Our Staff

Tyra

Practice Manager

Tyra was born and raised in Southwest Florida and joined the Gulf Gate family in 2023. She has had a love for animals ever since she could remember which brought her into the world of veterinary medicine in 2015.

When she isn't being kept busy by her 3 Dobermans and Cattle Dog, she enjoys reading and spending time at the beach with her family.

Hannah

Team Member

Hannah was born and raised in Sarasota.  She attended SCTI's veterinary assistant program and graduated from Booker High in 2018. She started at Gulf Gate Animal Hospital in November 2017 as kennel care specialist.

Hannah enjoys pet sitting and just spending time with her animals she has at home.  Some of Hannah's pets include a lab/pit mix, Zeus, a Chinese water dragon, Lilith, a bunny Cadbury, and a pig name Olive.

Chrissy

Team Member

Chrissy was born and raised in Sarasota. After growing up with nothing but reptiles, she finally had the opportunity to rescue her first dog, Cypers, in 2018, and her first cat, Gizmo, in 2019. Chrissy has been at Gulf Gate Animal Hospital since February of 2019 as a Veterinary Receptionist. In her free time, she enjoys baking and decorating cakes! 

Braidyn

Team Member

Braidyn was born in Orlando, FL, but moved to Sarasota in 2015. She started as a kennel technician here at Gulf Gate back in February of 2018. In the fall of 2020 she moved to Gypsum Colorado for a year working at a small mountain veterinary practice as a veterinary care provider, before moving back to Sarasota to continue her journey here with us!

Braidyn has two dogs named Mooshoo and Bug and four cats named Sitka, Skitter, Brandy, and Goose. In her free time, Braidyn enjoys theme parks and traveling! 

Megan

Team Member

Megan was born and raised in New York and then lived in New Jersey and Pennsylvania until she moved to Florida in 2011 to be closer to her family. After graduating from college with a Bachelor of Arts in social work and art therapy, she explored her career options but found herself following her old passion of working in the veterinary profession.

Megan has worked with wild animal rehabilitation, a traveling farm and various clinics doing relief before she found Gulf Gate. She previously worked at Gulf Gate for four years until she left to learn more aspects of the profession including management, emergency work, and mobile veterinary care, but happily came back in January.

Megan loves to learn everything about veterinary medicine and takes particular interest in exotics, hospice care, nutrition, and preventive care. When she is not working, she spends her time attending to her mini zoo, volunteering with her autism family, and spending time with friends and family.

Megan enjoys listening to music, doing art, and spending time outside around water. Megan’s family includes her husband Jay, two dogs, a cat, an African gray parrot, a Quaker parrot, a bearded dragon, six chickens, two ducks, a horse, and a fish

Jan

Team Member

Jan, our well-travelled English rose, has lived in Sarasota for 26 years. Jan started at Gulf Gate in September 2021 in our reception area and has thoroughly enjoyed getting to know all our wonderful clients and patients.

Jan currently has two fur babies, Java, a rescue who we think is about two, and Capa, a seven-year-old chihuahua. Jan also has three fur grandbabies who all love to come to Nana’s house since she has a big back yard for them to play in. 

Kari

Team Member

Kari is from Portland, Maine where she studied Animal Science at the University of Maine. She moved to Sarasota in 2001 and has been with Gulf Gate Animal Hospital ever since.

With the mentoring of the GGAH doctors, her love of veterinary medicine continued to grow. She learned the many aspects of the veterinary field and loves seeing all patients from puppy/kittenhood to their senior years. She has 2 cats orange cats named George and Henry that make life interesting outside of work!

Valorie

Team Member

Val moved to Sarasota from Long Island in 2018 and joined the Gulf Gate team in 2022. She has been a licensed veterinary technician since 2001.

In her free time, she enjoys fishing with her husband, afternoon naps with her fur babies Cricket and Misty and binge reading crime novels

Maria

Team Member

Maria is our newest member to GGAH! She was born and raised in Madison, Wisconsin, and moved to Sarasota at the beginning of 2024. She has a passion for all things animals, especially big cats.

She has a black lab named Millie and a calico named Miss Spice. In her free time, Maria likes to spend time out in the sun, paint, and read. She is so happy to be a member of the GGAH family!