When Dr. Brennen McKenzie is not treating patients at Adobe Animal Hospital in California, he serves as the Director of Veterinary Medicine at Loyal, a biotechnology company developing therapies to extend healthy lifespans in dogs. With a background spanning primate research, clinical practice, and cutting-edge canine aging science, he has dedicated his career to advancing evidence-based veterinary medicine.

We wanted to learn more about the person behind these impressive achievements, so we asked Dr. McKenzie 12 rapid-fire questions about his life in and out of veterinary medicine.

1. Caring for primates 🐒 or small animals 🐶?

Small animals- Primates are fascinating and very intelligent, but they’re not big fans of cuddling, and we can catch a lot more of their diseases than those of our dogs and cats.

2. Clinical practice 🏥 or research 🧪?

There’s no way I could choose, which is why I still do both!

3. Girl dad 👧 or boy dad 👦?

Girl dad!!!! I mean, I didn’t have a boy, so I’m just guessing, but my memories of being one and my exposure to my friends’ sons has convinced me I handle girl energy better. And, FWIW, I’ve been an English teacher, a primatologist, and a vet, so apparently I like working with smart women!

4. Canine longevity research 🧬 or treating age-related conditions 🐕?

Longevity research- I’ll admit, I’m an ER vet by temperament, and I don’t have the patience for the kind of meticulous, long-term management of chronic disease that geriatric patients need. Plus, research gives me hope for preventing or delaying age-related conditions, which is even better than treating them!

5. Innovation 💡 or technology 📱?

Innovation- Most exciting new ideas turn out to be wrong. Some that are right turn into technology. Either way, it’s the ideas that are the fun part for me, and technology is just a tool to explore them or an end-product of doing so.

6. Dogs 🐕 or cats 🐱?

Dogs- OK, more people will probably hate me for this than for my thoughts on alternative medicine, but I have to own it—I’m a dog person!

7. Traveling solo or with your family?

Family- I’ll admit the purely self-centered autonomy of solo travel is appealing, but the inevitable negotiation and conflict is more than worth it for the shared adventure and memories!

8. Fishing or hiking 🥾?

Hiking! I do it as often as I can. Just last year I got to complete a 200-mile solo backpacking trip across Scotland!

9. Focusing on one specialty 🔎 or multiple specialties?

Multiple specialties- By temperament, I am a generalist. English literature, primatology, clinical medicine, aging research, writing, teaching, not to mention all my hobbies! I’m not cut out for the deep and narrow path of a single specialty.

10. Teaching veterinary students or undergrads?

Vet Students- Sometimes I miss teaching basic biology and watching undergrads falling in love with it as I did. But as a GP and advocate for evidence-based medicine, I feel like I get to share profound and practical ideas with vet students that can affect how they practice for their entire career, and that feels like the place where I can have the most impact.

11. Mandolin 🪕or guitar 🎸?

Guitar- I’m MUCH better at playing the mandolin (by which I mean barely adequate), but I like to sing, so the guitar works better for that.

12. South Carolina or Texas? (I saw that you managed a rhesus monkey breeding colony in South Carolina and provided behavioral enrichment for captive primates in Texas)

South Carolina- The Low Country around Charleston and Beaufort is gorgeous. (But I’m really a diehard California man. Don’t tell anyone from the South!)

More about Dr. McKenzie:

After completing his bachelor's degree with majors in English Literature and Biology at UC Santa Cruz, Dr. McKenzie earned a master's in animal behavior from CSU San Francisco, where his thesis focused on chimpanzees at the San Francisco Zoo. His career path included managing a rhesus monkey breeding colony in South Carolina and providing behavioral enrichment for captive primates in Texas before finding his calling in veterinary medicine.

After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, Dr. McKenzie established himself as a small animal practitioner while simultaneously becoming a powerful voice for scientific rigor in the field. In 2009, he founded the SkeptVet blog to promote evidence-based veterinary medicine and counter pseudoscientific claims. His dedication to science-based care led him to pursue additional education, completing a master's in epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 2015.

As Past-President of the Evidence-Based Veterinary Medicine Association and recipient of the 2022 VIN Veritas Award, Dr. McKenzie has significantly influenced how veterinarians evaluate treatments and communicate with pet owners. His 2019 book, "Placebos for Pets? The Truth about Alternative Medicine in Animals," offers a scientifically rigorous yet accessible examination of complementary and alternative veterinary medicine.

Today, Dr. McKenzie divides his time between clinical practice at Adobe Animal Hospital and his role as Director of Veterinary Medicine at Loyal, where he's helping develop therapies to extend healthy lifespans in dogs. When not advancing veterinary science, he enjoys reading, hiking, playing music, practicing Shaolin Kempo Karate, and spending time with his family and pets – Brodie (a smart, scruffy terrier mix) and Kalani (an energetic young Golden/Malinois mix).