Dr. Lada was always the kid trying to take every animal home, from stray kittens to baby birds to bullfrogs. The creepier the better, with spiders, rats, and snakes being among her favorites! With two main passions in high school – literature and science – she initially chose a journalism major, but changed course three years into college and pursued veterinary medicine instead.

Due to her late start, she had to catch up to her peers in terms of experience. So while pursuing her bachelor’s in pre-veterinary medicine/Animal Science at Purdue, she often worked two to three part time jobs as kennel staff at the local humane society, a veterinary assistant at small private practice, and a lab animal assistant for Purdue, along with two to three volunteer positions at Columbian Park Zoo and fostering for local rescues. She graduated from Purdue in 2010, and was accepted into Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine. In addition to her studies, she completed reef sustainability research while on the island of St. Kitts, and completed her clinical year of study at the University of Illinois before graduating as a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine in 2014.

For her first four years of practice Dr. Lada worked as a general practitioner before being asked to take on an ER role by her medical director. She found a real love for emergency medicine and has never looked back since!

In her spare time, Dr. Lada enjoys gardening, cooking and baking, she’s a huge foodie and loves being adventurous and trying new things, travel, scuba diving, and camping. She still actively fosters animals in need, with a particular focus on failure to thrive and cleft palate neonates.