COMPANION PET CARE - Key Persons
Dr. Ted Burghardt was born and raised in Denver, CO. As an outdoor enthusiast he always appreciated nature and animals. From a young age, he knew he wanted to be a veterinarian. He graduated from the University of San Diego with a Bachelor's degree in Biochemistry. One of his draws to San Diego was the great weather and ability to play tennis outside year-round. He was a starter for the USD Toreros men's tennis team for his four years there, traveling and competing at the Division 1 level.
After college, he worked at Scripps Research Institute in the Immunology department for 2 years. He took a break for 6 weeks to travel to Australia and volunteer at the Australia Zoo in Brisbane, where he was fortunate enough to meet Steve Irwin on a couple of occasions and watch him perform with his beloved crocs.
The experiences at Scripps Research Institute prepared him to enter a Master of Science program at Colorado State University with a focus in anatomy. Immediately following, he was accepted to the Colorado State University Veterinary Medical School. He was President of his class for 2 years, and Vice President for 2 years, and graduated in 2009.
He then went to work for a small animal practice in Las Vegas, NV. He learned some advanced surgical procedures there, including multiple knee and hip orthopedic surgeries, laparoscopic spays and biopsies, and other abdominal, ocular, and cutaneous soft tissue surgeries. As the second veterinarian hired on at his first veterinary job, he played a role in growing the practice to 5 veterinarians before he left in 2013. Looking to move back to the city he is most passionate about, he found a fantastic job opportunity at a 24-hour emergency clinic in San Diego.
At the 24-hour emergency Mission Animal and Bird Hospital in Oceanside, Dr. Burghardt was one of the emergency doctors attending to trauma, surgery, internal medicine, and a variety of other emergent cases. His long-term goal was always to become the owner of a veterinary hospital. After much diligence, he found Companion Pet Care and is ecstatic to be part of this amazing team. With the support of Dr. Gerry Soifer and Dr. Nancy Bushnell, he was fortunate to be accepted as the buyer of the clinic. The opportunity to be involved with such an established, beautiful, historic veterinary clinic is rare and highly sought after, and Dr. Burghardt is incredibly grateful for the opportunity.
Glenn Barnes started at Companion Pet Care in 2019. He has spent about forty-five years of his life in small animal hospitals, and began his career by cleaning cages at 6:00 every morning. From there, Glenn learned so much over the years and eventually became a Registered Veterinary Technician (RVT) in 1979 at an animal hospital in El Cajon. He then moved with his family to Orange County and expanded his skills by working at a busy emergency clinic. All of this landed him a wonderful position at Mission Animal and Bird Hospital in Oceanside, where he was able to expand his knowledge even more, caring for exotic animals as well. Soon he was promoted to Hospital Manager and aided greatly in growing the hospital to a twenty-four-hour facility with fourteen doctors - fives times the size it was when he started.
At forty-five years old, he went back to college to keep up with the ever-growing practice and became a Certified Veterinary Practice Manager (CVPM), becoming part of only a handful with that combination of medical and business knowledge in the animal profession. He is a San Diego County native and outside of work enjoys spending time with his family and cycling on the 101.
Mindy is originally from Northern California. She's ventured around the country, but her love of living by the ocean and nice weather made Southern California the perfect place to settle down. She has over 20 years experience working with all kinds of animals including zoo animals, exotics, birds of prey and has even done wildlife rehabilitation. In her spare time, Mindy loves traveling, reading and exploring nature. She enjoys spending time with her spouse and their 2 cats, Sapphire (pictured), Hank, and 2 dogs, Bone and Biff.