Amrit Rai has been a veterinarian member of the Investigative Committee for over a decade. Currently she's the owner-operator of Sugarloaf Animal Clinic (link). Based on her biography, she graduated from Iowa State University with a degree in veterinary medicine; she also holds a graduate degree in veterinary medicine from Panjab Agricultural University. Rai began practicing veterinary medicine in the 1990s and worked as a relief veterinarian across California before moving to Phoenix and opening her own practice. Her bio also lists her many years with the Investigative Committee.
As Rai's tenure predates both our public records request and the retention period for the Board's own minutes, we're forced to assemble our own timeline. The first mention appears in the February 2012 issue of The Scratching Post, the vet board's newsletter, where she's mentioned as working on the PM Investigative Committee alongside former Board member and eternal investigator Robert Kritsberg and the Arizona Veterinary Medical Association's 2002 "Veterinarian of the Year," Irvin Ingram. An automated check of Board minutes yields no mention of any subsequent reappointment to the Board; the only hit for her name is for the August 19, 2015 Board Minutes in which her clinic, Sugarloaf Animal Hospital, is mentioned as passing an inspection.
Sugarloaf's general information page lists a large number of specialties including endocrinology, dermatology, internal medicine, basic ophthamology, echocardiograms performed onsite by an outside specialist, a variety of soft tissue surgeries, corrective vulvoplasties, puppy tail removals, dewclaw removals, and more; the list truly goes on. As Rai is listed as the only veterinarian practicing, we must assume she's on top of all these.
Rai comes back with three hits in an Arizona Corporation Commission record search. The most relevant is for the 2005 Articles of Incorporation for Panjab Vetmed, Inc., with Rai as president and a Ranbir Samra listed as the sole director; more recent updates list Rai as the president and sole director. Another entity, Amran LLC, was created the same year with both Samra and Rai as members; there were no subsequent filings with the state. Rai is also one of the directors for Punjabi Seva, an Arizona nonprofit.
As of a June 2024 staff memo, Rai had resigned her position on the Investigative Committee. She was preparing to seek an appointment from then-governor Katie Hobbs as a veterinary member on the full veterinary board.
Amrit Rai voted to dismiss about 79.5% of complaints in our Tails of Woe.
We've tallied up Amrit Rai's votes during the time covered by our public records requests. Of the cases we have, Amrit Rai voted in 278 cases. Of those, Amrit Rai voted in favor of at least one motion containing the word "dismiss" in 221 of them.
Below we've included Amrit Rai's vote breakdowns for up to ten of the most common motions. We also have a detailed list of votes and their associated complaints available in the Voting History.
| Motion | Aye | Nay | Recused | Absent | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dismiss with no violation | 221 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 225 |
| Find violation | 57 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 61 |
| Open an investigation with respect to the care and treatment of the dog by Respondent's associates as well as the Banfield organization with respect to their repeated inaccurate and inconsistent medical record keeping and hospital practices. | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |