Veterinarian Overview
I started working in the field of veterinary medicine as a volunteer in 1990, assisting in my veterinarians office when I was home from college. I worked my way into a paid position, assuming many of the duties of a veterinary nurse over the course of the next four years. I graduated from the University of CaliforniaDavis School of Veterinary Medicine in 1998, and started my first job as a doctor three months after recovering from surgery for a ruptured disc. I came to Livermore in July of 2000, and bought the practice from Dr. Robert Hibner in 2002. The clinic that I started at in 1990 is a small practice with one full-time doctor and one part-time doctor. It is the type of place where you commonly refer to a pets owner as Fluffys mom, and clients come to expect their pet to be treated as an individual. It was there that I learned the importance of a veterinarians role as an educator. I also learned that behavior issues, whether they pertain to the pets behavior in the clinic or at home, are central to the veterinarian-client-pet relationship. By making our hospital a pet-friendly environment, and by helping Mrs. Smith tame Spunkys jumping up problem, we can enhance the lives of people and pets much more than by practicing medicine and surgery alone. I also believe that any good veterinary practice should stand on a firm foundation of freeze-dried beef liver. My behavior experience includes courses in animal behavior and in developmental psychology at the undergraduate level, required and elective courses in animal behavior in veterinary school, attending numerous seminars by behaviorists and trainers, and extensive extracurricular reading. In addition to offering new pet counseling and limited behavior consultations, I have taught new puppy classes and have assisted in instructing classes in the sport of Dog Agility. I have a keen interest in orthopedics, specifically canine sports medicine, which has arisen from my own involvement with the sport of Agility. I take every opportunity that I can to learn more about lamenesses and orthopedic exams from the local orthopedic surgeons, from Dr. Mike Gleason, DC (member of the AVCA), and people like Darryl Millis DVM, who runs the canine physical therapy and rehabilitation unit out of the University of Tennessee. In order to enhance our ability to treat and care for all our patients I completed a course of study in Acupuncture through the University of Colorado. I received my certification in 2006. This has greatly added to our capacity to treat many disorders and to manage pain in a non-invasive way. Otherwise, my greatest joys are new puppy and kitten exams, making cats purr, and making friends with frightened dogs.
