Meet the Staff - Avian & Exotic Animal Clinic

Todd Driggers, DVM, DACEPM

Dr. Todd Eric Driggers grew up in a rural Indiana town, where loving animals through providing medical care became his passion. He started by caring for his pet dogs and cats as a boy, and progressed to exotic pets, such as his pet turtle named Tippy. Dr. Driggers was admitted to the Purdue University School of Veterinary Medicine after just two years of undergraduate study at Purdue, due to his commitment to the profession, demonstrated by his volunteerism and job at a small animal hospital in Indiana. Science, biology, and eventually medicine have been combined in his career as a practitioner of exotic animal medicine and surgery.

After graduating, he began working exclusively with exotic animals at the Avian And Exotic Animal Clinic in Indianapolis, and eventually moved to Arizona, where he started an exotic practice at Mesa Veterinary Hospital. He started a mobile practice called “Foothills Mobile Exotic DVM” in 1997 and changed the hospital name to “The Avian and Exotic Animal Clinic of Arizona” after moving into a small clinic.

He has spoken nationally and internationally at the Association of Avian Veterinary Conferences and the Association of Exotic Mammal Veterinarian Veterinary Conferences. He has also written several chapters in various peer-reviewed journals and books.

Dr. Driggers vacations in exotic locations around the world to view and learn about the wildlife he treats at the office. He is involved in many other activities outside work, including medical coordination for medical mission trips to the Dominican Republic through Food for the Hungry and child sponsorship advocacy. Dr. Driggers is a busy father of three and husband to his high school girlfriend, Heather. He and his family attend church at Central Christian Church in Gilbert.

Deidra Shuck-Lee, DVM, Ph.D., DACVPM, Cert. AFH

Dr. Shuck-Lee is a 1996 graduate of the Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine. In addition to her DVM, she holds an undergraduate degree in microbiology from Auburn University, a doctorate’s degree in virology from the University of Virginia, and a certificate in fish health and aquaculture from the University of Florida. Dr. Shuck-Lee is a Diplomat of the American College of Veterinary Preventative Medicine and has a love for exotic animal practice. Originally from Alabama, Dr. Shuck-Lee lived in many locations as an officer in the U.S. Army Veterinary Corps including Cairo, Egypt. She currently resides with her husband Robert (who is also her high school sweetheart), her daughter Kathrine, son Joshua, and a menagerie of pets including cats, dog, many reptiles and amphibians, and a cockatoo named Spiderman. She enjoys family and pet quality time, gardening, yoga, aquatics, photography, and music.

Tim Cota, Veterinary Technician

Tim has had a lifelong passion for a wide variety of animals. From a very young age, he has had many reptiles and invertabrates that he has kept and bred. He has been a Veterinary Technician for ten years, and has contributed to many entomological studies involving scorpions, tarantulas, and many other small arachnids such as mites and pseudoscorpions. In his freetime, he likes to shoot portrait photography and spend time with his daughter Zoey, going camping, hiking, and looking for reptiles and bugs to photograph.

Samantha DeMarco, Veterinary Technician

Samantha was born and raised in Gilbert, Arizona, graduated Perry High School, and received an athletic scholarship to play goalkeeper for Northern Arizona University’s Women's Soccer Team where she studied biology and herpetology. She has always had a passion for animals, especially reptiles, and ever since she was little, her dad helped her explore her passions while hiking and hunting, respecting nature and its wildlife, and never taking anything for granted. She has been in the veterinary field for 8 years and has fallen in love with exotic animal medicine. Samantha is currently back in school working on her CVT. She has worked with a variety of reptiles, but her family includes two Rhinoceros iguanas, Stevie and Peanut, her T+ Argentine boa, Renegade, and her Leachianus gecko, Gandalf. Her passion has been raising her high content wolfdog, Fell, going on adventures and educating the public on wolfdogs and wolf conservation in her “free” time. On her days off, you can find her on the trails with her dogs, kayaking with her wife, or camping and enjoying nature.

Madison Crump, Veterinary Technician

Madison grew up in Mesa, Arizona and received her bachelor’s degree at Arizona State University in conservation biology and ecology. A few years after, she received her master’s degree in animal behavior at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. Currently she is pursuing her goal of becoming an exotic/wildlife veterinarian by applying to veterinary schools. Animal welfare and wildlife rehabilitation are two fields that she is extremely passionate about. She currently volunteers at Liberty Wildlife as a team lead for the Owl Team. She has also volunteered at multiple other rehabilitation sites around the world including the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in California, Animals Asia at the China Bear Rescue Center in Chengdu, China, and Rescate Wildlife Rescue Center in Costa Rica. When she is not at work she spends quality time with her three cats, Steve, BB, and Derik. Additionally, her hobbies are reading, hiking, and wildlife photography.

