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Doctors
Owner - Dr. Ashley Nichols
Dr. Ashley Nichols has been a veterinarian at Alpine Animal Hospital since the summer of 2008. She
was thrilled to become a partner in the ownership of Alpine and be able to carry on the excellent reputation for providing quality and compassionate veterinary care to pets in the Pullman area. Dr. Nichols graduated from the Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine in 2007, and then completed a one-year small animal medicine and surgery internship at the WSU Teaching Hospital in June 2008. Originally from the Seattle area, Dr. Nichols and her husband fell in love with the Palouse and decided to settle here and raise a family. Dr. Nichols enjoys all aspects of small animal practice, including preventative health care. She can often be found counseling pet owners on how to provide daily care for their pet at home to improve their health and longevity, including topics from nutrition and exercise, to home dental care. A lover of puzzles since childhood, Dr. Nichols is especially passionate about diagnostic challenges and tough medicine cases. She also has a special interest in
feline medicine and diagnostic ultrasound.
Dr. Nichols and her husband have two young daughters who keep them laughing and busy with school, extracurricular activities, and sports. Since childhood, Dr. Nichols has owned pets
including cats, dogs, hamsters, rats, and semi-aquatic turtles. Her current furry family includes three cats, "Walter", "Nibbles" (yes...he earned that name!), and "Lynx", and two Pembroke Welsh Corgis, "Winston" and "Basil". Last but not least, “Squirt” is a semi-aquatic turtle who loves it when people come and talk to him in his tank. In her spare time, Dr. Nichols enjoys spending time with family and friends, attending Cougar football games (Go Cougs!), local symphony concerts, and theatre productions with her family, as well as accompanying her children to their various activities. Dr. Nichols and her husband also enjoy attending car shows with their unique 1958 BMW Isetta.
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 Corgi Day! |
Owner - Dr. Jennifer Ronngren
Dr. Ronngren received her veterinary degree at Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine in 1989 and practiced small animal medicine, surgery, and dentistry in western Washington and Spokane Valley until 2014. During that time she and her husband, Jeff, raised two daughters, both who attended WSU. Their eldest daughter, Kirsten, is also a veterinarian and lives in the UK with her husband. Their younger daughter, Kaitlin, resides in the Seattle area and works in the Nordstrom Buying Office.
Dr. Ronngren has worked with veterinary students at WSU serving as a Clinical Laboratory Instructor for the Principles of Surgery course, and has been a Practitioner Coach for the Clinical Communications course for second and third year vet students since its inception in 2007. She values the opportunity to contribute to the education of these professional students and give back to the vet school at the same time. Dr. Ronngren came aboard the team at Alpine Animal Hospital in late 2015 after returning to Pullman to reside with her husband in a farmhouse right outside of town.
She joined in partnership with Dr. Nichols as co-owner of the practice in 2019. The two have been a collaborative force in further development of the hospital and veterinary staff to fulfill their mission of working together with pet owners in the Pullman community to provide high quality medicine to the dogs, cats, and other small animal pets in their families.
Dr. Ronngren and her husband share their home with their barn kitty-"Sherman"; two German Shorthair Pointers-"Gage" and "Greta"; two Golden Retrievers-"Bella" and "Skye"; and two retired gentlemanly horses-"FedEx" and "Kit". When she is not busy herding all these critters, Dr. Ronngren enjoys gardening, riding her horse in the Palouse hills, and traveling with her husband whether in the continental United States, across the Pacific or the Atlantic!
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 Dr. Ronngren with "Bella" |
Dr. Francesca Corcoran
Dr. Corcoran has been providing compassionate care to animals for over thirty years. She came to Alpine Animal Hospital fresh from WSU veterinary school in 1984 and has been practicing small animal medicine ever since. She thoroughly enjoys the opportunity to practice the spectrum of “family medicine” including puppy and kitten exams, annual exams, surgery, dentistry, behavior concerns and management of hospitalized patients. Dr. Corcoran is also certified in companion animal pain management and the use and application of Class IV therapeutic lasers. In addition, she is involved in teaching at her Alma Mater as a Community Coach at the Clinical Communications Laboratory for the WSU Veterinary program.
