Dr. Rayna Gunvaldsen
Former CVO for British Columbia, 2020-2022
Rayna’s love for agriculture was forged by her upbringing in rural Saskatchewan and led her to pursue her BSA and then later, her DVM, at the UofS. Her career began in the swine industry and spanned the primary chain from farm to fork: stockperson, herd veterinarian, and meat inspector, which sparked her interest in regulatory medicine. After earning her MSc in swine medicine in 2015, Rayna worked for the CFIA and the Government of Alberta in various roles including foreign animal disease veterinarian, district veterinarian, and surveillance veterinarian before being appointed chief veterinarian for BC in 2020. During her tenure, Rayna led the province’s animal health response to both the first case of SARS-CoV-2 in farmed mink in Canada and, 11 months later, the catastrophic flooding in the Fraser Valley atmospheric river event, which impacted the most livestock dense area in BC. Since then, Rayna has focused on national collaboration and coordination of Canada’s African swine fever preparedness and response planning, serving first as the national ASF project manager for Animal Health Canada and now on the CFIA’s ASF trade playbook team where she works in developing exercises and negotiating zoning protocols to support continued international trade should ASF ever reach our shores.