Jocilyn Gagon, Veterinary Technician

Jocilyn was born in Newark, Delaware, but raised in Arizona. She has always had a passion for animals, bringing stray cats into her home, feeding baby birds, and taking care of her family’s animals; she grew up with the passion and drive to help animals. Jocilyn graduated from McClintock High School and EVIT with a certificate in veterinary assisting back in 2019. During that time, she did an externship at Southwest Wildlife where her responsibilities included feeding javelina and assisting in procedures for bobcats and coyotes. She has her Associate of Applied Science Degree from MCC and is currently going to school for sonography to better understand and treat diseases, or problems, through sound waves. After starting her veterinary career working at an emergency small animal hospital, she thrived for more, and wanted to be able to understand and help more animal species, which brought her to join the AEAC family. When she is not working at one of her two jobs, Jocilyn enjoys spending time with the loves of her life: her two Dwarf Lion-head Dutch bunnies, a Kenyan Sand Boa, two cats, a husky mix, and her baby boy chihuahua, Prancer. She also enjoys spending her free time painting, and spending quality time with her boyfriend Lorenzo.

Emma Schedler, Veterinary Technician

Emma is an Arizona native, working on obtaining a B.S. in biological sciences, as well as minors in both business and counseling psychology at Arizona State University. She lives in Tempe with her grandmother and a boisterous flock of rescued parrots that inhabit the large indoor and outdoor flight aviaries on her property. Emma holds strong interests in captive avian welfare and behavior analysis; and is studying to take the CPBT-KA exam in order to become a certified avian behavior specialist and trainer. She also has a strong passion for pet-loss grief support and counseling; and she aspires to one day open her own mobile home-euthanasia veterinary practice. In her free time, Emma authors and manages multiple grants for a local wildlife sanctuary, and volunteers for "NOMV" (Not One More Vet), an organization fighting the high suicide rates in the veterinary field.

Bailey Gaskin, Veterinary Technician

Bailey grew up in Arizona with a strong passion for animals and veterinary medicine. She received an associate degree in veterinary medicine in December 2019 and worked in small animal practices for over 3 years before finding her true passion in exotics. Some of her favorite animals include corgis and birds, namely Quakers and amazon's. At home, Bailey has 2 dogs, Ellie and Miso, 2 Quaker parrots, Inosuke and Sake, an Indian ringneck parrot named Wasabi and a leopard gecko named Shrimp. Outside of vet medicine, Bailey loves reading, averaging about a book a day, and enjoys plants, video games, and anime.

Kelly Shepherd, Client Care

Kelly has always had a strong passion for animals since she was little. She first started her veterinary medicine career in 2014 and has since gained a lot of customer service experience in both general practice and emergency. After taking a 3-year break, she sorely missed working with animals and their people and went back to working in an emergency setting. With ownership of exotic animals of her own, she fell in love with small mammals and followed her dream to work at an exotic-exclusive veterinary clinic when she joined the AEAC family. Kelly is very passionate about hedgehogs and degus and is often found researching their most updated husbandry, nutrition, and behaviors. Kelly currently lives with 3 hedgehogs, a horde of degus, and two dogs. In her free time, you can find her sewing various projects for small animals, and spending time with family.

Brooke Pauley, Animal Care

Brooke was born and raised in Arizona. She is a full-time member of the animal care team here at AEAC and absolutely loves what she does! Working with animals is her goal, life, and passion. Not only does she enjoy working with exotics as a career, she also enjoys working with them in her personal time. When she first started working at AEAC, she was already a huge mammal and reptile lover. With time Brooke also began to learn more about different birds and how amazing owning one can be. Now newly married, she enjoys sharing her space with her husband, two birds, two guinea pigs, numerous reptiles and invertebrates, and one very energetic dog! Brooke also spends time working with reptiles in a breeding aspect with her friends at Geeky Gecko Creations. Her passion continues to grow as she travels to reptile shows and experiences the joy the reptile community brings. Brooke hopes to stay here at AEAC and continue to learn from the amazing staff surrounding her. It has always been Brooke's dream to work with exotics!

