Our Team

Stephanie had a passion for animals at an early age. Her earliest memories include her family pets- especially their chow chow, who as early as 1 years old, allowed Stephanie to grab his fur and patiently taught her to take her first steps. Those early steps quickly developed into a deep trust and affection for animals which then grew into a career in veterinary medicine and ultimately brought her into the BVC family.

Stephanie has a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice, but her love of animals keeps her in the field. Everyone of your pets feels at ease when they are in Stephanie’s hands.

She lives in the Bronx with her wife, son and three cats – Shadow, Moon and Midnight.

Maya recently completed her bachelor’s degree in veterinary technology at SUNY Delhi and spent the summer of 2025 at Brilliant Veterinary Care fulfilling her internship requirements for her degree. She quickly fell in love with the BVC philosophy, and our staff quickly grew to love her back. At the end of her internship, she accepted a full time position at BVC and we are so pleased to have her onboard!

Maya has been a licensed technician since August of 2024 and is honing her skills as a technician before applying to veterinary school- hoping to focus on neurology, zoo medicine and pathology. Her ultimate dream is to give back to her family home of Puerto Rico; volunteering her time and skill to less fortunate animals and families in need of veterinary care. 

Being a native Upper Westsider, Maya is thrilled to be part of the BVC family- bringing exceptional and thoughtful care to the community she loves and holds dear. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, coffee, shopping and cuddling with her cat Fred.

With a deep commitment to general practice, Dr. Kutscher emphasizes high-quality medicine and the importance of building enduring relationships with her patients and their families. Her areas of special interest include preventative medicine, endocrine diseases, and geriatric care- ensuring comprehensive and compassionate care for pets at every stage of their lives.

Outside of her professional life, Dr. Kutscher enjoys the theater and values spending quality time with her family and friends. She is also an enthusiastic Wordle player. At home, she is a loving mother to her college-aged daughter and devoted caretaker of two diabetic cats, demonstrating her personal commitment to animal health and well-being.

In addition to her veterinary practice, Dr. Kutscher is actively involved in charitable work, raising funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society through their Light the Night Walk, in honor of her late husband, Mario.

Dr. Kutscher looks forward to providing exceptional care for your pets, combining her extensive expertise with a warm and positive approach to veterinary medicine.

She lives in Washington Heights with her family and dog, Apple.

Crystal is a native Upper West Side resident with a passion for helping animals. When she was four years old, the movie “Free Willy” instilled an interest in marine biology and animal welfare.  As a child, she would spend time with horses at the Claremont Riding Academy taking horseback riding lessons and developing her life-long passion for animals. She is currently enrolled in the Veterinary Technology program at LaGuardia Community College, working towards her A.A.S. in Veterinary technology. In her spare time, she enjoys landscape photography and being an activist for the animal conservation groups- “The Whale Sanctuary Project” and the “Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund”- all while spending time with her family including her fashionable dog, Missy.

Anchor Veterinary Surgery is an advanced mobile surgery service that travels throughout the greater NYC area, performing board-certified surgeries at primary care veterinary hospitals. Anchor’s mission is to enhance the local veterinary community by providing exceptional surgical outcomes and acting as a trusted resource for cutting-edge, practical, and compassionate surgical expertise. By collaborating directly with your pet’s regular veterinarian, Anchor offers pet owners a more convenient, more available, and more affordable option for advanced surgical care than having the same procedure performed at a referral hospital.  

Dr. Tony Kahn & Dr. Farrah Horowitz first worked together as interns at the Animal  Medical Center. Following this, they each went on to become surgical leaders at multi-specialty hospitals throughout the Northeast. Both surgeons have more than 15 years of experience and perform all types of surgery, including orthopedic, soft tissue, and oncologic procedures.  

For more information, including doctor bios, visit www.anchorveterinarysurgery.com.

At 18, Malcolm moved to Hawaii and his love of animals followed. Whether bartending, working in IT, construction, being the front desk coordinator of a luxury salon or even assisting the Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii (now Governor) Josh Green, Malcolm never lost that passion. He would often care for friends/coworkers pets while they vacationed and found his time around animals some of the most rewarding. 

Malcolm moved to NY in 2021 and developed a successful pet sitting business. Animals always feel safe and loved with Malcolm and while his business thrived, he longed for something more concrete. Through his pet sitting, he met a BVC client who encouraged him to apply for a frondesk position with us and the rest is history. 

We are so happy Malcolm’s love of animals led him through our doors and we know our clients are as well.

Lori has always had a love for animals and was fortunate enough to stumble upon the veterinary industry quite by accident at a very young age. More than thirty years later, having worked for various veterinary pharmaceutical companies, she has acquired a vast product knowledge along with outstanding customer service experience.

Lori lives on Long Island with her family.

Lori considers it both an honor and a privilege to join the BVC team.

Shortly after starting at Animal General in 2006, she graduated with her associates in Veterinary Technology from Cedar Valley College and passed her state boards, earning her NYS veterinary technician license. Her years at Animal General were formative, and under Dr. Paul Howell’s leadership and Karen Heidgerd’s mentorship she honed her nursing skills and found a special calling in veterinary dentistry. Being part of the development of Brilliant Veterinary Care has been particularly empowering for her and has reignited her passion. She is thrilled and honored to be part of an all women owned private practice. “This is an opportunity for me to continue to grow as a tech while providing my patients the individualized care they deserve.” Jennifer hopes to become certified in veterinary practice management and pain management, furthering her drive for patient advocacy. She currently lives in Yonkers, NY with her husband, daughter, two cats, two parakeets and Coco the cockatoo.

