Becka Harris
Becka was born and raised in Orlando, Florida. She attended the University of Tennessee and graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Animal Science focusing in Veterinary Medicine. Later she decided to pursue veterinary technology and enrolled in a distance learning program at Purdue University to complete her veterinary technician degree. She has a passion for emergency and critical care and would like to specialize in that area.
Outside of the clinic, Becka spends most of her time with her husband Craig, daughter Aubrey, and son Caleb. Rounding out the family is a rambunctious dog named Burnie and two cats (Fonzi and Cheeto) and several chickens
Jennifer Ratledge
Jennifer was born in California, moved all over the country before finally settling in Maryville. She has been in the field since 2012 as a Vetrinary Assistant. She is married to her husband Dave and has a wonderful yorkie-poo named Henry. One of Jennifer’s greatest achievements is having completed an ultra-marathon (50 miles!), and she keeps on running!
Jaime Deck
Jaime was born in Illinois, moved to Florida as a child, and finally moved to Tennessee in 2017—where she has always wanted to live. She loves visiting Cades Cove any time of the year and enjoys boating with her family and sassy German Shepherd, Anya Grace. Jaime is a full-time Manager of Application Support for a tech company and works with us on the weekend and any other time she can spare.
Kelly Ortagus
Kelly has worked in the veterinary field since 2014. In that time, she has worked in general practice, referral and emergency medicine. She is currently enrolled in Penn Foster’s Certified Veterinary Practice Management Program and is working toward her certification. Outside of work, she loves to spend time with her family and pets and spend as much time as she can boating.
Sarah Price
Sarah began as one of our volunteers from Heritage High School. She graduated from The University of Tennessee where she majored in Animal Science with a minor in One Health. She is a proud alumnus of the Heritage Future Farmers of America and received her American Degree at the National FFA convention. She has 3 dogs named Bear, Ghost and Arya.
Bailey Knight
Bailey was born and raised in Knoxville, Tennessee and now lives in Seymore with her husband Dalton, daughter Khloe and bulldog Fawn. She has always been passionate about working with animals and loves learning new things every day to further her vet med education. Bailey’s goal is to attend technician school in the near future.
Ciara Johnson
Ciara, a recent resident of Tennessee, attended Liberty University and graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in zoology. She is planning to attend veterinary school in the near future. She loves to travel abroad and experience different cultures and food. In her free time she enjoys cooking new recipes with her partner and salsa dancing.
Emily McGuire
Emily has been in veterinary medicine since 2021. She was born and raised in Maryville, TN. Emily loves the outdoors, hanging out with friends and family, and her pets – two blue heelers Kaci and Dexter and her siamese Diddy. She loves the friendships she has built not only with our clients, but patients as well. Emily plans on furthering her education in veterinary medicine, but is currently undecided on what degree she would like to pursue.
Hannah Pontzer
Hannah was born in Pennsylvania, raised in Florida and just recently moved to Knoxville Tennessee. She graduated from Florida State University with a B.S. in medical science and will be attending The University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine in the fall of 2024. She is a percussionist and loves to rock climb, mountain bike and kayak in her free time.
Samantha Conn
Sam grew up in Colorado and then spent 10 years living in France before returning to the US. When she isn’t working, studying for classes, or running her children around to their various activities, she loves spending time with her children in the mountains or visiting family.
Caroline Roy
Caroline has been in veterinary medicine since 2016. She loves her job and what she does and all of the relationships she has built with clients and their pets. In her free time, she loves to spend time with her fiancé Peyton and her two chocolate labs Cooper and Jensen.
Rhonda Wright
Rhonda has been married to her husband David for 25 years and resides in Maryville. She has a love of animals, so much so, that they have 8 rescue dogs (and she would have more if she could). She enjoys a variety of music styles, sci-fi movies and reading.
Ashley Dorsey
Ashley was born in East Tennessee. She has been in veterinary medicine since 2017. She loves to spend time with her son Austin, husband Aaron and beagle Copper. Ashley loves to relax outdoors.
Bailey Carnes
Bailey was born and raised in Maryville, TN and attended East Tennessee State University where she received her Bachelors Degree in Biology. Bailey has been in veterinary medicine since 2023 and enjoys getting to meet all of our clients and patients. Her hobbies include playing violin, hiking, traveling and going to church.
Hailey Connaster
Hailey was born and raised in Maryville Tennessee. She has always had a love and passion for animals and decided to go into the field of veterinary medicine. She is currently pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in Animal Science with a focus on the Pre-Vet route at Lincoln Memorial University. She is planning to pursue a career as a veterinarian after completing her Bachelor’s Degree. She has four dogs; two beagle mixes and two mastiff mixes.
Mary Jones
Mary started in veterinary medicine in 2024. She grew up in Mount Airy, aka “Mayberry” North Carolina. In her free time, she likes to go hiking and camping with her boyfriend, Cole, and her pit bull, Roxie.
Kelli Downey
Kelli has been in veterinary medicine since 2010. Her favorite part of her job is building relationships with clients. She has a little boy, a bloodhound named Theo, and two mixed-breed dogs named Ensley and Zeb at home. In her free time, she enjoys spending as much time as she can outside.
Sabella Johnson
Sabella grew up in Maryville, Tennessee. She graduated from Lincoln Memorial University and got her Veterinary Technician license in 2021. She has two cats and wants a Saint Bernard. In her free time, she enjoys playing video games and napping with her cats.
