Doctors

   Mark S. Thompson, DVM, DABVP

Dr. Mark Thompson is a 1985 graduate of North Carolina State University and is a diplomat of  the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners specializing in canine and feline practice. His  interests include surgery, dermatology, internal medicine, preventative medicine, and dentistry.  Before coming to us, he had over 10 years in private practice and 3 years teaching community  practice and dermatology at the University of Missouri. He first joined us in June of 1998 as an  associate and then purchased the practice in June of 2003.

He is the author of the veterinary text books “Small Animal Medical Differential Diagnosis”, first and second editions, and soon to be third. Having been well received by the veterinary community it has now been translated into Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, and Portuguese.

Dr. Mark lives in Brevard with his wife Sandi; they have two sons Zac and Andy. They share their home with three dogs; “Zeke”, “Rita” and “Dexter”,  and four cats;  “Saitou”, “Yoshimura”,“Trout”, and “Mouse”. Along with their inside 4-legged friends they have on their farm, 2 horses: “Elle” and “Gambler”, two ponies “Hercules” and “Kiddo”, and one ancient llama “Madeline”.
  Lindsay L. Batson, DVM 

Dr. Lindsay Lancaster Batson graduated from N.C. State University in 2016 and is elated to return home to WNC to become a Brevard Animal Hospital team member, once again. She interned with us while a Brevard High School
student. After graduating with a BA in English from Appalachian State University, she worked as a journalist in Kentucky and then at the Times-News in Hendersonville before pursuing veterinary medical schooling. You might recognize her from a few years ago, she worked here as a veterinary assistant for a year before moving to Raleigh for veterinary school.

Lindsay is passionate about helping the shelter pet population by promoting animal adoption, microchipping, spaying and neutering. Her medical interests include internal medicine and preventive care.

In her spare time, she enjoys running, working out, dancing the Argentine tango and enjoying the mountains of WNC. She and her husband, Shane, enjoy the company of an Australian Shepherd mix, named “Bear”, along with “Hadley”, a lovable German Shepherd, and a handsome cat, “Mosby”.

 Heather Garland, DVM

Dr. Heather Garland joined us in August of 2016. She is a second career veterinarian, having spent a nearly a decade working as a cave conservation biologist for The Nature Conservancy of Tennessee.  This career took her all over Tennessee and the southeast working to protect cave systems and their unique creatures, including endangered bats.  Along the way she was able to participate in several biological inventory studies that yielded a number of cave species new to science as well as coordinate protection efforts for many of the most critical cave habitats in Tennessee.  Eventually, however, the call of veterinary medicine became too strong and the native Tennessean headed to Knoxville and entered veterinary school. Heather is a graduate of the University Of Tennessee College Of Veterinary Medicine, Class of 2011.

While enjoying all aspects of veterinary medicine, Heather has a particular interest in preventative and internal medicine, clinical pathology, and ultrasonography.  She is passionate about nurturing the human-animal bond, which includes low stress handling of every patient in an effort reduce fear and increase comfort while in the veterinary office.

On her days off Dr. Garland can be found wandering through the woods or floating down a river with her best friend and companion, “Frankie” the “Tennessee Bob-tailed Labra-terrier”.  Unless, of course, the UT Volunteers are playing football!  Heather is thrilled to have found her way to Transylvania County, which seems a natural fit for a former cave and bat biologist, and looks forward to serving her new community.

 

Dr. Lucia Fleischmann recently joined our team of doctors in August 2019. She was raised in South Florida and went to Florida Atlantic University to obtain her bachelor’s degree in Biology. She was accepted to the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine and completed her doctorate degree in veterinary medicine in 2018. She also completed a 1-year rotating internship focusing on surgery and internal medicine at BluePearl in Tampa, Florida. While enjoying practicing all aspects of veterinary medicine, Dr. Fleischmann has special interests in internal medicine, preventive medicine, and diagnostic imaging.

Dr. Fleischmann first visited Brevard (and Asheville) a couple years ago and fell in love with the landscapes, hiking and with the weather here in North Carolina. She has family that lives in a beautiful community called Connestee Falls, right here in Brevard! She lives in a house in Asheville now and commutes to Brevard daily to take care of our patients.

Dr. Fleischmann has been an animal lover her entire life and currently has one goofy golden retriever, named Sadie, and one chatty Calico cat, named Pinti.