Amber Itle named new Washington State veterinarian
Amber Itle, a veterinarian with the Washington State Department of Agriculture since 2013, has been named as the new state veterinarian. She succeeds Brian Joseph, who retired last summer.
Itle first joined the department in 2013 as a field veterinarian and was appointed assistant state veterinarian in 2017, according to a news release from WSDA. After Joseph’s retirement last summer, Itle was named interim state veterinarian.
During her time with the state department, Itle has responded to animal disease outbreaks, including avian influenza in 2014-15 and rabbit hemorrhagic disease in 2019. In recent years, she worked to increase outreach from the state veterinarian’s office, expanded the use of identification tags in the state’s livestock industry, built infrastructure to support animal disease traceability across the state, developed guidance materials for responding to animal welfare cases and provided subject matter expertise on animal care issues during natural disasters.
In the release, Derek Sandison expressed confidence in Itle’s ability to lead the state veterinarian’s office and said she “is well regarded by our state’s livestock industry and cares deeply about animal health and welfare.”
In her new role, Itle will manage the department’s animal health, avian health and animal disease traceability programs, which are dedicated to protecting animal health and welfare, containing and eradicating animal disease and safeguarding public health by limiting exposure to zoonotic diseases. She is the current president of the U.S. Animal Health Association and the Western States Livestock Health Association. She also leads several animal health and welfare committees with the National Assembly of State Animal Health Officials, according to the release.
Itle grew up on her family’s fourth generation producer-handler dairy farm. She learned to do everything from how to milk cows and bottle milk at the processing plant, to running a milk route for home delivery service. Both her father and sister are veterinarians. She spent 10 years as a livestock, equine and sale yard veterinarian in the private sector before joining the Washington State Department of Agriculture.
Itle holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Pennsylvania State University, a doctoral of veterinary medicine degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a master’s degree in Animal Welfare from the University of British Columbia. Her hobbies include backpacking, skiing and mountain biking, and she is married and has three children.
She can be reached online at agri.wa.gov or by phone at (360) 902-1800.
