Dana Varble received her B.S. in Zoology from Southern Illinois University in 1999 graduating Suma cum laude with departmental and university honors having completed an honors thesis evaluating abnormal behavior in captive Spectacled Bears. She earned her veterinary degree with high honors from University of Illinois in 2003 where she pursued a non-traditional clinical rotation schedule and fulfilled her clinical and academic requirements at University of Illinois, University of Tennessee, Louisiana State University, Brookfield Zoo, and University of Pretoria. She also completed an externship at Marathon Veterinary Hospital including clinical experience at the Sea Turtle Hospital and Key West Aquarium.
She has practiced clinical medicine in exotic pet, small animal general practice and emergency medicine and continues to serve as an associate veterinarian on a limited basis for Chicago Exotics Animal Hospital in Skokie Illinois and as a relief veterinarian for emergency services. She has served as a veterinary consultant to the Mississippi River Sturgeon Project and Central Arizona Animal rescue.