Devoted Veterinarian

As chief veterinarian for New York City Animal Care and Control, Njeri Cruse 88F consistently puts in long days. The city-affiliated nonprofit rescues, cares for, and finds homes for some 50,000 homeless and abandoned animals each year.

Dr. Cruse heads a team of six full-time veterinarians who, along with technicians and assistants, provide medical care for five shelters, one in each borough, with the two largest in Brooklyn and Manhattan each caring for up to 500 animals a day. Care is given to all creatures that come through the doors, which means a wide variety of species with diverse problems.

"Many people are surprised to hear that we run one of the most successful animal adoption programs in the city," says Cruse.

Cruse is clearly passionate about her life's work. She became a vegetarian while growing up in Brooklyn and organized an animal rights group while in high school. Her Division III at Hampshire—working with professors Mark Feinstein, Lynn Miller, Ray Coppinger, and Ben Oke—involved a project on cattle nutrition. She earned her veterinary degree at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.

"Hampshire prepares you to work independently, giving you a more creative perspective on how to do things, so that you can go beyond the strictly scientific and look at a program as a whole," Cruse explains. "Hampshire allows you to use science in a really creative fashion, which I have found extremely helpful in working in the animal shelter system, where there are limited resources and lots of restrictions.

"I always knew I wanted to pursue veterinary medicine, but I also wanted to incorporate other interests, such as animal behavior, animal rights, and activism. My interest in shelter medicine could have only come about from my Hampshire background. Hampshire didn't confine me to thinking 'you go to vet school and then go work in a clinic.' Instead, Hampshire forced me to look for something that fits my entire lifestyle. I never want to feel like I'm just going to work. Hampshire allowed me to say 'don't settle. Find exactly what you want and make it work for you.'"

This veterinarian who never stops thinking about ways to help animals has been known to take her work home with her in a literal way, too. She has three cats, all adopted from the shelter.