Our Team

Dr. Leavey returned to Vermont in 2009 after veterinary school at Tufts University. Pat has enjoyed being with the team at Hinesburg since 2014 and became an owning partner in 2019. Pat loves working with dogs and cats, but he also has an interest in working with exotic species, including reptiles, small mammals, and poultry. Pat’s areas of focus are surgery, dentistry, and ultrasounds. He and his wife, Anna, live with their son and daughter. They also have three pets: Fred, their black Lab, Frankie, a chocolate lab, and Theodosia, their quirky cat. When not at the hospital, he is usually having fun with his family and friends or playing music.

We welcomed Dr. DeMoy into our practice in 2016. She graduated from the Cornell College of Veterinary Medicine in 1999. Dr. DeMoy practiced mixed animal medicine, focusing on small animals, for three years in central New York before moving back to Vermont in 2002. Karen lives in Orwell with her husband, Dave, a large animal veterinarian, and their son and two daughters. When not shuttling her children to their various activities, she also enjoys gardening, needlework, crochet, felting and is an avid reader of all topics. At home, Karen’s extended family includes a border collie mix named Moxie, a Havanese named Dottie, two miniature poodles named Harre and Heddi, and Melon the cat. They also have a leopard gecko, turtle, guinea pig, rat, and many chickens.

Dr. Matt Quinn is a native of Utica, New York, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine in 2001. Starting with Hinesburg Veterinary Associates as a private contractor in 2006, he became a staff veterinarian in 2015. Matt’s clinical strengths lay in surgery, encompassing orthopedics, soft tissue, and dental surgery. He has been an asset in this regard at both The Animal Hospital of Hinesburg and Bristol Animal Hospital. Matt’s passion for motorcycles has taken him through the highest passes of the Alps.

Dr. Kara Palac grew up in New England and considers Vermont to be her favorite place in the world. She was thrilled to join The Animal Hospital of Hinesburg team and come home in 2020. She graduated from the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University in 2014. After graduation, she worked at a mixed-animal practice in central New York state for two years. She then spent over three years in New Jersey, focusing on practicing high-quality small animal medicine and performing routine surgeries. Her clients appreciate her candid approach towards taking care of their pets, as well as her dry sense of humor.

For fun, Dr. Palac enjoys running half marathons (she has a goal to run one in all 50 states), baking cookies, watching Netflix, and relaxing with her husky, Ginger, and her horse, Koko.

When not in the office, Maria might be found traipsing through local woods and fields sustainably harvesting wild edibles and medicinals or keeping buzzzzzy in her bee yard.