GVTAA President: Jessica M. Sewell, MVCC, BAS, LVT, CVT, RVT, LVMT, CPhT
Jessica graduated from Gwinnett Technical College with her associate’s degree in veterinary technology in 2003. In 2011, she earned her bachelor’s in veterinary technology from Florida’s St. Petersburg College. She is currently pursuing her master’s degree in veterinary clinical care through Lincoln Memorial’s College of Veterinary Medicine.
Jessica serves as the National Director of Career Progression for VCA Animal Hospitals and has been with the company since 2005. Some of her special interests include emergency and critical care, career and leadership development, mentoring, wellbeing, public speaking, and teaching. Previously, Jessica worked at Auburn University as an ICU Supervisor in the Small Animal Teaching Hospital. She has also taught as adjunct faculty in the Veterinary Technology Program of a local technical college in Georgia.
In 2021, she was selected to become the first veterinary technician to serve on the Georgia State Board of Veterinary Medicine. She also serves on committees for AAVSB and GVMA and sits on advisory boards for veterinary technology programs. In addition to being the current President, Jessica is a past President and Vice President of GVTAA.
GVTAA Vice President: Jamie Rauscher LVT
Jamie Rauscher is the Medical Manager of a large, 24/7 General Practice and ER facility in Woodstock. She has been a licensed technician since 2008. Her interests include anesthesia, pain management, client communication and emergency/critical care. She has been at her current practice for over 23 years and is also part owner of the practice. Jamie has been on the GVTAA Board for several years and is the current President of NAVTA (National Association of Veterinary Technicians).
GVTAA Treasurer: Patti LeVan LVT
Patti started her career in veterinary medicine in 1988 as a veterinary assistant for Catoosa Veterinary clinic in Ringgold, Georgia. In 1995 she graduated from Snead State Community College with an Associate of Science in Veterinary Technology degree. Patti continued to work at that same clinic for 33 years as the technician supervisor. Patti is currently a regional technician director for VCA animal hospitals.
GVTAA Secretary & Membership Manager: Kathryn Carman, LVT, MSc (Advanced Practice Veterinary Nursing)
Kathryn graduated from San Juan College with her AAS in Veterinary Technology in 2015 and her Master's Degree in Advanced Practice in Veterinary Nursing from the University of Glasgow in 2021. She is currently pursuing her VTS in Clinical Practice (canine/feline).
Kathryn currently organizes and manages the surgery department at VCA Braelinn Village and also supports the technician and assistant supervisors for Atlanta area VCA Hospitals. These jobs combine her love of veterinary medicine and her love of teaching, and allow her to nerd out with a wide variety of technicians and assistants, especially on the topics of pain management, anesthesia, wound care, and the growing education and career opportunities for technicians and assistants.
In addition to her new role as Membership Secretary for the GVTAA, Kathryn serves on the Advisory Council for San Juan College. She enjoys traveling, lecturing, hiking, reading and writing.
GVTAA NAVTA Representative: Anna Santos, BS LVT
Anna began her career in Veterinary Medicine at the University of Georgia Veterinary Teaching Hospital (UGA VTH) in 1998. From 1998 through 2011, she worked in several areas of the small animal teaching hospital, these areas included internal medicine, ICU, and the neurology department. In 2008, while continuing work with the UGA VTH, Ms. Santos began as an adjunct instructor with the Athens Technical College Veterinary Technology program. She then transitioned into a full time faculty member in 2011, focusing her career on technical education. In 2015, Anna returned to the clinical setting. Ms. Santos returned to the University of Georgia Veterinary Teaching Hospital, to supervise the newly created Small Animal Intermediate Care Ward. Anna worked at the UGA VTH until spring of 2022, she was responsible for the staffing and management for the Small Animal ICU, IMC, ER, Wards and Isolation. In the spring of 2022 Anna moved into Laboratory Medicine. She currently supervises the Animal Health Technicians for the University of Georgia Office of Research Animal Resource division. Ms. Santos is currently pursuing her Master’s in Public Health at the University Of Georgia School Of Public Health. In her free time, Anna enjoys riding her horses and gardening on her family farm, in Athens, GA where she lives with her husband Brian and son Zeb.
