2 Sept 2025
Vets Now’s head of veterinary standards, Zara Kennedy (pictured), explains how she has pushed herself for her career – and why she continues to do so in her free time
Zara Kennedy
Job Title
Zara Kennedy at the finish line of Race to the Stones ©Vets Now
Zara Kennedy was two-thirds of the way through her latest running challenge when tiny seeds of doubt were sown as she looked at what lay ahead.
Those little doubts were more than understandable, though, as she was not doing a 5k or 10k, or even a half marathon or full marathon. Vets Now’s head of veterinary standards was part of an elite field taking part in the Arc of Attrition, a gruelling 80km event and Zara’s toughest-ever ultra marathon.
Mum of three Zara said: “It begins just outside Land’s End and takes you along the stunning South West Coast Path in the middle of winter. I was fresh enough at halfway, but when I got to 50km, I became really aware I still had 30km to go and I was arriving at checkpoints with only minutes to spare before cut offs.
“You need to have physical and mental toughness, and I was determined to get through it, which I did.”
A similar hunger and determination have driven Zara throughout her veterinary career. They have helped propel her to the pivotal Vets Now role, which involves overseeing the roll out and development of care frameworks.
She is also helping shape the future direction of the wider veterinary world as an elected member of the RCVS council.
Having graduated in 2010, 2025 marks 15 years as a vet for Zara, a dozen of which have been spent with Vets Now.
She said: “I only lasted 10 months in first opinion before I realised that the routine just wasn’t for me and went into ECC in Liverpool.
“I then moved down south with my husband soon after having our first child, and I started with Vets Now in Salisbury.
“The flexibility was a big part of the appeal, and I initially did one night a week, which fitted with being a new mum. I then upped my shifts before moving to Southampton as principal vet, then a district vet.”
As part of the head of veterinary standards role, which Zara took up in 2021, she works from home, allowing her to balance work with being mum to her three boys aged 12, 10 and 8.
Previously, though, the clinic shifts also facilitated family life.
She said: “When the boys were very little, the flexibility allowed me to get to all their school commitments, sports days and those things you really don’t want to miss out on.”
Zara recently completed a Master’s in Patient Safety and Clinical Human Factors, and the parallels with human medicine and the practices that can be introduced are a major part of IVC Evidensia’s and Vets Now’s new care frameworks, which started being introduced late last year.
Zara said: “They are new to the veterinary profession and such an exciting development to be involved with.
“On the human side, they are frameworks on how to approach specific symptoms or disease processes, something IVC Evidensia spearheaded, and we’re proud to have developed emergency care frameworks at Vets Now.”
She added: “Our first is a seizure care framework, which was introduced just before Christmas. It brings together all the available evidence on seizures, and real-life experience, on which our patients will benefit most.”
Three others, also for the types of cases that regularly come into Vets Now’s 60 UK emergency clinics, have since been released in 2025. More are set to follow during the course of this year.
The positive engagement of vets and nurses is critical, and the feedback has, Zara said, been overwhelmingly positive thus far.
She added: “Where we’ve had visual cognitive aids, like treatment algorithms or drug sheets, they’ve been made very visible within the clinics, and the teams have really embraced sharing the pet owner information sheets that have been created. It’s all contributing to improved patient care.”
While helping lead the implementation of the Care Frameworks, Zara has also been focusing on the RCVS council. She was elected with the highest number of votes last May and will serve alongside two other vets for a four-year term.
Stepping up to council had been on her mind for a couple of years before she finally decided to put herself forward.
She said: “The veterinary professions are now predominantly female, and I felt I wanted to be able to offer my opinion and help shape what the future looked like.”
Zara now serves as chairperson of both the Advancement of the Professions Committee (APC) and the Mind Matters Initiative, as part of her role on RCVS council.
She said: “The RCVS plays a much broader role than simply regulating the profession. The APC is dedicated to developing initiatives that support and advance the veterinary professions, many of which are essential in addressing the challenges we face.
“Supporting the well-being of the profession is something I care deeply about.”
With the council involved in important consultations, such as a new Veterinary Surgeons Act and making the professions more accessible, she said: “It seemed like a critical moment to have a seat at the table.”
Being at the forefront of important changes, both within Vets Now and the profession more generally – and, of course, being a busy mum – would be enough of a commitment for most. But running has long been a passion for Zara, one that has physical benefits, as well as helping with her mental health.
Having run before she had kids, she took a decade-long break before easing back in and then roaring back with ultramarathons.
Zara said: “The first one I did was the Hurtwood 50k, which starts in Dorking and goes out into the forested Surrey Hills.
“When I signed up, I didn’t realise it was the equivalent elevation of going up Snowdon.”
The actual events come at the end of what sounds like a punishing training schedule, and finding the time is as big a challenge as putting in the hard miles.
Zara usually shuns the comforting companionship of having music and just runs in silence. She said: “I try to split it up during the week, as I don’t go out when it’s dark, and fit it around what the kids might have on at the weekends.
“So, if they have rugby or football practice a distance away, then I’ll work around that, running there and maybe doing a 20km loop – which might mean setting off at 6am. I also do strength training and Hyrox events with my husband, Steve. We joke that it’s an extreme way to spend kid-free time together.”
With 50k and 100k events under her belt, the “ultra” ultramarathon challenge would be the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc – the UTMB.
Zara added: “That’s 174km through three countries and is hard to even qualify for, so I’m not sure I could even get in.”
In the meantime, veterinary life and ultramarathons are running in tandem. With big challenges ahead in her professional world, Zara said shared lessons are learned.
She added: “Ultramarathons push you out of your comfort zone and you learn a lot about yourself and how much you can push when you hurt and you’re really tired.
“In ECC, you go through tired spells in a long and difficult shift, often navigating complex situations, so I think there are elements of my veterinary life that help spur me on when I’m doing long distances.
“It’s a different type of challenge, but when I’m racing, I’ve found I’m capable of doing more than I ever thought I was.”
