all of these disciplines can work together as one integrated production system.

Even after entering the tech field, Janet Spellman has not forgotten her five years working in animal shelters as an adoption counselor. She first considered a tech career after building an automated audiobook program to reduce stress levels in shelter pets and after seeing a notable reduction in noise levels, she was inspired to pursue it seriously. Seeing that kind of impact in a field that has historically lagged in technology only deepened her motivation.

She pivoted into tech by completing a 30-week MERN stack training program through the 100Devs agency, and has since taken on freelance projects through her own practice, Spellman’s Consulting. She notably built Homeward Tails, a free full-stack platform designed to increase pet adoption rates by targeting a pain point shelter workers face: regularly creating engaging pet bios for even tough cases. It’s essentially a baby name site for pets, where users can filter through names and descriptions to create engaging bios. Currently with 23 users, including active shelter workers.

When she came across Be BiteSmart’s mission to protect young children from dog bites through education, it felt natural to apply for the volunteer opportunity. She now serves as the organization’s WordPress Developer and Site Administrator, building and maintaining the website.

Reginald “Reggie” Magtibay is a digital communications and project management professional whose experience spans education, digital operations, business analysis, and international collaboration. With a background that combines technology, organizational management, and cross-cultural engagement, he brings valuable operational and digital strategy support to the Be BiteSmart SM initiative of the Center for Canine Behavior Studies.

Reggie’s professional experience includes work in digital project coordination, business analysis, and educational environments requiring strong communication, workflow management, and stakeholder engagement skills. His international perspective and technology-oriented background align closely with Be BiteSmart’s long-term vision of delivering scalable, globally accessible child-safety education through digital media, educational platforms, and multilingual outreach initiatives.

Within Be BiteSmart, Reggie contributes to the initiative’s broader mission of helping families, caregivers, educators, and communities access age-appropriate educational resources designed to reduce preventable pediatric dog-bite injuries. His involvement supports the program’s ongoing development as a modern, digitally driven public-education initiative with both domestic and international potential.