Can engineering, data, and supply chain thinking solve a life-or-death shortage in veterinary medicine?

In this episode of Unveiling Journeys, Tiffany Alexander sits down with Erica Lopez, founder of Animal Blood Center, a mission-driven startup building a modern pet blood bank system for cats and dogs.

Erica shares her journey from a curious, animal-loving kid in Florida… to an engineering student at the University of Florida… to working on reliability engineering at Apple—before walking away to solve a problem almost no one was talking about: the critical shortage of pet blood products.

What starts as curiosity becomes a mission after she learns a devastating truth from veterinarians: pets are sometimes euthanized simply because lifesaving blood is unavailable or unaffordable.

Bio:
Erica Lopez is the Founder & CEO of Animal Blood Center, California’s first community-based pet blood bank, working to expand access to lifesaving blood products for pets and build a scalable veterinary donation system. With a background in reliability engineering at Apple and Intel and research experience at Harvard in semiconductor materials, she brings a systems-focused, technical approach to solving gaps in animal healthcare. Her mission is to modernize and scale pet blood donation infrastructure nationwide.

We dive into:
✅ Why there’s a national shortage of pet blood products
✅ How pet blood banking actually works (and why it’s complex)
✅ Erica’s path from Apple engineering to startup founder
✅ How supply chain thinking applies to veterinary medicine
✅ The emotional reality vets and pet owners face
✅ Building Animal Blood Center from the ground up

If you care about animals, startups, healthcare systems, or mission-driven innovation—this episode will stay with you.

Connect with Erica Lopez:
🌐 Website: https://www.animalbloodcenter.org/
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericalopez29/
📧 Email: hello@animalbloodcenter.org

#VeterinaryMedicine #PetHealth #AnimalWelfare #StartupStory #WomenInSTEM #Engineering #SocialImpact #PetLovers #EntrepreneurJourney #HealthcareInnovation #UnveilingJourneys

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