Dr. Natalie Marks obtained her bachelor's degree with High Honors in Animal Science from the University of Illinois in 1998. She then obtained a Master’s in Veterinary Medicine and a Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine degree with High Honors from the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine. In 2018, she became a Certified Veterinary Journalist.
She has been a veterinarian at Blum Animal Hospital since 2006 and co-owned it until 2018. Before 2006, Dr. Marks worked at Allatoona Animal Hospital, just north of Atlanta, GA. Her media experience began in print when she created several monthly veterinary columns in multiple community magazines and was a frequent guest speaker for the German Shepherd and Bernese Mountain Dog clubs of Atlanta.
Upon her return to Chicago, Dr. Marks became very active in the Chicago Veterinary Medical Association, serving on the executive board. She was also a past board member of the Illinois State Veterinary Medical Association and an active volunteer for the American Veterinary Medical Association and the American Animal Hospital Association. She continues volunteering to help elevate feline medicine with the Feline Veterinary Medical Association as part of the student advancement committee.
Dr. Marks has received many prestigious awards throughout her career. She was honored with the Dr. Erwin Small First Decade Award, which is presented to a veterinarian who has made significant contributions to organized veterinary medicine during their first decade of practice. In 2012, Dr. Marks was recognized as Petplan's nationally acclaimed Veterinarian of the Year. In 2015, she was named America’s Favorite Veterinarian by the American Veterinary Medical Foundation. Most recently, in 2017, she received Nobivac’s Veterinarian of the Year award for her work on canine influenza.
Dr. Marks is also very passionate about education in all aspects of media, both locally and nationally. She has appeared on Good Day Chicago, WGN-Pet Central, NBC Morning News, ABC, CBS, NPR, WBBM, the Northwestern University media channel, and many local websites. Dr. Marks was featured nationally on the Today Show and CBS Nightly News during the canine influenza epidemic, as well as in multiple issues of JAVMA. She serves as a guest contributor in various media campaigns for Merck, Zoetis, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Ceva, Trupanion, Elanco, Fear Free, and Royal Canin.
Dr. Marks is a regular columnist in Today’s Veterinary Business, Midwest Magazine, and Pet Vet. Her work has also been published in Veterinary Medicine magazine, DVM magazine, Dogster, and Vetted. She has also hosted numerous veterinary broadcasts for the Viticus Group (formerly WVC). She also currently serves as the primary clinical consultant for DVM360.
She is a desired national and international lecturer for many of the same companies at VMX, WVC, AVMA, Fetch, VetGirl, AAFP, and other regional conferences, and was recently a featured speaker at Ceva Sweden’s Derm Day, the Royal Canin Global Symposium, Hill’s Global Symposium, and the Merck Global Vaccine Symposium.
In the Fear Free movement, Dr. Marks finds the ideal combination of teaching/mentoring and improving the emotional health of pets. She sat on the Fear Free Executive Council and is a national educator helping other private practitioners develop these techniques. She also led her practice to become the seventh nationally and the first in Illinois to become a Fear Free Certified Hospital. She is an Elite Fear Free Certified Professional.
Finally, Dr. Marks is a serial entrepreneur, angel investor, and consultant. She is the CEO of VANE, the Veterinary Angel Network. Through her work, she also sits on several early-stage company advisory boards, including KeraVet Bio, PetPath, AskVet, and Bar K.