Who We Are

Erik Kambarian is an occupational health and safety professional for the State of Illinois. In 2019, Erik retired from the fire service where he served as a volunteer firefighter, career firefighter, and fire chief. Erik has also served as a director of safety and security in the private sector. Mr. Kambarian has undergraduate degrees in fire science and political science, graduate degrees in public administration and management, and is a current PhD student. Erik has been visiting Chernobyl since 2013 and teaches radiological preparedness to first responders for the U.S. Department of Energy. He lives in the St. Louis, Missouri area with his wife, four children, and four dogs. Dogs Pravik and Dvaa were born at Chernobyl NPP.

Dr. Jennifer Betz was born and raised in Florida. She earned her bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of South Florida in 1993 and her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine in 1997. She later earned a master’s degree in veterinary forensics from the University of Florida in 2019.

Dr. Betz owned and operated a private small-animal practice in Sandy, Oregon, for 20 years. Her principal clinical interests include orthopedic surgery, soft-tissue surgery, and veterinary forensics.

Throughout her career, Dr. Betz has combined private practice with disaster response, animal-cruelty investigations, international veterinary medicine, and nonprofit leadership. She continues to work as a federal employee with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ National Disaster Medical System as a member of the National Veterinary Response Team. She was instrumental in animal-relief efforts following Hurricane Sandy and has provided veterinary care to animals displaced by Hurricanes Katrina, Sandy, Irma, and Maria.

Dr. Betz also works as a forensic veterinarian with the ASPCA’s National Field Response Team, assisting with large-scale animal-cruelty cases involving dogfighting, cockfighting, hoarding, and commercial breeding facilities. She is an instructor for the National Animal Cruelty Investigations School through the University of Missouri’s Law Enforcement Training Institute.

Internationally, Dr. Betz has volunteered her surgical and medical expertise in underserved communities around the world. She currently serves as Veterinary Medical Director of the Dogs of Chornobyl program and as a member of the Board of Directors of Clean Futures Fund. Since 2017, she has led veterinary operations within the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone, overseeing the capture, sterilization, vaccination, treatment, and long-term monitoring of the free-roaming dog population surrounding the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant.

Dr. Betz is also the founder and president of Visiting Veterinarians International, a nonprofit organization that provides veterinary care and sustainable animal-welfare support to underserved communities. She additionally serves on the board of K9 Global Rescue.

Her professional affiliations include the International Veterinary Forensic Sciences Association, the Oregon Veterinary Emergency Response Team, the American Veterinary Medical Association, and the Oregon Veterinary Medical Association.

Outside of veterinary medicine, Dr. Betz enjoys mushroom foraging and cultivation, restoring classic cars, and competing in DockDogs and Extreme Air Dogs events with her yellow Labrador retriever, Chernihiv. She also shares her life with Bilka, a dog adopted from Ukraine.

Tom Clawson has over 35 years of experience in Radiation Health Physics and Radiological Training. Tom and his wife, Celeste, own TRG, Inc., an Idaho Falls-based company that provides counter terrorism and radiological training and exercise support services to federal government customers in the U.S. and abroad. TRG has been in business for over 20 years. Tom has trained thousands of emergency responders in radiological and nuclear response and has presented at conferences throughout the U.S. and abroad. Prior to founding TRG, Tom worked in Health Physics/Radiation Safety at various U.S. commercial nuclear power plants. Tom became interested in Chernobyl after working at the Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant and he has been coming to Chernobyl since 2016. After his first visit to Ukraine, he recognized the unique opportunities inside the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone to educate others about the environmental consequences of widespread radioactive fallout. He formed TRG Tours and began organizing trips to Chernobyl for professionals with radiological/emergency response backgrounds to gain first-hand experience with measuring radiation and contamination levels in an area with widespread environmental contamination. Tom has a passion for Ukraine and the amazing people who live there and is honored to serve on the board of CFF.