Yvonne van Zeeland was born on August 11, 1978 in Gemert, The Netherlands. After graduating from the Macropedius College in Gemert in 1996, she was admitted to the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Utrecht University, The Netherlands. During her studies in Utrecht she entered the Honours Program of the College of Veterinary Medicine (Excellent Tracé). For her studies into “Cellular aspects of iron storage in birds” she received her Master of Veterinary Research (MVR) diploma in 2002. After graduating with merit as a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) in 2004, she worked for a short period in private practice. She then returned to the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Utrecht University where she successfully completed a one-year rotating internship in Companion Animal Medicine at the Department of Clinical Sciences of Companion Animals. In 2006 she enrolled in the Avian Medicine residency program at the Division of Zoological Medicine, which she later (2009) combined with a PhD study into feather damaging behaviour in Grey parrots. She completed both graduate trainings in 2012, and became an Avian diplomate of the European College of Zoological Medicine (ECZM) and an EBVS recognized European Veterinary Specialist in Zoological Medicine (Avian medicine) in April 2013. On June 21, 2013, she succesfully defended her thesis "The feather damaging Grey parrot: an analysis of its behaviour and needs" and obtained her PhD. In addition to her activities in the field of avian medicine, Yvonne has also had a strong interest in small mammal medicine and developed various activities in this field throughout her carreer. This activities have subsequently led to her de facto recognition as Diplomate of the ECZM in the Small mammal Specialty in 2014. 

Alongside her graduate studies, Yvonne obtained her basic university teaching qualification (BKO) in 2011, and became a Tinley and IAABC certified parrot behaviour consultant in respectively 2012 and 2015. Throughout her career, she won several prizes and awards, including the IAMS/EUKANUBA Award for “Best of class in Nutrition” in 1999, the 1^st and 2^nd prize of the “Resident and Research Award” of the Dutch Spring Conference (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) in 2005 and 2006, the “Junior teacher award” of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in 2012, the Donald W Zantop Emerging Leader Award (AAV) in 2014, and the Lafeber Avian Practitioner of the Year Award in 2021.

Yvonne is currently employed at the Division of Zoological Medicine where she devotes her time to research, teaching and patient care with regard to birds, small mammals and other exotics. In her work she not only deals with medical problems but also regularly sees parrots with various behaviour problems. By combining her knowledge of avian behaviour with her medical background Yvonne thrives to come to an optimal treatment plan for parrots with behaviour problems and approaching these both from a medical and behavioural perspective.