Emilia Peralta, Animal Care

Emilia has lived her entire life in Arizona but has extended family in Mexico and Europe. Her love for exotics began at the age of 5 upon meeting her pet cockatiel, Scooter. At the age of 8, she decided that exotic veterinary medicine was her dream career field. Since middle school, Emilia has volunteered at many bird rescues to gain experience and knowledge about parrots. After graduating from Arcadia High School in 2022 and EVIT's Veterinary Assistant program in 2023, Emilia enrolled in community college to become a veterinary technician. As a current student at Mesa Community College in the veterinary technician program, she plans to specialize in avians. Her ultimate career goal is to become an avian specialist veterinarian. In her free time, Emilia enjoys spending time with Scooter, friends, and family; drawing, and playing video games.

Taylor Zimmerle, Assistant Manager

Taylor was born and raised in Mesa, Arizona, and graduated from the East Valley Institute of Technology with a Veterinary Assisting certification. From an early age, Taylor expressed a passion for animals, namely horses, and has pursued a career with animals since childhood. Aside from the family dog, her personal pets growing up consisted of rats, mice, varied freshwater fish, chickens, and her favorite exotics, rabbits. Currently, she lives with her quarter horse mare, Dollar, 2 cats, Elsa and Sophie, Australian shepherd, Meela, and a ball python named Calcifer.

January Louck, BA, Office Manager

January Louck is from Arizona and resides in Gilbert with her husband and 2 daughters. Her family currently cares for a stray cat named Purple. She earned her bachelor’s degree in health care administration/management with University of Phoenix. After working in sleep healthcare for over 12yrs she decided to change her career path and to focus on caring for animals. She enjoys traveling, watching professional sports live (mainly hockey), the beach, and spending quality time with her family. January is excited to start her new career with AEAC and looks forward to a great future with the team.

EXPERIENCE NEEDED!

We are excited to announce that we are hiring for three different positions at Avian & Exotic Animal Clinic of AZ! Each position has its own set of pre-requisites so please be sure to read them carefully BEFORE submitting an application.

We are the first and oldest exotic pet exclusive practice in Arizona. We pride ourselves on providing our staff with a family oriented environment in a fun yet professional setting. Education is very important to us. We strive to experience the world through the eyes of our patients, so that we can educate their stewards to make positive changes toward compassionate care. We are hoping to add a few more team members to our family who understand this vision and want to be a part of the great work that we are doing.

ALL application submissions must include a resume, a cover letter, and a minimum of three references. Cover letters should let us know which position you are applying for and why, include your short term and long term goals, and also include any additional information about your exotics experience and passions that are not already evident on your resume.

Requirements for a position as a Veterinary Technician:
1. This is NOT an entry level position and we are NOT accepting applications for Veterinary Assistants or Kennel Technicians.
2. We are looking for a Veterinary Technician who already has exotics medicine and surgery experience.
3. The ideal candidate should also have experience in radiology including digital x ray, CT scan, flouroscopy, and ultrasound.
4. Preferred 2 + years of experience as a Veterinary Technician in a predominantly exotics practice. Willing to accept applicants with limited exotics experience if it is supplemented with 5 + years as a Veterinary Technician in a high volume clinic/hospital AND also possess a strong passion for exotics.
5. Preferred high level of computer knowledge including proficiency with Microsoft Office as well as experience working with database management software, particularly AVImark.
6. Being a “fast learner” is not an acceptable replacement for the work experience required for this position.
Requirements for a position in Client Services:
1. This is also NOT an entry level position and we are NOT accepting applications from new high school graduates with limited work experience.
2. We are looking for a Veterinary Receptionist with experience in general exotic animal knowledge and client communication. Willing to accept applicants with limited exotics knowledge if it is supplemented with 3 + years as a veterinary receptionist in a high volume hospital.
3. High level of computer knowledge including proficiency with Microsoft Office as well as experience working with database management software.
4. Proven ability to multitask in a fast paced environment while maintaining superior follow-through and great attention to detail.
5. Advanced customer service skills required, which includes the capability to adapt with situational understanding.
6. Exotics animal experience preferred but may be replaced with a strong passion for exotics and a desire to learn more about them.
Requirements for a position in Animal Care:
1. This is also NOT an entry level position and we are NOT accepting applications from new high school graduates with limited work experience.
2. We are looking for an Animal Care Assistant with experience in exotic animal husbandry, diet, and welfare, along with experience in facility maintenance.
3. The ideal candidate should have experience caring for avian and exotic animals, or general knowledge of basic requirements for birds, reptiles, and small mammals.
4. Strong organizational skills, including experience with inventory, stocking supplies, and maintaining detailed records. Also must be able to work independently and must possess strong time management skills.
5. Exotic animal experience preferred but may be replaced with other animal handling experience, in addition to a strong desire to learn more about exotics.

If you have met the above requirements, please email your completed application to January at officemanager@aeacarizona.com. Incomplete applications will not be considered. Thank You!!

Our Staff