A Seat at the Very Top: Dr. Cherice Roth Named CEO of Purgo Scientific’s Vetlen

LEADERSHIP | FEATURE

WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP

The veterinarian, inventor, and access-to-care champion takes the helm of one of animal health's most exciting technology platforms, and gives the profession's next generation one more reason to dream big.

Some appointments are simply good news. This one is worth celebrating.

Purgo Scientific and its veterinary subsidiary, Vetlen, have named Dr. Cherice Roth, DVM, MS, MBA, as Chief Executive Officer, placing one of veterinary medicine's most accomplished innovators at the helm of a company scaling a genuinely novel drug delivery platform across both veterinary and human medicine. For a profession that is nearly 70 percent women, with more than 80 percent of the class of 2025 female, every woman who reaches the chief executive chair widens the path for the thousands coming up behind her. And a woman of color with a DVM in the top seat of a medical technology company is a milestone the whole profession can feel good about.

A career spent finding gaps and filling them

Dr. Roth earned her DVM from the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and holds Master's degrees in both Biochemistry and Business Administration, a rare blend of bench science, clinical training, and boardroom fluency. Her resume reads like a map of where veterinary medicine is heading: Chief Veterinary Officer of Digital Pet Health for Mars Veterinary Health, Chief Medical Officer at Fuzzy, and Lead Medical Advisor for KeraVet Bio. She co-developed the RACE-approved Virtual Care University and MyPetDoc, and she is a named inventor on multiple U.S. patent applications for technologies that expand animal access to care.

She has also invested in the next generation in the most literal way possible, authoring two children's books championing STEM and veterinary medicine, along with a textbook on veterinary virtual care and telemedicine. Long before she held the CEO title, she was showing young readers that people like them belong in this profession.

"She has spent her entire career turning bold ideas into real-world solutions, and she has an extraordinary gift for seeing a gap in the industry, finding the answer, and delivering it." - Mike Benjamin, Chairman of the Board, Purgo Scientific

The technology she now leads

Dr. Roth steps into a company with real momentum. Purgo Scientific's flagship technology is a refillable, catheter-connected pouch designed to provide sustained, local delivery of therapeutic treatment exactly where it is needed most. Instead of flooding the whole body with medication and hoping enough reaches the problem, the Purgo platform delivers the right therapeutic to the right place for the right duration, and because the pouch is refillable, treatment can be sustained or modified without repeated invasive procedures.

Delivered to the veterinary market through Vetlen, the Vetlen Pouch is already in clinical use in dogs, cats, horses, and other species, generating early revenue and real-world validation. And the story is bigger than veterinary medicine: the company is advancing the same platform toward first-in-human trials, putting veterinary patients, as they so often are, at the leading edge of medical innovation.

"The ability to provide sustained, targeted, and localized therapies that are easily modified has long eluded the tools veterinarians have on their shelves. Our technology changes that."Dr. Cherice Roth, DVM, MS, MBA, Chief Executive Officer

For Dr. Roth, the mission is personal and consistent with everything she has built. As she put it in the announcement, she has always believed that every patient deserves the highest quality of care, and that great science should make its way from the lab into the exam room in the most practical way possible.

A leadership team cheering her on

What stands out in the announcement is the genuine warmth from the team she now leads. Dr. Stephanie Morley, DVM, President of Vetlen and a member of the Purgo Scientific Board of Directors, welcomed her as a partner in expanding the veterinary business while advancing the human health platform.

"Cherice brings an exceptional combination of veterinary expertise, business leadership, and a passion for innovation that aligns perfectly with our mission."Dr. Stephanie Morley, DVM, President, Vetlen

Angy Guerrant, Purgo Scientific's Chief Operations Officer, echoed the sentiment, pointing to Dr. Roth's deep understanding of the challenges veterinarians face every day as the quality that will strengthen partnerships, support customer adoption, and drive sustainable growth. Notably, the executive bench welcoming Dr. Roth is itself rich with women in senior roles, with Dr. Morley leading Vetlen and Guerrant leading operations.

Part of an encouraging trend

Dr. Roth's appointment lands at a moment when the view from the top of animal health is slowly starting to look more like the profession itself. Kristin Peck has led Zoetis, the world's largest animal health company and a Fortune 500 firm, since January 2020, earning honors including the TIME100 Most Influential People in Health and Barron's Top CEOs while serving on the boards of BlackRock, the Mayo Clinic, and Catalyst, a nonprofit dedicated to advancing women into leadership. Trailblazers like Peck opened the door. Leaders like Dr. Roth, who brings the added perspective of a practicing clinician's DVM, are walking through it and holding it open wider.

There is still distance to travel, and the profession knows it. But progress is best measured in moments like this one, when a veterinary student somewhere looks up from her pharmacology notes, reads this announcement, and sees a version of her own future staring back.

Congratulations, Dr. Roth. The profession is cheering, and we cannot wait to see where you take it. Learn more at purgoscientific.com and vetlen.com.