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Our Team..
Dr.Carolyn McMaster
At Briar Patch we pride ourselves on working effectively as a small congenial team of doctors, technicians and staff. Getting to know every individual pet and every pet-owner is our favorite part of the job. You'll likely meet each of us over the course of your visits to our hospital. We often wear many hats, so don't worry about titles.
Dr. Carolyn McMaster, DVM, opened the current Briar Patch Veterinary Hospital in 1986, but it existed in two other locations in and around Ithaca for years before that. She welcomes new patients and continues to see pet-owners who have stayed with the practice for over 30 years. Her practice involves medical treatment and surgery for dogs, cats, birds and exotic pets. She provides free care to injured wildlife. 
When Carolyn was in high school she considered becoming a doctor. She loved science, was gifted in math and felt drawn to a healing profession. Her guidance counselor advised against it--she was a girl, after all--and suggested that she pursue a career in a "softer" science, like social work. So, Carolyn received her B.S. from Cornell University in 1971 and worked for a year as a social worker at George Jr. Republic. It was there, helping out in the stables, that she decided that the guidance counselor was partly wrong, her real love was the practice of medicine, but it was veterinary medicine. She received her D.V.M. from the College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell in 1978. She felt that no new graduate—including herself—could know enough to go directly into practice, so in 1979 she completed an internship in small animal medicine at Michigan State University and then served as a staff veterinarian at practices in the Buffalo area. Carolyn returned to Ithaca in 1981 to take advantage of an opportunity to run a veterinary hospital, owned by an out of town vet. The hospital was designed as a model for Cornell veterinary students to learn the business management aspects of running a high quality small animal practice. This hands-on experience gave her invaluable skills to transfer to her own practice, along with an enduring goal to spend extra time with clients, educating them in the proper care of their pets.
Carolyn has become particularly interested in dermatology cases, perhaps because they are such a challenge and require so much patience. For some time she has also been working on a geriatic program; pets are living longer, and the veterinary world is developing new ways to make those longer lives happier and healthier. She never tires of learning, never stops researching and only bemoans the fact that there simply isn’t enough time.
For several years she has worked to create a wildlife sanctuary on the land behind the hospital. This includes a memorial garden for the many beloved pets who have been cared for at Briar Patch as well as a quiet, beautiful space for euthanasias. Stay tuned for a way that you can be a part of this dream.
Eight cats and two dogs live with Carolyn and her partner, Gillie. When not at Briar Patch they enjoy birdwatching, hiking, music, gardening and choral singing.
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 Dr. Leni Kaplan with one of her dogs, Dolly. Dr. Kaplan hit the ground running this year with an upbeat attitude and wonderful experience in emergency work and critical care. With her help we have been able to see more patients and do more research with the experts we rely upon for answers about the newest and the best veterinary medicine available in the world today.
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 Dr. Susan Yanoff is a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Surgeons and a diplomate of
the American Board of Veterinary Practioners. The fact that she is "double boarded" means that she is very, very good at what she
does. What she does at Briar Patch is surgery and that means instead of having to refer
patients to other hospitals for more complicated, difficult surgeries, we can now keep your pets here at their "home" hospital.
Dr. Yanoff graduated from Cornell University in 1980. After three years in private practice she joined the
U.S. Army Veterinary Corps. It was while she was in the Army that she completed a small animal surgery residency
and became board certified in the two areas mentioned above. In June 2004, she retired from the Army as a Lieutenant Colonel.
She spent time working on a horse farm in Idaho before deciding to move back to Ithaca. We feel very lucky that she decided to work with us here at Briar Patch.
Dr. Yanoff shares her home with a family that includes two dogs, two cats, one horse, one donkey and six chickens.
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Jillian Atkin, LVT and Sabrina Moore, LVT
Jillian and Sabrina joined our team in 2009 and have proven to be a great addition. Both received their Veterinary Technician licenses after studying at SUNY Delhi, Jillian in 2005 and Sabrina in 2004. They have worked in veterinary hospitals all across New York State, often as a part of the surgical team.
