Dr. Dorval graduated from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the Université de Montréal in 1999. She was also an intern at this university in 1999-2000. She then worked in private practice here, at the Hôpital Vétérinaire Rive-Sud, for 5 years before undertaking an emergency and intensive care residency at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the Université de Montréal, which she completed in 2009.