GVTAA Webmaster & Social Media Manager: Sophie Van Etten, LVT
Sophie graduated from the University of Connecticut in 2014 with a Bachelor of Science in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology. After starting as a veterinary assistant in small animal general practice she went on to specialize at a feline only clinic in Arlington, VA. In 2019 she graduated from Northern Virginia Community College with an Associate of Science in Veterinary Technology. During her time in the Veterinary Technology program, she was a volunteer Scuba Diver at the National Aquarium and interned in the Animal Health department of the Maryland Zoo.
By 2020 Sophie had moved to Texas to pursue her career goals, accepting a job as an LVT at the Fort Worth Zoo. Treating animals from frogs to elephants and everything in between, and making silly dad jokes along the way. Why do Zebra’s have stripes? Because they don’t want to be spotted!
In 2022 Sophie moved to GA and returned to the world of small animal medicine. In addition to being a GVTAA board member, she is also on the NAVTA Government Relations Committee as the district II liaison, sits on the executive board for CGMFF, and is an AAFP Certified Cat Friendly Professional. Sophie’s fluffy family of misfit animals include Murdock the blind DareDevil dog, Rocket the Guardian of the Bunny Galaxy, Valkitty the handi-capable warrior of Asgard, M’Baku house panther of Wakanda (pictured), Logan the doubly incontinent Wolverine, and Jean Grey - Logan’s emotional support phoenix (she’s a kitten, but Jean Grey was The Phoenix … nerd things).
GVTAA Conference Coordinator & Member at Large: Kelli Gibbon, LVT, VTS Academy of Veterinary Technicians in Anesthesia and Analgesia
Kelli is a licensed veterinary technician (LVT) and has been working in the veterinary field since her first job as a veterinary assistant in 1996. In 2002, she received her associate degree in veterinary technology from Bel Rea Institute for Animal Technology. After spending most of her career focused on anesthesia, she obtained her veterinary technician specialty (VTS) certification in 2012 in anesthesia and analgesia.
Kelli’s passion for learning and teaching best practices in veterinary anesthesia led her to where she is today, after 6 years of servicing and repairing anesthesia machines, she took ownership over a well-established service company with a vast southeastern US territory. This responsibility has pushed her to live up to her full potential and it is her hope to inspire others in her profession.
Being exposed to a large variety of veterinary facilities placed Kelli in a unique position to fill a void around anesthesia education. While providing the highest possible standards in anesthesia machine service is her primary goal, making basic anesthesia education accessible to her community is her way to encourage enrichment in current clinical training programs advancing the veterinary technology profession. With solid credentials and over a decade of public speaking experience, she is a popular lecturer in many local, state and regional conferences.
As of January 2023, Kelli is proud to have joined the board of the Georgia Veterinary Technician and Assistant with hopes of developing more opportunities for continuing education on a local level. Encouraging the technician’s mastery of skills like veterinary anesthesia will empower LVT’s and veterinary assistants to grow their careers while enhancing job satisfaction and staff retention.
GVTAA Member At Large: Angel Martin, LVT, CVPM
Angel works with Georgia Veterinary Associates (GVA) as the Operations Manager. She joined GVA in June 2010. Shortly after her employment as a Registered Veterinary Technician, she earned a promotion to Patient Care Coordinator; with time, further education, and commitment she was promoted to her current role in 2014.
Angel obtained her Associate's Degree from Macomb Community College's Veterinary Technology Program in 2007 and her Bachelor’s Degree from St. Petersburg College in 2012.
In 2019, Angel won the American Humane Hero Vet Nurse Award for the work she and GVA do with their CARE Fund, helping local pets in need.
To learn more about Angel or Georgia Veterinary Associates visit www.mygavet.com
Our Mission
The Georgia Veterinary Technician and Assistant Association is dedicated to all aspects of quality veterinary care. The mission of the GVTAA is to foster high professional standards and provide support for technicians and assistants. The primary goals are to facilitate more continuing education (CE) opportunities specifically aimed toward the needs of veterinary paraprofessionals and provide a means to fulfill the required CE hours to maintain certification. The GVTAA will serve as a forum for the presentation and exchange of information, provide education for the general public about our profession and qualifications, and work toward educating veterinarians in the beneficial aspects of paraprofessional utilization.
We are the voice of veterinary technicians and assistants as we promote the veterinary profession and develop leaders for the future.