Faculty

PROGRAM DIRECTORS

Darryl Millis, M.S., D.V.M., Diplomate American College of Veterinary Surgeons, C.C.R.P.

Professor of Orthopedic Surgery, Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville and Surgery Section Head, Department of Small Animal Clinical Services. Adjunct Clinical Professor in the Department of Physical Therapy at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. He has published in numerous peer-reviewed veterinary journals and is co-editor of the books Canine Rehabilitation and Physical Therapy (2004) and Essential Facts of Physiotherapy in Dogs and Cats (2004).

David Levine, P.T., Ph.D., Diplomate American Board of Physical Therapy Specialities, C.C.R.P.

UC Foundation professor of Physical Therapy at The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, adjunct associate professor at the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine, and adjunct professor at North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine. He has published in numerous peer-reviewed veterinary journals and is co-editor of the books Canine Rehabilitation and Physical Therapy (2004) and Essential Facts of Physiotherapy in Dogs and Cats (2004).

PROGRAM INSTRUCTORS

Deborah Gross Saunders, D.P.T., M.S.P.T., O.C.S., Diplomate American Board of Physical Therapy Specialties, C.C.R.P.

Debbie Gross Saunders graduated from Boston University with her physical therapy degree in 1990 and continued with her postgraduate orthopedic physical therapy degree at Quinnipiac College where she graduated with distinction in 1999. In addition, she is a board certified specialist in orthopedics by the American Board of Physical Therapy Specialties. Dr. Saunders received her doctorate in physical therapy in 2008 from the University of Tennessee.

She has been practicing in the field of small animal rehabilitation for over fourteen years and has published in both the veterinarian field and the canine athletic field. She has currently produced three DVD‘s aimed at the performance dogs and has authored a book, Canine Physical Therapy, and is the editor of the international newsletter, Wizard of Paws. She is a past president of the Animal Physical Therapy special interest group within the APTA, and has enjoyed speaking internationally and within the US for over ten years.

Denis Marcellin-Little, M.S., D.V.M., Diplomate American College of Veterinary Surgeons, C.C.R.P.


Associate Professor, Orthopedic Surgery, College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University.

Denis Marcellin-Little graduated from the French Veterinary School of Toulouse, France, in 1988. Thanks to an ambassadorial scholarship from the Rotary Foundation, he did 1-year internship on the Hollywood Animal Hospital near Miami, Florida, where he assisted Dr. Dee, a renowned specialist of racing injuries in greyhounds. Dr. Marcellin-Little has been at North Carolina State University since 1990. After a 3-year residency in small animal surgery, and a 1-year postdoctoral fellowship, he became Assistant Professor in Orthopedic Surgery in July 1994 and Associate Professor in 2000. He is a Diplomat of the American and European Colleges of Veterinary Surgeons. Dr. Marcellin-Little has several orthopedic research interests.
 

Robin Downing, D.V.M., D.A.A.P.M., C.V. Acupuncturist, C.P.E., C.C.R.P.


Dr. Downing is Hospital Director of The Downing Center for Animal Pain Management, LLC, the first comprehensive pain management practice for pets in Northern Colorado.  She was the 1995 Colorado VMA's Up and Coming Veterinarian of the Year, 1996 Association for Women Veterinarians' Outstanding Woman Veterinarian of the Year, and in 1999 she received a regional Entrepreneurial Excellence Award® from Working Woman® Magazine.  In 2000 she was named the Hill's Animal Welfare and Humane Ethics Award winner, and 2001 the World Small Animal Association presented Dr. Downing the Excellence in Veterinary Healthcare Award (Small Animal Veterinarian of the Year.)  Dr. Downing was named the Woman of Influence in Healthcare by the Northern Colorado Business Report in 2009.

Dr. Downing is a certified veterinary acupuncturist, a Certified Canine Rehabilitation Practitioner, and she hold the Diplomate credential in the American Academy of Pain Management.  In 2009 Dr. Downing became the first (and only) veterinarian to earn the designation Certified Pain Educator from the American Association of Pain Educators.

Dr. Downing has been sharing her passion for facilitating, enhancing, lengthening, and strengthening the Family-Pet-Veterinary Bond with audiences around the world since 1996.