Dr. Patricia Campbell did not take the straight path to veterinary school. In fact, her path may have held more curves than most. She is not one of those people who knew as a child that they would become a veterinarian. Her mother used to tell the story that she wanted to be several things growing up...including a nun and a secret agent. But as a kid in Massachusetts, Pat helped her mom with many rescued creatures – from homing pigeons to dogs and rabbits. It wasn’t unusual to have a stray dog or cat staying at Casa Campbell until their proper home was found. In some cases, when no owners were found, the proper home turned out to be with Pat and her family! As an undergraduate at Brandeis University, she majored in Anthropology and Politics. She planned to earn her PhD in Anthropology and become a professor. However, real life intervened in the form of school loan payments and following graduation, she took a job at a bank and found that it was almost as much fun as Anthropology. For several years she enjoyed a successful career in financial services. To support her advancement, she earned an MBA from Bentley College. However, over time her professional success no longer translated into personal satisfaction. She felt that maybe this wasn’t her life’s work after all. To fill this void, she volunteered for local humane societies and became intrigued by veterinary medicine and animal health. She loved being a part of a healing profession. It was then that she decided to become a veterinarian. She took her prerequisite classes where she could find them and often joked that she could write her own Guide to East Coast colleges! To get experience in the field, she landed a job at a local animal emergency hospital working nights and weekends cleaning kennels. The veterinarians and staff encouraged Pat’s questions. She kept a small notebook where she jotted notes and questions daily. This job became her classroom – the veterinarians, techs, clients and patients were her teachers. Pat was accepted to Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine on her first application – something rarely accomplished owing to the tremendous competition! Although she was one of the older students in her class at Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine, no one was more enthusiastic or hard working than Pat. She and her vet student friends studied on the commuter train to and from school as well as nights and weekends. Vet school is tough – one needs to learn all about every species except humans! With her son’s and husband’s support, Pat graduated from Tufts in 1996 and became Dr. Pat. Following graduation, Dr. Pat was a respected associate at a large referral practice for several years until moving to Florida in 2005. Dr. Pat became certified in animal acupuncture in 2001 and has studied complementary therapies including herbal medicine, LASER therapy and homeopathy. She characterizes her approach to veterinary medicine as integrative – melding both conventional and complementary therapies to best benefit her patients. While working as an associate at a local practice in Manatee County, Dr. Pat saw the need for a full -service house call veterinarian. With the help of La Boit Company in Columbus Ohio, she designed her mobile clinic with client and patient comfort in mind. Her coach is outfitted with a laboratory, digital radiography and general anesthesia. She treated her first patient in the mobile clinic in January 2012. Since then, Dr. Pat and her technician, Bea, have logged over 100,000 miles traveling throughout Manatee and Sarasota Counties. If you live locally, you may have seen the clinic rolling along. The beautiful logo decorating the coach features a Zen dog and cat and was designed by a local artist. Dr. Pat has recently begun work leading to certification in the field of Canine Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation. She looks forward to offering rehab treatments and counseling for post-op...
