Dr. Cassandra Tucker receives prestigious 2026 AVMA Humane Award

(SCHAUMBURG, Illinois) June 23, 2026-The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) has awarded Cassandra Tucker, PhD, professor of animal science at the University of California, Davis, and director of the UC Davis Center for Animal Welfare, with the 2026 AVMA Humane Award.

The AVMA Humane Award is given to a non-veterinarian to recognize achievement in advancing the welfare of animals through leadership, public service, education, research, product development or advocacy. It is one of three Animal Welfare and Human-Animal Bond Excellence Awards presented annually by the AVMA and supported by Merck Animal Health.

"Thank you for this honor," said Dr. Tucker. "The values represented by the AVMA Humane Award inspire all of us to continue advancing the welfare of animals through compassion, science, and service."

"Dr. Tucker's work reflects the very best of animal welfare science: rigorous, practical and deeply humane," said Dr. Michael Q. Bailey, president of the AVMA. "She has not only advanced our understanding of how to improve the lives of cattle and other animals, but has built the standards, training and people that carry that knowledge onto farms every day. Her sustained impact makes her an exceptional and deserving recipient of the 2026 AVMA Humane Award."

Widely regarded as one of the foremost experts on cattle behavior and welfare, Dr. Tucker has spent more than two decades generating the science that defines humane care for dairy and beef cattle. Over the course of her career she has authored approximately 127 peer-reviewed publications, secured more than $21 million in research funding and delivered more than 150 presentations-work that consistently bridges the gap between the laboratory and the farm.

Her research has reshaped how the industry understands cow comfort, heat stress and pain. Studies from her lab on housing and flooring helped establish animal-based measures, such as lying time, as practical indicators of comfort, shifting welfare recommendations toward the outcomes that matter most to the animal. Her work on shade, sprinklers and fans clarified how cattle use cooling and informed best practices for heat abatement on dairies across varied climates. And her studies of painful procedures, including disbudding, demonstrated that pain extends well beyond the moment of the procedure into the healing period-evidence that has strengthened the case for local anesthesia and analgesia and elevated pain mitigation as a core element of humane care.

Dr. Tucker has been equally committed to translating that research into standards and practice. She co-edited the 2020 edition of the Guide for the Care and Use of Agricultural Animals in Research and Teaching, the key reference for agricultural animal care at U.S. research institutions, and served from its early years on the Animal Care Task Force of the National Dairy FARM Program, which covers nearly all of the U.S. milk supply. She helped develop welfare programs for major dairy processors and has advised food companies, retailers and certification programs on science-based animal care.

As a longtime board member and former chair of the Professional Animal Auditors Certification Organization (PAACO), Dr. Tucker co-developed the leading training for dairy welfare auditors in the United States and introduced practices-such as auditor calibration-now considered best in class. Auditors she has trained assess animal welfare throughout the food supply chain in North America and beyond.

Much of Dr. Tucker's impact is measured in people. A dedicated mentor recognized in 2024 with the UC Davis Distinguished Graduate and Postdoctoral Mentorship Award, she has trained many students who now lead animal welfare efforts across academia, industry, policy, auditing and the nonprofit sector. In 2023 she co-founded Kinder Ground, a nonprofit that works directly with farmers to put welfare science into practice, and serves as its chief scientific officer. Among its programs is the Kinder Hoof Care Academy, an intensive training that has improved hoof health-and quality of life-for dairy cattle across the U.S. and Canada.

Dr. Tucker earned her bachelor's degree from UC Davis and her PhD in animal science from the University of British Columbia, where she was among the first students in its pioneering animal welfare program. She is the editor of Advances in Cattle Welfare (2018).

To learn more about the AVMA Humane Award and past recipients, visit https://www.avma.org/awards.

For more information, contact Michael San Filippo, senior media relations manager, at 847-732-6194 (cell/text) or [email protected].