Meet Our Doctors
Dr. Richard J. Howard, DVM, MS (Surgery)
Dr. Howard graduated from Auburn University with his D.V.M. degree in 1977, and worked for two years in small animal practice before entering a small animal surgical residency program at Kansas State University. After completing his residency and earning a Master’s degree, he continued on at the KSU Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital as an assistant professor in small animal surgery.
In the summer of 1983, Dr. Howard moved to Oregon, living in Grant’s Pass briefly before coming to Portland to establish the Animal Surgical Practice of Portland in early 1984. Dr. Howard’s surgical interest, expertise include general soft tissue reconstruction, gastrointestinal, oncologic, thoracic and orthopedic surgery. Dr. Howard studied with the late Dr. Barclay Slocum and was the first licensed surgeon to perform the TPLO procedure (1994), and he continues to explore alternatives in elbow and hip dysplasia management.
Dr. Howard is a member of numerous professional organizations, including the American Animal Hospital Association, the American Veterinary Medical Association, the Oregon Veterinary Medical Association, the Portland Veterinary Medical Association, the Association for Veterinary Research and Education, and he currently acts as an instructor for Slocum Enterprises TPLO courses.
Dr. Howard has three grown children, two boys and a girl, as well as two dogs and a cat. His personal interests include running with friends and his dog, biking, skiing, and rock climbing.
Dr. Michael Flynn, DVM, DACVS (Surgery)
Dr. Flynn attended veterinary school at Louisiana State University from 1984-88, where he graduated 1st in his class. He then completed a one year internship in small animal medicine and surgery at Angell Memorial Animal Hospital in Boston, followed by a 3-year residency in small animal surgery at North Carolina State University. A surgical implant that he developed during his residency is currently in widespread use in the treatment of hip dislocations. Following completion of his residency in 1992, Dr. Flynn spent the next 4 years on faculty at the Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine, initially as a clinical instructor the first year, and subsequently as an assistant professor.
He became board-certified by the American College of Veterinary Surgeons in 1995. Dr. Flynn left the university to enter private referral practice in Michigan in 1996, and later moved to Portland in 1999. Dr. Flynn’s surgical expertise encompasses a wide range of soft-tissue surgery, orthopedics and neurosurgery. He has particular interest and experience in the areas of oncologic and reconstructive surgery.
Dr. Flynn is a member of the American Veterinary Medical Association, American College of Veterinary Surgeons, and the Portland Veterinary Medical Association. He has lectured frequently at local and national meetings. Dr. Flynn enjoys all forms of outdoor activity, and pursues his passion for fly-fishing every opportunity he gets.
Dr. Regina Tobin, DVM, DACVIM (Internal Medicine)
Dr. Tobin is a board certified specialist in small animal internal medicine. After receiving her D.V.M. at Cornell University in 1994, she completed a one year internship in small animal medicine and surgery at Angel Memorial Animal Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. Dr. Tobin worked as a small animal practitioner in Boston for one year. In 1998, she completed a two year residency program in small animal internal medicine at the University of California at Davis. Dr. Tobin became board certified in internal medicine in 1999. She worked as a small animal internist in private referral practices in Oregon for six years before becoming an internal medicine consultant for a national diagnostic laboratory. Dr. Tobin joined Cascade Veterinary Referral Center in 2006.
Dr. Tobin’s main areas of clinical interest include renal disease, autoimmune disorders, gastrointestinal disease, and endocrine disorders. Her clinical research projects have focused on endocrine diseases and have been published in veterinary journals. She is skilled in a variety of endoscopic procedures, including bronchoscopy, gastrointestinal endoscopy, rhinoscopy, and cystoscopy. Dr. Tobin also administers chemotherapy to patients with cancer.
Dr. Tobin is a member of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine, American Veterinary Medical Association, Oregon Veterinary Medical Association, and the Portland Veterinary Medical Association. She gives continuing education lectures on a variety of topics to veterinarians, veterinary technicians, and other veterinary clinic support staff.
Dr. Tobin believes her role as an internist is to offer her clients all diagnostic and treatment options appropriate for their pet, support her clients through difficult decisions, and provide compassionate high quality veterinary care for her patients.
Dr. Tom VanGundy, DVM, DACVS (Surgery)
Dr.VanGundy graduated from Oklahoma State University College of Veterinary Medicine in 1984. He subsequently enjoyed general small animal practice in New York until moving to Texas for a surgical residency at the Texas Veterinary Medical Center (Texas A&M University). Following his surgical training, he moved to Ohio to practice as a referral surgical specialist at Metropolitan Veterinary Hospital in Akron. He became a member of the American College of Veterinary Surgeons in 1989. After seven years of busy practice and a lifetime following his vocation, the call of the beautiful Northwest and a balanced lifestyle was strong enough to take hold.He has practiced specialty surgery in Portland since 1994 - mostly in association with Dr. Howard. He currently is on staff of the Cascade Veterinary Referral Center one day a week and spends the balance of the week in veterinary community outreach as a mobile veterinary surgeon at selected practices. He has a wide range of surgical experience and networks with the other surgeons in his profession to learn and extend his acumen. His professional interests are diseases of the stifle - especially anterior cruciate ligament injuries, biomechanics and reconstructive surgery.
