The Tender Heart Veterinary Care Staff

Jen is the owner of Tender Heart Veterinary Care and is a graduate of Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine. She performed her clinical training at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Ubana. A member of the Veterinary Laser Society, Dr. Wood has had additional training in laser surgery and has been performing laser surgery on small animals for over five years. Her special interests include but are not limited to preventative medicine, dentistry, dermatology, laser surgery, and challenging cases in general. Outside of the veterinary field, Dr. Wood enjoys riding and showing her Morgan horse "Junior", and spending time with her cats "Mitchell" and "Otto" and her dogs "Roxie", "Sparky", and "Pedro". She also enjoys swimming, hiking, scrapbooking, and, we can't forget, spending time with her husband Andrew.

Dr. Fiske is a 2008 graduate of Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine. She has lived in central Massachusetts with her family, including 2 dogs, 6 cats and 3 horses, for the past 20 years. Dr. Fiske devotes much of her spare time to helping homeless animals by volunteering for free spay and neuter programs. She has also attended a number of national and international programs that provide free veterinary care to impoverished populations. Prior to entering veterinary school Dr.Fiske earned bachelors and masters degrees in human nutrition, and worked throughout Massachusetts as a clinical and outpatient dietician. Special interest focus on preventative strategies to medicine including the areas of nutrition and vaccination/immunology.

Patsy has been a veterinary technician for 15 years and is also a certified dental technician. Patsy, her husband Craig and son Dylan, share their home with their own 4 dogs and 12 cats (many of whom were adopted from clinics where Patsy has worked), as well as 2 foster dogs and 2 bunnies. Patsy brings her enthusiasm and love of animals to her work here at Tender Heart. As a busy mom to Dylan and the pets, she still finds time to ride her Morgan horse, "Lulu", pictured here with Patsy and Dylan.

After receiving a degree in Fine Art, Carol Crawford first started working with animals at a Thoroughbred horse breeding farm. From there she entered the small animal veterinary field and has been in the field a total of 16 years. Carol started working here at Tender Heart in July 2005, shortly after the opening of the clinic. Here she rejoined Dr. Wood, Dr. Byrnes, and Patsy, all of whom she had worked with in the past. Carol spends most of her free time enjoying her passion - horses. She currently shares space with her adopted family of 3 dogs and 4 cats.

Karen, pictured with her dogs "Maggie" and "Rudy", has worked with animals for over twenty-five years. As a young child, she would bring butterflies, frogs and birds to a local veterinarian because they needed care, and she remembers that the doctor always took the time to help these little ones. Remembering his compassion as she grew older, Karen began working for the same veterinarian as a kennel assistant. She eventually became a technician in his clinic, working there for 16 years. After leaving this clinic, Karen took a position as Manager/Medical Advisor at a local animal shelter where she worked for 9 years, caring for animals as they awaited adoption. Now back in the veterinary field, she is enjoying what she views as a rewarding career.

Andrea has happily been at Tender Heart for one and a half years. She has always wanted to spend her life working with animals. Andrea is a 2006 graduate from the UMass animal science program. After graduating Andrea interned at Walt Disney World's Animal Kingdom. Returning to Massachusetts she was lucky enough to intern here at Tender Heart Veterinary Care and eventually became a full time Technician. She currently shares her home with her 2 cats D.C and Bones, and her dog Hobbs a husky mix and of course her partner Justin.

Cathy is a 1996 graduate of the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine. She has been practicing small animal medicine for ten years, the last five in small animal emergency and critical care medicine in Acton, MA. Her career interests include canine and feline preventative medicine, nutritional management of disease, and ferret preventative medicine. Pictured with Dr. Byrnes is her dog "Ravenne", a Newfoundland who loves car rides and visiting with all the animals and people who come to the hospital.

Martha Scott has been on the Tender Heart staff since summer 2006, and enjoys working with her colleagues, who share her same compassion for animals. She feels that our doctors always take that extra step, and feels that encourages her to do the same. Martha has four furry "children", 2 dogs and 2 cats. She attended Becker College's Animal Care program and has worked in the veterinary field for over ten years. Martha has loved animals all her life and believes that a house without a furry friend is an empty home.

Pictured with her dogs "Autumn" and "Rafe", Pam was the office manager at Tender Heart Veterinary Care for their first 3-1/2 years. A graduate of Lowell State College, Pam was a late-comer to the veterinary field, having had careers in music education and printing/typesetting for most of her working life. She and her husband Ernie sold their Westford print business in 2001, at which time she went to work for her pets' veterinarian and met Dr. Wood, an associate in the practice. After working there for 3 years, Pam made the decision to join Dr. Wood in her new venture. Pam and Ernie share their home (and bed!) not only with the dogs, but with 2 cats: "Hattie", a Lowell Humane Society adoptee, and "Stripes", adopted from the Westford Clinic after his original owners relinquished him. Although Pam recently retired from Tender Heart, she will continue to work on special projects for the clinic.

Jen Lang took over as Office Manager here at Tender Heart following Pam’s retirement. Jen got to know the Tender Heart staff when Dr. Wood was treating her cat Ripley who had a rare medical condition. The kindness and professionalism the staff showed while treating Ripley inspired her to pursue a career in the Veterinary field and in that pursuit she happily ended up at Tender Heart. In her spare time Jen enjoys photography and cuddling with her 3 cats: Nanook, an orange tabby, Ripley, a lynx point siamese mix, and Isabella, a lilac point siamese. Oh, and we can't forget she also shares her home with Scott, her 2 legged partner! Jen is pictured here with Ripley.

Virginia has been an animal lover all her life. As a child, she would bring home every stray that needed help in finding a loving home. As a young girl, Virginia apprenticed at a Morgan Horse Farm where she learned breeding and training of horses and also the breeding and care of Standard Poodles. She and her husband Jon, built a home and barn where they taught children horsemanship and also raised German Shepherds for search and rescue. Virginia also worked as the head receptionist at Abbot Animal Hospital for six years. “Even though I have only worked at Tender Heart for six months, I can honestly say that this is the best job I have ever had. We not only give the best care for pets, we also care about our pets' owners.” Virginia and her husband Jon share there home with their two dogs Remy, an Australian Shepherd and Sisu a Border Collie mix, whom they rescued!

Erin is a graduate of Mass College of Art. Animals are her other passion in life. Big or small, she loves them all (especially the squishy faced ones). When she is not working she loves to be home doing crafts with her six kitties, Shadow, Diva, Mr. Moosha, Oliver, Elvis and Dudley. When not at home she loves to go to her Grammy’s to play rummy, or go on treasure hunts at flea markets.