Dr. Amanda Dykstra grew up in a rural area and served in the Army prior to graduating from veterinary school in 2003. She completed a Fellowship in Shelter Medicine at UC Davis and earned a Masters in Public Health at the University of Tennessee. Dr. Dykstra is a board-certified specialist in shelter medicine practice. She moved to Tennessee in 2014 to teach at the UT College of Veterinary Medicine, where she became increasingly aware of the problems associated with the lack of access to affordable, high-quality veterinary care in East Tennessee. The Gentle Doctor is the product of two years of work and research into finding a way to bring affordable care to more Tennessee families. Dr. Dykstra works hard to help her patients while at the clinic, but is also protective of her time with her three children, two dogs, and two clinic cats so she does not see emergency appointments. She is a bit of a perfectionist and has OCD, but everyone at the clinic puts up with it because they like their jobs [citation].