Dr. John Madigan is a distinguished professor of medicine and epidemiology at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and is a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine and the American College of Animal Welfare. He is a clinician in equine medicine at the Veterinary Teaching Hospital and director of the International Animal Welfare Training Institute at UC Davis. He also directs the Comparative Neurology Research Program at UC Davis. He is the recipient of a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation grant with Stanford University investigating birth transitio of consciousness of infants based on his discoveries in neonal foals. 

Dr. Madigan started the UC Davis equine neonatal critical care unit in 1987. He saw the need for sharing of the unique protocols and treatment modalities that were being developed at UC Davis and around the world. The first edition of the manual was born in 1987 and has received worldwide acclaim for its easily accessible and current state of the art information. His publications in the area of neonatal foals have had a significant impact on the way foals are treated at birth including: prevention of infection, umbilical disinfection, umbilical ultrasound methods, meconium retention treatments, methods of restraint, prevention of salmonellosis and other enteric diseases in foals, and early recognition, prevention, critical care treatment evaluations, and treatments of septicemia.

Dr. Madigan lectures worldwide and is available for invitation. He is regarded as one of the most engaging presenters in the field of veterinary medicine. He has received numerous awards including the Legend of Academic Medicine from Kansas State University, the Alumni Achievement award from UC Davis and the Milne Lecture Lifetime Achievment award from the American Association of Equine Practicioners in 2014.