About Us

Midstate Veterinary Services was formed in 1998 with the merger of two long established veterinary clinics, Animal Barn and Large Animal Clinic. We strive to provide high quality, responsible animal care emphasizing preventive medicine and excellent customer service with 24 hour care for our clients.
Midstate Veterinary Services recently opened a new modern 6,000 sq. ft. facility on Rte. 13 just south of Cortland. As a full service mixed animal practice we offer in-house care of companion animals and on farm care of large animals specializing in a variety of dairy and equine services. The staff, with over 62 years of combined service, and 10 DVMs are committed to providing personal attention to the individual concerns and needs of our patients and their owners.

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Our Team

​Dave Brandstadt DVM - Owner

A 1989 graduate of Ohio State Veterinary School, Dave has lived and practiced in the Cortland area since graduating.  After 4 years of mixed animal practice Dave has concentrated on the field of dairy production medicine.  His interests include production medicine, nutrition, and building design as well as other aspects of dairy farming.  A member of the Midstate Veterinary team since its inception in 1998, Dave is proud to be a member of such an energetic and caring organization.  He currently resides in the area with his wife and two sons and enjoys fishing and golfing in his spare time.

Tidbits
​During summers in college, Dave taught backpacking and whitewater canoeing. ​

Ken Osborn DVM - Owner

Ken grew up in New York's Southern Tier. He graduated from Cornell University in 1980 with a Bachelors degree in Animal Science. He spent most of the 80's and 90's as owner/operator of a dairy farm. Ken graduated from Cornell University School of Veterinary Medicine in 2001. He joined Midstate Veterinary Services in 2003.

Tidbits
​Ken spends his free time enjoying rural life on a small uphill beef farm.

Jennifer Sun DVM - Owner

Jenn grew up in Poughkeepsie, NY and from a very early age had a strong attraction towards all things furry.  She received both her B.S. '02 and DVM '06 from Cornell University and joined Midstate after graduation and has been here since.  Her professional interests include preventative medicine and soft tissue surgery in dogs and cats.  She enjoys building long term relationships with her clients/patients and finds her job most satisfying when working as a team.  She shares her home with her husband Kirk, son Bennett,  a crazy hunting brittany named Blue, a super sweet kitty named Mini and assorted horses and chickens.  

Tidbits
When not being "professional" Jenn loves backcountry hiking and paddling with her family and practices circus arts.

Laura Rath Brown DVM - Associate

Laura grew up in West Pawlet, VT.  She discovered her passion for large animal medicine while assisting her father with veterinary farm calls. Her undergraduate studies at Juniata College prepared her for her tenure at Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine.  Since graduation in 2009 she has worked at Midstate Veterinary Services where she splits her time between bovine and equine patients.  Professional interests include large animal internal medicine and reproduction.  She enjoys working with farms of all sizes from the very small to the very large.  In her free time, Laura also enjoys traveling with her husband Jeremy, riding her horses and doting on her cats and brown swiss cows.  ​​

Tidbits
All of Laura's animals have middle names.  What's your pet's middle name?

Emily Walker DVM - Associate

Emily Walker was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  She earned her undergraduate degree at Yale University, and she subsequently attended Cornell University for her veterinary degree.  Since graduating from Cornell in 2007 she has worked in central New York State practicing small animal and exotic animal medicine.  Although previously owners of two large breed dogs, now she and her family have a mixed breed dog, two cats, a button quail and a 75 gallon aquarium of fish for pets.  Emily lives in Ithaca, N.Y. with her husband and two children.  Emily joined the Midstate team in May 2014.

​Tidbits
​Emily spends her free time in the summer with her family on a schooner sailing on Cayuga Lake.

Theresa DeBoover DVM - Associate

Theresa grew up on a dairy farm in Geneva, NY, where she acquired a love for animals and agriculture.  She studied zoology at SUNY Oswego, and attended veterinary school at Cornell University.  Since graduating in 2017, Theresa divides her time at Midstate between equine, bovine and small animal medicine.  Her interests include internal medicine, soft tissue surgery, poisonous plants and toxicology, and small ruminants. In her spare time she enjoys hiking and camping with her dog, Egret, as well as traveling, yoga and birdwatching.

Tidbits
Before vet school, Theresa spent time in Central America studying sea turtles.

Carolyn Kokko DVM - Associate

Carolyn was born and raised in New Hampshire, where she completed her undergraduate degree at the University of New Hampshire.  She earned her Master's Degree in Ruminant Nutrition at UC Davis in California, returning to the East Coast for work at the Miner Agricultural Research Institute in Chazy, NY.  After two years of dairy research, she attended Cornell Veterinary School, and began practicing dairy medicine in 2016.  Carolyn's growing animal family includes one horse, two dogs and four cats.  Chickens are next! 

Tidbits
​As a child, Carolyn's grandfather taught her to play violin.  She has played for university and local orchestras and considered majoring in music in college.

Kerry Schneider DVM - Associate

Kerry grew up moving around the country east of the Mississippi River with her family, eventually settling down in Wisconsin.  She made it to New York for school and after working in research for a few years, discovered her passion for veterinary medicine and attended Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine graduating in 2019.  During her years at Cornell, Kerry started milking cows and working at the Large Animal Hospital, putting her on the path of pursuing large animal practice.  Since then she has been working at Midstate, enjoying the cows, countryside and hiking with her two dogs.

Tidbits
Kerry loves baking everything from cakes to bread.  She would often spend her time baking to prepare for her study group in vet school instead of studying. 

Ronja Ogrodnik DVM - Associate

Ronja grew up in Spencer, NY on a small hobby farm. Much of her time was spent on horseback riding the trails on surrounding state land and taking lessons at nearby hunter-jumper barns. She received her bachelor’s degree from Alfred University where she studied biology and rode on the varsity hunter-jumper IHSA team. Shortly after Ronja and her dog Sunna made the trek north, to Guelph, Ontario where she attended the Ontario Veterinary College. Following graduation Ronja completed a 1 year internship at the Equine Clinic at Oakencroft, just outside of Albany, New York, to further develop her skills and knowledge in equine medicine. She is very excited to be back in the finger lakes as part of the Midstate team and looks forward to developing relationships with clients and their horses, dogs and cats.  Dr. Ronja is now certified in Spinal Manipulative Therapy.

 

Lauren Johnson DVM - Associate

Lauren grew up outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and spent many of her childhood years taking care of and riding horses. She received her undergraduate degree from Wellesley College, where she double-majored in Spanish and Biology. Lauren graduated from Cornell’s College of Veterinary Medicine in 2020 and joined the Midstate team to practice equine and small animal medicine. In her free time, she and her significant other enjoy hiking, biking, and kayaking. ​​

 

Desiree Bonilla, LVT

Desiree has been working at Midstate since 2004. She received her LVT from Cedar Valley College. Desiree loves being able to live her "dream job" every day. Married in 2009 with only 4 legged children, she enjoys scrapbooking, cooking and being outdoors. She has 1 dog, 4 cats, 1 rat and 1 horse, which all were adopted. Desiree and her husband also do in home pet sitting.   

Tidbits
Desiree and her husband breed Ball Pythons.  They currently have 30 snakes and counting!

Backstage Crew

Front row from left: Mackenzie Burhans, Sarah Brown, Melinda Smith

Back row from left:  Jessica Denison, Amy Ouellette, Amanda Maxsween, Erin Graham, Jaimee Burhans-Norton and Kelly Knapp 

Tidbits
You are looking at a total of 46 years of service.