Staff

Meet the friendly staff at PetWell Veterinary Healthcare!

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        Dr. Brian Berger - Practice Owner 

Dr. Brian Berger grew up in New England. He left home in 1994 to attend Clemson University. 

After graduating from Clemson in 1998, he went on to complete his doctorate at UGA in 2004. Following an elective internship in small animal medicine at AMC in Manhattan, NY Dr. Berger worked in emergency medicine at Cobb Veterinary Clinic.  This is where he met his wife, Sara. Dr. Berger has always loved creating and nurturing relationships with clients and patients, but this was very hard to do in emergency medicine. That is what inspired him to open PetWell Veterinary Healthcare in 2009.

Sara and Dr. Berger have three children, Fiona, Frances, and Jack, as well as a cat, Fletcher, and a dog, Juniper. Dr. Berger’s favorite part of his job is being able to create lifelong relationships with clients and patients. He enjoys feeling as if he helping his patients lead longer, healthier lives. Outside of the office, Dr. Berger loves gardening with Sara, being a boy scout troop dad, planting trees, and watching his kids grow

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                                                                                                                                      Dr. Louise DeLong-Ladson 

 

Dr. Louise DeLong-Ladson (Dr. DeLong) grew up in Gainesville, Georgia and received her B.S. in Biology from the University of Georgia. She remained in Athens for an additional 4 years, graduating from the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine with a DVM degree in 2005. After practicing small animal medicine at veterinary hospitals in Washington, D.C. and Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Dr. DeLong finally returned to Georgia and joined PetWell in September of 2016. She especially enjoys internal medicine, dentistry and soft tissue surgery and loves interacting with the patients at PetWell and educating clients about patient care.

Outside of the hospital, Dr. DeLong enjoys traveling, chasing after/sharing new experiences with her kids, and volunteering in the community. She and her husband, Johnny, live in Atlanta and have two children, Tee and Wren. They also have one cat, Catfeesh, and a chocolate lab named Leeds, whom comes to work with mom every single day!

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                                                                                                                                         Dr. Katie Bockstedt

Dr. Katie Stembler-Bockstedt grew up in Atlanta, GA and graduated with honors from UC Santa Barbara with a BS in aquatic biology. She earned her DVM from the University of Georgia with a focus in small animal medicine and surgery.

Following veterinary school, Dr. Bockstedt worked as a general practitioner in Washington, DC and completed studies at the Chi Institute to become a Certified Veterinary Acupuncturist, Veterinary Food Therapist, and Tui-na practitioner.

After moving to Tucson, Dr. Bockstedt ran the integrative medicine department at the Veterinary Specialty Center of Tucson. After 4 years out west and the birth of her first son, Dr. Bockstedt and her family took advantage of an opportunity to move home to Georgia. Soon after the move, her family welcomed a new baby daughter. Dr. Bockstedt now lives with her husband, 2 children, and their three-legged dog Gator in Atlanta.

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Jennifer Woodward - Practice Manager 

Jennifer was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas and moved to California in 2003. She met her husband, Corey, while living in San Diego and moved back east with him in 2011. They were married in 2012. 

 Jennifer began working in the veterinary industry in 2004 as a shelter volunteer in Southern California. After finishing school, she started her first job as a veterinary assistant in San Diego in 2005. Jennifer started working at PetWell in September of 2014. Even after Corey’s job had them relocate, Jennifer stayed on with PW working remotely. She loves that she was able to remain a part of the PetWell family even after moving to Birmingham. She is proud to work for a clinic that values exceptional veterinary care and treats each patient like they are family.

 Jennifer has two dogs, Madison and Bentley, both lab mixes and Joe, an orange tabby. Outside of the office, Jennifer enjoys gardening, crafting, and going to live music concerts with her husband.

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Sara Berger - Lead Veterinary Technician 

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   Nikki Thomas Schmidle - Front Desk Manager 

Nikki grew up in Jackson, MS and worked in banking for ten years before deciding to follow her true passion, animals. She especially has a fondness for senior pets.

Nikki and her wife, Suzanne moved to Georgia in 2013 and Nikki immediately started to pursue a career working with animals. She really appreciates the human/animal connection; that makes her love and concern for pets as well as their owners truly special. Nikki has four cats, Eggo Waffles, Nightmurr, Jinxy Pinx, and Lazaar Wolfe, and one dog, Tallulah B. They are hoping to add human children to their family soon via adoption.

Outside of the veterinary office, Nikki loves serving the community by volunteering, doing home improvement projects with her wife, making art and crafts, gardening and traveling. 

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Katie Hair- Veterinary Assistant Manager 

Katie grew up in Temecula, California and Douglasville, Georgia. She graduated from Georgia State University with a BS in Neuroscience and has lived in the city for nine years. During and after college she spent some time working with the animals at Decimal Place goat farm in south Atlanta for four years. Katie joined the PetWell team as a veterinary assistant in September 2016. She now works as a Veterinary Assistant Manager and oversees all of our activities behind the scenes at PetWell. 

Katie truly appreciates having the privilege of working somewhere that employs a gentle, fear-free approach. She is Fear-Free certified and especially enjoys connecting with patients that have previously had issues with anxiety. She always strives to work with the loving owners that care for them to create plans to help them manage their pets’ stress to live their fullest, healthiest lives.

Outside of work Katie lives in midtown with her husband Jackson and her two pups, a chihuahua named Tuco and a lab mix named Marceline. She loves taking walks with the pups on the beltline, making craft cocktails and going to all the awesome restaurants Atlanta has to offer.