Jillian is particularly interested in anesthesia and emergency work, loves microbiology and parasitology. She enjoys the idea of being our resident "creepy, crawly expert". Outside of work she enjoys, among other things, Broadway musicals and organizing, well...everything.
Sabrina is a local girl who moved back to the area a couple of years ago. She has real talent in the dentistry department and hopes to be able to specialize as a dentistry technician. She is also working on a Bachelors degree in Psychology. She enjoys camping, riding her motorcycle and winning at Wii sports, (although Jill is a hard one to beat at Wii ski jumping).
They share their home with two dogs and three cats.
Dr. Jillian Costigan started work here at Briar Patch in May, 2010. She brings with her all of the newest information the veterinary field has to offer as well as an eagerness to learn all that your pets have to teach her and a willingness to work long and hard on their behalf. Please join us in welcoming her to the family. More information and pictures to come! |
 Melissa Hine came to work at Briar Patch 15 years ago as a veterinary assistant and then moved to the front desk where she makes appointments, answers the telephone, orders pet food and prescription refills, and generally makes your visit to Briar Patch possible. A 1992 Cornell graduate with a B.S. in Animal Science, Melissa is our own personal "Google", a wealth of information about all of the facets of running a veterinary business. She is also the person who manages our very complicated inventory.
Sometimes you will see the puppies she fosters for Cayuga Dog Rescue up in the reception area as well as Emmy, pictured here, spending the day sleeping under the desk.
Melissa is the brave mom of three teenagers, two cats and two dogs. |
 Anne Garretson is the other person whom you will most often see at the front desk. She and Melissa share office managing duties--Anne is the one who sends out all of the reminder cards you get, makes sure that we have the office supplies we need, does most of the marketing and is our webmaster. This comes naturally to her as she is an artist in her own right; she has her own business, Watershed Designs, where she sells the beautiful fiber art and black and white landscape photography that she creates. You can go to her website, www.watershed-designs.com, and see some of the artwork we have displayed in our waiting room.
She graduated from the University of New Hampshire in 1976 with a B.S. in Environmental Conservation. She also has a Master's degree in Experiential Education from Boston University, which she earned in 1986.
You may have seen one of the four puppies she has fostered for Guiding Eyes for the Blind up at the front desk, learning to be well mannered dogs. (Sometimes that takes awhile.) Her newest puppy, Gibbs, joined us at the end of February.
Always a calming influence at the front desk when things get incredibly busy, she shares her home with her partner DJ Erb, who is the owner of Shaggy Dog Grooming, two cats, an entire dogsled team as well as the Guiding Eyes foster puppies. |
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 Gillie Waddington began volunteering in 2002. Since then she has become a part of the staff, taking care of things for which no one else had time, some correspondance, setting up interviews, working as a veterinary assistant, staffing the front desk, sorting mail and a hundred other small tasks that someone has to do. She is in charge of the development of our memorial garden, is interested in grief counseling, and takes very seriously her role of "cat whisperer", comforting frightened, lonely cats who are hopspitalized. A former English-teacher-turned-licensed-massage-therapist, she consults with the doctors when massage or shiatsu (a form of acupressure) is indicated. She runs between Briar Patch and her own business--Crane Hill Professional Massage, which is allied with Hands On Physical Therapy--so if you have seen her in passing, she is probably heading to the next job with Zuza, a Prague Ratter who works as her medical alert service dog , tucked in her jacket.
When not working she is singing with the Out Loud Chorus, gardening, doing mountains of laundry or cleaning litter boxes! She lives with her partner Carolyn, eight cats, and two dogs.
This is Zuza, pictured with her here in their angel costumes at Halloween.
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 Tammie Kimmich joined us in November 2009 as a veterinary assistant. She brought with her over 20 years of experience running Walnut Grove Home Pet Care where she has boarded horses and cared for a wide variety of species. She has also bred, trained and shown Arabian horses, all of which probably helps her a great deal when holding large dogs during treatment!
Tammie fills in at the front desk, assists in appointments, runs lab equipment, cleans cages, helps with patients before and after surgery and does all of the tasks with a smile, which is not evident in this picture with Chip, a patient here at Briar Patch.
She shares her home with her husband Steve, 2 dogs, 4 cats and--not in the house--8 horses.
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