To pursue further training, Dr. Wu moved to the United States with her two lovely human daughters and feline son, Nene, in 2021. She completed a small animal rotating internship at Auburn University in Alabama and went on to pass the ANZCVS membership exam (medicine of cats) in 2022. She then moved to the New York area and enjoyed continuing living in a big city. 

During her free time, she loves traveling with her family, trying different cuisines, and exploring the new area she calls home.

Outside of work, Dr. Bishop enjoys life in New York City, experiencing the restaurants, museums, parks and shows our great city has to offer. He enjoys travel and sampling new wines. For years, Dr. Bishop has been involved in mental health advocacy programs, previously working with non-profit organizations to promote discussion on mental health topics and encourage help-seeking behaviors. 

At a young age, Maureen fell in love with animals and dreamed of being a veterinarian. While enrolled at Queens College, pursuing her pre-vet requirements, she began work at a private veterinary clinic and soon realized her true calling- veterinary nursing. Technicians are the voices for their patients and the time, effort and diligence it takes to care for animals is something Maureen decided to devote her life to. Soon after graduating from Queens College, Maureen went on to work for Northshore Animal League, where she developed an affinity for rescue and adoption. During her 6 years at NSAL, Maureen witnessed firsthand how many dogs and cats, especially those with special needs, needed homes. She soon became a foster mom to many cats with unique medical conditions who would otherwise be euthanized. Her home became a sanctuary for various one-eyed, three-legged and neurologic kitties, and remains so today. Following her time at NSAL, Maureen spent 3 years working for the ASPCA stationary spay and neuter facility before starting at Animal General. It was here that she discovered the best of both worlds- rescue and private practice. During her 9 years at Animal General, and with the support of Karen Heidgerd who shares the same passion for rescue, Maureen was able to build a robust adoption program, finding homes for hundreds of cats, while at the same time, developing and honing her nursing skills. She finds herself fortunate to have spent the last several years practicing exceptional medicine while forging deep and lasting bonds with clients through her rescue program. She looks forward to developing new rewarding relationships with the clients at BVC and to rebuilding her adoption program within our doors. Maureen currently lives in Queens with a menagerie of her own special needs cats who include Jaws, Cheddar Bob and Gumby, just to name a few.

“I have always loved the energy and strong sense of community in the Upper West Side. Starting Brilliant Veterinary Care has brought my career full circle.”

The foundation of Karen’s lifelong career in veterinary medicine is her compassionate love of animals. This passion has found new expression in “Brilliant Veterinary Care”.

Her previous 25 years were spent serving the Upper West Side community, as practice administrator for Animal General. Under her leadership, Animal General grew to become one of the most popular and beloved veterinary hospitals on the Upper West Side.

Through Animal General, with the support of Dr. Paul Howell, Karen established many beneficial programs. She developed “Protected Pets”, a program designed to aid the pets of victims of domestic violence, “Tenth Life for NYC cats”, a community endeavor to rescue pets slated for euthanasia at the NYC shelter, and “Senior Foster”, a program that placed senior cats with senior citizens providing food and medical care as needed.

Karen helped people as well as pets. Animal General worked with the NYCAHRC Hire program and employed many learning-disabled adults, giving them full-time jobs and purpose. These charitable programs were in addition to the delivery of gold-standard veterinary care for all clients.

Karen is also the co-founder of two charitable organizations that care for urban wildlife: the “Wild Bird Fund” and “City Pigeon Rehabilitation”. She lives with her family in Westchester with rescued dogs, cats, and a handful of birds. “I am excited to continue to bring compassionate and inclusive veterinary care to the Upper West Side where one size does not fit all.”

• Co-founding the non-profit “City Pigeon Rehabilitation”
• Funding, designing, and building aviaries for an upstate NY non-profit (Berkshire Bird Paradise)
• Instrumental in opening the “Wild Bird Fund” in its current location on Columbus Ave

She lives on the Upper West Side with rescue cats and a rotating flock of rescued birds.

Ms. Holcombe has always recognized the varied and still expanding uses of this life-saving diagnostic medium. In 2008 her attention was drawn to Veterinary medicine. Of recent, she became a member of the International Veterinary Ultrasound Society. She specializes in small animal abdominal ultrasounds but has scanned the occasional snake and alligator. “There are always new and exciting applications to this dynamic branch of radiology,” says Holcombe.

Barbara lives in Yonkers, New York, with her husband Robert (our porter extraordinaire!), a houseful of cats, dogs, and her African Grey Parrot, Jim

Thank you, Barbara, for your tender loving care.

Robert lives in Yonkers, NY, with his wife Barbara (our TLC coordinator), many cats, dogs, and birds.

In addition to veterinary nursing, Diane occasionally works as a substitute teacher for the NYC Department of Education teaching bilingual courses in science and language. 

Diane hopes to specialize in rehabilitation and physical therapy providing assistance to pets recovering from surgery, debilitated by age related arthritis and/or with special needs allowing them and their families to live a full and rich life.  

She is currently the proud owner of 3 dogs, a few reptiles and her handsome cat Leonard.