Inside Loyal: Meet the team
At Loyal, everything we do comes down to one thing: giving dogs more healthy time. Behind the science, research, and innovation is an incredible team of passionate people making it all happen.
I asked a few team members what keeps them inspired everyday at Loyal. From problem solvers to scientists to strategists, here are a few of the humans driving our work — all for the love of dogs.
Meet Brennen McKenzie, MA, MSc, VMD, Director of Veterinary Medicine
How would you describe your day-to-day role at Loyal?
I like to say I’m Loyal’s “explainer-in-chief,” sharing my excitement about our work on aging biology to vets, dog owners, and the media.
What’s your favorite thing about Loyal?
I love that it’s a group of smart, excited people working on something we all care about. That creates great energy, and I also love that I get to learn so many things. Since joining the team, I’ve learned a lot about the FDA regulatory process, drug approval and development, and even video production—the best part of any job is learning new stuff!
Dr. Brennen McKenzie, Director of Veterinary Medicine
What excites you most about the opportunity to work on innovative solutions to help aging dogs?
As a veterinarian in practice, I'm excited about the fact that we may have better tools to help our patients to keep them from getting all of the things that impair their quality of life as they get old.
I think that the biggest impact is we're opening up a whole new domain of preventive medicine. We're starting to get people to think about aging as a risk factor for disease. Hopefully, our research will open larger avenues of opportunity for veterinarians and other researchers to add to what we're doing.
As I always say, my goal is to throw my tiny little grain of sand on the mountain of human knowledge, and if I can do that through my work at Loyal, I feel good about that.
Tell me about your dog.
One day, we put our dog Kalani in the kitchen with backyard access so she wouldn’t eat the couch cushions. She tried to go around the pet gate by squeezing through the wires on our stairway banister, but she got stuck about halfway through.
I came in and of course had a moment of panic like, “Oh, my God! My dog's gonna die.” She saw me and started doing her little happy dance. She was just so happy, and being stuck in the banister made no difference at all. That sums up Kalani.
Puppy Kalani stuck in the banister — still wagging her tail
Ashley Tovar, PhD, RD, Senior Scientist in Research
How would you describe your day-to-day role at Loyal?
In my role, I ensure we have the data we need to know our drugs are safe and actually work.
No two days look the same. Some days, I work on designing new studies to test the efficacy of our drugs. On others, I evaluate data from existing studies, making sense of the results. I also work on scientific reports and documents that are included in what we submit to the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM), moving our drug programs closer to approval.
What’s your favorite thing about Loyal?
I love what we do. Working on the first drug to slow aging is challenging, but the work is so critical. I’ve always been a dog lover and know firsthand how important it is to have as many healthy years with our pets as possible — my dog reminds me everyday how central his quality of life is to his wellbeing.
Ashley Tovar, Sr. Scientist
What excites you most about the Loyal’s science and its potential to shape the future of dog health?
We’re constantly learning about new facets of canine aging and physiology. At Loyal, we’ve made interesting and important advancements in this field, but it’s really just the beginning. I can’t wait to see what aging therapeutics look like in the next few decades.
Oliver, age 8
What’s a fun fact about your dog?
I have a middle-aged pug named Oliver that brings so much joy to my family and me. I hope to see our work translate to more time with him and dogs everywhere. He has the cutest underbite, he’s very vocal about making sure we feed him (even when he was just fed), and he likes to pee while doing a handstand, which is always a fun surprise for people walking by!
Meet Laura Vasquez-Bolanos, PhD, Head of Special Projects
How would you describe your day-to-day role at Loyal?
My day-to-day is very dynamic, I handle Loyal’s IP portfolio, maintenance, and strategy. I’m also involved in product expansion and perform due diligence for our exec team. Overall, my role has been a bit of a catch-all for improving processes at Loyal.
Tell me a little bit about your dog.
Wilbur’s all about eating, cuddling, and running off-leash—that’s how we spend our time together. He’s very good at girls’ night and being lazy with me. He eats healthily and gets plenty of walks in the San Francisco sunshine. Wilbur lives a good life.
Laura Vasquez-Bolanos, Head of Special Projects and Wilbur, age 5
How has your experience with your dog contributed to your role?
Wilbur was a huge motivator in the beginning for my interest in Loyal. This role is the perfect mix of my love for Wilbur and the specialization of my degree in Bioengineering. I got Wilbur in 2020 right before the pandemic and fell in love with training and dog sports. His livelihood means everything to me.
Also, Wilbur has assisted me at work before. He’s done sniff tests on our desiccants — he loves how LOY-002 smells.