Dr. Kirkpatrick was born and raised in Longmont, Colorado, where she first began to work with animals at the Longmont Humane Society at the age of 12. She attended Colorado State University in nearby Fort Collins and received an undergraduate degree in Biomedical Science. While attending school, she continued to work for local animal shelters. Pursuing her passion to help animals, she was accepted to veterinary school at Colorado State.

Being a lover of the outdoors, the beautiful mountains of Utah convinced her to move after graduation. She worked for several years in the Salt Lake Valley while also continuing shelter work with Nuzzles and Company Rescue here in Park City. From 2018-2019 she functioned as the organization’s Medical Director. Her professional interests include shelter medicine, surgery, and dentistry. She is Fear Free certified.

Dr. Kirkpatrick currently lives in Park City with her husband, Alex, rescue dog, Kona, two geriatric cats named Sushi and Firefly, two guinea pigs named Turvey (he has a chronic head tilt), and Tiny Pig. She enjoys hiking, mountain bike riding, downhill and cross-country skiing, crime podcasts and TV shows, and gardening (despite Parks City’s short growing season).