The Integrative Veterinarian

Dr. Marge Lewter was raised in Virginia with a menagerie of pets ranging from rabbits to horses. She did her undergraduate work at Virginia Tech, and got her DVM from the University of Georgia in 1981. She then completed an Internship in Rural Practice at the University of Tennessee before joining a Dairy Practice.

After eight years in Dairy practice, she started to do relief work for over twenty practices in Virginia while getting her Acupuncture training from IVAS in 1992, and her Chinese Herbal Medicine training also from IVAS in 1995.

Shortly afterwards she started a mobile practice and in 2010 transitioned that practice to an exclusive holistic practice, both mobile and in a facility, for both small animals and horses.

Dr. Lewter has a keen interest in mentoring veterinary students and young veterinarians  with an interest in holistic medicine, and she has supported them by serving on the AHVMA/AHVMF scholarship committee as well as hosting many at her practice over almost two decades.

I was interested in speaking with her as she has been considering a number of questions as she approaches the end of her career. Among those are how to try to continue to provide service to her clients, how to pass on the knowledge she has gained over decades of holistic practice, and how to provide for the welfare of her staff as she transitions out of the office. These are questions that every solo holistic veterinarian has to face as they near retirement. Associates and potential buyers are in short supply in veterinary medicine in general, and our type of practice is especially affected. Unfortunately, there are no good answers at this point, but we shouldn't stop looking. 

Please enjoy this conversation with Dr. Marge Lewter as we remember her training and career, and hear what thought she has about eventual practice transition.

Dr. Jamie Moran was born in Connecticut. She got her undergraduate degree in Biology from St. Lawrence University and her DVM from Cornell in 1980. She then became the resident veterinarian for a commercial dairy farm in Pennsylvania until she joined the Willow Creek Veterinary Center in Pennsylvania, where she still practices today. She transitioned to treating only small animals in 1996.

She was certified by the Chi Institute in Acupuncture in 2008 and has studied herbal medicine and food therapy as well. She did David Winston's two year Western Herbal course and is now in his graduate program.

Dr. Moran is a member of the Veterinary Botanical Medical Association and is the  President-Elect for 2021.

Away from the office, she enjoys gardening, playing the violin, swimming, sewing, and knitting.

Please enjoy this conversation as we talk about her education, practice life first as a resident herd veterinarian and now as the only integrative veterinarian in a small animal practice, and her life outside the office.

This episode is a conversation with Dr. Colleen Smith, President of the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association (AHVMA). Colleen and I discuss the upcoming in-person AHVMA Annual Conference at the Peppermill Casino and Resort on October 2-5, 2021. We talked about the Conference program and what lectures and events we're looking forward to. We finish the conversation by talking about some organizational changes at the AHVMA office and our vision for the Association moving forward. 

Dr. Margo Roman was born in Miami, Florida. She attended the University of Florida for her undergraduate degree, then got her DVM from the Tuskegee University College of Veterinary Medicine in 1978.

She did an externship at the Animal Medical Center in New York City and an internship at Angell Animal Medical Center in Boston after graduation. While in veterinary school she was able to take the IVAS Acupuncture course, so she was able to treat patients during her internship using Acupuncture.

Dr. Roman has extensive training in homeopathy as well as herbal medicine and Chiropractic. In 2005, she was introduced to Ozone Therapy while looking for a new modality to treat her own horse. In 2012 she started the world's first fecal bank and has performed over 16,000 microbiome restorative therapy procedures.  Dr. Roman founded the Main Street Animal Services of Hopkinton clinic in 1983 and practices there to this day.

She is both a National and International speaker and contributed to the text "Integrating Complementary Medicine into Veterinary Practice."

In this conversation Dr. Roman and I talk about her upbringing and her various life challenges;  as a woman applying to veterinary school in the 1970's,  as an advocate for her own health, and as holistic veterinarian challenging conventional thinking. We also discuss her upcoming webinars for CIVT.  Please enjoy!