He is a member of numerous professional organizations including the Portland VMA, Oregon VMA, American VMA, Association of Veterinary Orthopedic Research and Education, Veterinary Orthopedic Society and is a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Surgeons. Dr VanGundy enjoys travel, outdoor sports and creative activities in his free time. He shares his life with a patient wife, two dogs, four cats and nine Koi.
Dr. Cynthia Zikes, DVM, DACVIM (Surgery)
Dr. Cindy Zikes was born and raised in
In 2007 Dr. Zikes decided to pursue a strong interest in small animal surgery. She began a 3 year surgery residency program in private practice which she is continuing at
Dr. Zikes is a member of the American Veterinary Medical Association, the Oregon VMA, the Portland VMA, the Washington County VMA, and the Veterinary Orthopedic Society. She is also credentialed by Vet-Stem in regenerative stem cell therapy.
Dr. Zikes enjoys riding her motorcycle, exploring new sushi restaurants and playing with her two Labrador Retrievers, Henry and Waldo.
Dr. Sophie Petersen, Ph.D., DVM, DACVIM (Neurology)
Dr. Petersen received her B.A in Biology from Reed College in 1993 and went on to earn a Ph.D. in Molecular Cell Biology from the University of California at Berkeley in 1998. After a year off to travel around the world, she enrolled in the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of California at Davis, and graduated in 2004 with a D.V.M. She spent the next year as an intern at the Veterinary Teaching Hospital of North Carolina State University, and then returned to UC Davis for a three-year residency program to specialize in neurology and neurosurgery. After graduation, Dr. Petersen became an Assistant Clinical Professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine, where she treated patients and mentored residents in neurology/neurosurgery for two years. In 2010, she left the university to join CVRC.
Dr. Petersen enjoys practicing both neurosurgery and medical neurology. She is particularly interested in the management of seizures, surgery of the spine and skull, infectious and autoimmune diseases of the central nervous system, diagnostic imaging, and the use of physical therapy to treat partial paralysis.
Dr. Petersen is a member of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine, and the American Veterinary Medical Association. She is very happy to be back in Portland, especially because she has family who live nearby. Besides exploring her new home state, she and her husband enjoy gardening, watching movies and playing with their two dogs - a German Shepherd and a very bossy miniature Dachshund.
Dr. Timothy McCarthy DVM, PhD, DACVS (Surgery)
Dr. McCarthy pioneered the application of many minimally invasive diagnostic and therapeutic techniques that have changed the way small animal veterinary medicine is practiced and that are now or are becoming the standard of care. These span from simple techniques such as transurethral cystoscopy, rhinoscopy, and otoscopy to more difficult and challenging techniques including arthroscopy and transabdominal nephroscopy. A recent paradigm changing technique devised by Dr. McCarthy is the transurethral correction of ectopic ureters utilizing cystoscopy and a diode laser. He has lectured extensively nationally and internationally, has published numerous articles, and is editor of the definitive work on endoscopy in small animal practice, Veterinary Endoscopy for the Small Animal Practitioner. Dr. McCarthy received the AVMA 2010 practitioner research award presented to a veterinarian who performed original research and published that research while in private practice.His pre-veterinary training was at Oregon State University and he attended Colorado State University for Veterinary School where he graduated in 1969. After two years in practice he returned to Colorado State University for six years of advanced training in Veterinary Surgery leading to board certification by the American College of Veterinary Surgeons in 1978 and a PhD in Veterinary surgery in 1981. Dr McCarthy then spent three years practicing as a small animal surgeon in California before moving to Portland in 1981, where he was the first board certified surgeon in private practice in Oregon. In 1985 he started the Surgical Specialty Clinic for Animals where endoscopy developed into the main focus of the practice and the primary expertise of Dr. McCarthy.
In (2008) he left clinical practice to teach and train veterinarians across the country and around the globe in minimally invasive surgical and diagnostic techniques, including courses through his company VetMIST.com. And while he is passionate about teaching, he is a practitioner at heart, and we are very excited to announce his return to clinical practice here at CVRC.
Dr. McCarthy was born in Seattle on an old farm on the Mercer Island waterfront when the island was still totally wild. He grew up on a farm in Roseburg with cats, dogs, horses, goats, cows, snakes, turtles and an endless variety of other critters. In his youth he raised and trained his own horse “Lucky” and rode her all through the Cascades and his love of the outdoors continues to this day.