Small Animal I Speakers

Dr. Garret Pachtinger, DACVECC is a board-certified veterinary specialist in emergency critical care.  Dr. Pachtinger graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Veterinary School.  He then pursued an internship at the Matthew J Ryan Veterinary Hospital at the University of Pennsylvania.  In addition, he has also completed an emergency fellowship and residency at the Matthew J. Ryan Veterinary Hospital at the University of Pennsylvania.  For 15 years he was a clinician at a large, multispecialty hospital outside of Philadelphia, PA, as a leader in the ER and Critical Care Unit.  During this time, he was also the hospital trauma center medical director, the ER specialty internship medical director and then the House Officer Program Director for BluePearl Veterinary Partners.  Dr. Pachtinger has been published in numerous veterinary journals, textbooks, and peer reviewed learning tools and is on the editorial board of Today’s Veterinary Practice.  Dr. Pachtinger lectures throughout the world on emergency and critical care and is the Co-Founder and Director of Operations for VETgirl, the number 1 online CE resource for busy veterinary professionals.

Dr. Saffire is a graduate of The Ohio State College of Veterinary Medicine and is board certified in feline practice by the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners. She is a published author, serves as the 2024-2025 President of the American Association of Feline Practitioners, and is a tutor for the University of Sydney’s Feline Medicine Distance Education Course. She is both Cat Friendly and Fear Free Certified and owner of the Cat Specialty Center at Faithful Friends Veterinary Clinic, an AAHA accredited and Gold Level Cat Friendly Practice in Dublin, Ohio.  As an invited speaker, Dr. Saffire hopes to share her clinical experience and expertise in feline medicine with the veterinary profession.

Barden Greenfield is a 1985 graduate of Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine.  He became a Diplomate of the American Veterinary Dental College (AVDC) after completing a non-conforming dental residency in 2010.  He has a specialty dental practice in Nashville @ Your Pet Dentist of Nashville.  He previously owned a specialty dental practice in Memphis.

Dr. Greenfield is the Past-President of the AVDC serving on the board for 8 years and is currently the President of the Foundation for Veterinary Dentistry.  He was the recipient of the prestigious AVDC Peter Emily Service Award in 2017 and AVDC President’s Award for Stewardship in 2020.  Dr. Greenfield is also a veterinary dental educator, lecturing both nationally and internationally.

Graduate of Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine (1992). Completed a Surgical Residency at Iowa State University in 1996 and passed the ACVS Certifying Examination in 1997. Held a faculty position at the University of Missouri prior to entering private practice in 1999. After working in the Orlando area for 23 years (all at the same practice), moved to Chattanooga in 2020. Has served on numerous ACVS Committees, including twice on the Examination Committee, in addition to serving on the ACVS Board of Regents and as President and Chair of the ACVS. Commissioned as a Major in the US Army Veterinary Corps in the Reserves in 2018. The primary area of research and publications over the last 24 years has been total joint replacement. Co­authored the only veterinary textbook on joint replacement.

Graduate of Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine (1992). Completed a Surgical Residency at Iowa State University in 1996 and passed the ACVS Certifying Examination in 1997. Held a faculty position at the University of Missouri prior to entering private practice in 1999. After working in the Orlando area for 23 years (all at the same practice), moved to Chattanooga in 2020. Has served on numerous ACVS Committees, including twice on the Examination Committee, in addition to serving on the ACVS Board of Regents and as President and Chair of the ACVS. Commissioned as a Major in the US Army Veterinary Corps in the Reserves in 2018. The primary area of research and publications over the last 24 years has been total joint replacement. Co­authored the only veterinary textbook on joint replacement.

Dr. Rudinsky is an Associate Professor -Tenure in the Small Animal Internal Medicine service at The Ohio State University Veterinary Medical Center.  He received his DVM degree from The Ohio State University, completed a small animal rotating internship at Purdue University, and then a combined residency in internal medicine and MS degree at The Ohio State University. Following residency training he completed two post-doctoral research fellowships in Mucosal Immunology at The Ohio State University and Microbial Pathogenesis at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. He is now on faculty at Ohio State as a staff internist, research scientist and member of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine. His current clinical and research interests include gastrointestinal endocrinology, chronic enteropathies, pancreatic and hepatic disease, mucosal immunology, and the intestinal microbiome as it relates to disease pathophysiology and treatment.