Dr. Corcoran is the mother of 4 and grandmother of 6. She has, sadly, lost 2 close family members to Marfan’s Syndrome and understands the pain of genetic diseases. She enjoys the beautiful Palouse with her family, and trains regularly for sprint distance triathlons. Her other interests are cooking, hospitality, reading, and church-related activities.
After many years of cat and dog companionship, Dr. Corcoran currently has a dog only household. Her longtime side kick is “LeRoy” an adopted, high-energy, mixed-breed dog. She also shares her home with part-time resident Miniture Poodle “Trixie Belden” and Great Dane grandpuppy “Luna.” |
 Dr. Corcoran |
Dr. Lilly Nizer
Originally from Oregon, Dr. Nizer has called Pullman home since moving here to earn her undergraduate degree and doctorate at Washington State University. Drawn into veterinary medicine by an appreciation for the human-animal bond, Dr. Nizer finds great joy in cultivating the relationship between an owner and their beloved pet. Her favorite aspects of practice include preventive care, dermatology, and senior wellness. Additionally, she thrives on the diversity of animals and the unique challenges veterinary medicine brings each day!
Outside of the hospital, you may find Dr. Nizer with her husband, Dean and young son, Boaz – his zest for life and strong personality keep them very busy! Their family also includes “Norman”, a cairn terrier mix, who was adopted during the time Dr. Nizer was in veterinary school. A lover of the outdoors, one of Dr. Nizer’s favorite past times is golf, though she also enjoys camping, paddle boarding and kayaking with her family.
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 Dr. Nizer |
Dr. Brooke Bennett
Dr. Brooke Bennett completed her doctorate in veterinary medicine at Oklahoma State University in 2020. Following graduation, she entered an internship at her alma mater in Shelter Medicine and Surgery with a specific focus in high quality, high volume spay/neuter techniques. Over the last year, she has worked primarily spay/neuter, completing more than 10,000 surgeries since graduation. Her specific interests in veterinary medicine include anesthesia and analgesia, soft tissue surgery, behavioral medicine, and community outreach and education.
Outside of the clinic, Dr. Bennett’s interests include going on hiking and camping adventures with her husband, Jeremiah, and their two dogs, Beck and Annie. Beck is a 2 year old On-The-Border (half border collie, half chihuahua) that has enough energy to power his mom’s aspirational dreams for him as a future agility prospect, and Annie is a 9 year old pittie/something-scruffy mix that has taught her mom a lot about allergies and auto-immune diseases. Dr. Bennett also spends a lot of time keeping her two cats, Creek and Ripple, out of all of her crochet and cross stitch supplies. Creek is a 9 year old black domestic shorthair that loves his mommy more than the evil spirits he summons at nightfall to fuel his eternal hatred for all others, and Ripple is an 8 year old tortoiseshell point ragdoll mix that only knows two things – food comes twice a day, and someday, she will capture the red dot. Last but not least, Dr. Bennett’s fifth pet is an approximately 16 year old creamsicle corn snake. She and her husband joke that the corn snake, Rio, is their most well-behaved pet. Dr. Bennett is very excited to join Team Alpine and explore all that the Palouse has to offer in regards to both community and adventure!
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 Dr. Bennett (left) |
Dr. Paloma Beyer
Dr. Beyer is originally from the Seattle area and is a graduate of WSU College of Veterinary Medicine. She always wanted to be a veterinarian since she was a little girl. Growing up, Dr. Beyer loved learning about physiology, which is the science of how the body functions from the smallest cell to the various organ systems. She loves a little bit of everything in veterinary medicine but especially enjoys puzzling through interesting internal medicine cases, preventative care, and dermatology.
Dr. Beyer met her husband, Matthew, in Moscow, Idaho, and has two children at home, named Martial and Maverick. She also has five dogs, some chickens, mice, and rats. Her oldest dog is “Vanilla”, a Cairn Terrier, who loves to lay around. “Ronin” is a German Shepherd mix that loves to play fetch and run around, and “Katana” is a Siberian Husky with a lot to say. There is also “Princess” and “Renegade”, who are German Shepherd and Siberian Husky mixes. Outside of veterinary medicine, she loves to do various outdoor recreational activities like archery, paddle boarding, skating, and so on with her family.
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 Dr. Beyer |
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