Dr. Heather Spain is an East Bay native having grown up in El Cerrito. She earned her undergraduate degree from Barnard College at Columbia University in Neuroscience & Behavior in 2009, and completed her veterinary degree at UC Davis in 2014. Dr. Spain then completed a one-year rotating Medicine and Surgery   internship at the University of Pennsylvania followed by a three-year Diagnostic Imaging Residency at Tufts University. She became board-certified by the American College of Veterinary Radiology in 2018. Dr. Spain spent the year following her residency working as an associate radiologist at Angell Animal Medical Center in Boston and an adjunct clinical instructor at Tufts University. She returned to the California coast in 2020 where she developed the Radiology Department at BluePearl Monterey. She is very excited to return home to the Bay Area and join the team at PESCM.

Dr. Spain enjoys all imaging modalities, but has a special interest in ultrasound, particularly of hepatobiliary and gastrointestinal disease. Though a steadfast “cat person” she loves working with all species including exotics and aquatics! In her time outside the clinic she enjoys hot yoga, racquetball, wine tasting, scary movies and spending time with family, especially her cat, Bellevedere.

Dr. Krystina Stadler is a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Radiology. She graduated from University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine in 2012 as the class salutatorian with Magna Cum Laude. The following year she completed a rotating small animal surgery and medicine internship at University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine. From 2013-2016, Dr. Stadler underwent her diagnostic imaging residency at Michigan State University.

Prior to joining Summit, Dr. Stadler was an assistant professor at Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Stadler’s professional interests include cross-sectional imaging with a focus on neuroimaging and advanced MRI techniques. She is currently active in research and has presented and published multiple peer-reviewed articles within this field.

Clinically, Dr. Stadler enjoys interpreting all imaging modalities and working alongside the primary clinical to integrate imaging findings with the patient’s complete clinical picture. Dr. Stadler also is passionate about providing continuing education in diagnostic imaging and has instructed numerous continuing education courses for the veterinary community.

In her free time, Dr. Stadler is an avid runner, cyclist and triathlete. She has completed multiple full-Ironman distances races and has raced for Team USA at age-group triathlon world championships in short and long course distances. She is excited to relocate to the pacific northwest which will allow her to pursue additional endurance sports and spend more time exploring the region with her husband Rich. She spoils their two highly entertaining Staffordshire terrier mixes, Betsie and Brody and their two cats, Django and Lil Cat.

Prof. Dr. Patrick Kircher graduated from the University of Bern in 1996 and then started to work as an assistant at the large animal clinic at the same Faculty. He wrote there his doctoral thesis on porcine diseases. In 2000 he changed to participate in the internship program at the small animal clinic in Bern. In 2001 he started his combined residency/PhD program in diagnostic imaging at the faculty of veterinary medicine in Bern. In 2005 he got the Diploma of the European College of Veterinary Diagnostic Imaging. Since 2006-2009 he works as an assistant professor at the section of clinical radiology of the Berne faculty. Since 2009 professor at the University of Zurich. Currently: Head of Section of Diagnostic Imaging of the Vetsuisse Faculty in Zurich / Switzerland. Prof. Kircher‘s main interest is gastrointestinal ultrasound (the main topic of his PhD-thesis), with special research field regarding gastrointestinal blood flow.

Dr. Schwarz studied veterinary medicine at the Humboldt and Free University of Berlin in Germany.

He did a diagnostic imaging residency at Glasgow University Veterinary School and became a Diplomate in Diagnostic Imaging with the RCVS (DVR), ECVDI and ACVR. He has been an academic radiologist at the Universities of Pennsylvania and Wisconsin-Madison and is the head of the Diagnostic Imaging Service at the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies since 2009.

In 2017, he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (FRCVS) in the UK. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles and his particular interests are in thoracic imaging and computed tomography. On both topics he has published a comprehensive textbook.