What's special about Liberty Animal Hospital?
Liberty Animal Hospital is a full-service veterinary hospital staffed by highly qualified and skilled professionals who are dedicated to providing excellent, compassionate patient care. We use the latest advances in diagnostics to make educated decisions regarding your pets' specific needs.
At Liberty Animal Hospital, we value compassion, self-motivation, excellence, integrity and respect. Client satisfaction and education along with staff personal and professional development are very important to us. Liberty Animal Hospital is committed to inspiring people individually to make a difference in their lives!
Learn a Little About Our Staff
Aris Atakem,
Dr Atakem was 1 of 2 to win a nation-wide contest in Chad for a scholarship to go to veterinary school. He graduated from the Inter-States School of Science and Veterinary Medicine in Dakar, Senegal in 2006. He moved to Colorado the same year and attended Kansas State University School of Veterinary Medicine from 2008 to 2010. He has worked in private practice since 2011 as an associate veterinarian, a mobile vet but also an emergency veterinarian in the Denver Metro Area and Littleton.
Dr Atakem founded Liberty Animal Hospital in 2016. He is a well-rounded veterinarian with a particular interest in Orthopedic and Soft Tissue surgeries, but also, Laparoscopic Surgery, Arthritis and Obesity.
Dr Atakem loves to build long-lasting relationships with people. He treats every pet he cares for as his own and is driven by the desire to contribute to human and animal well-being. Away from the hospital, he is a dance instructor and Martial artist. He also enjoys sports and most outdoors activities.
Katia Acevedo,
Dr. Katia Acevedo was born and raised in Puerto Rico. She completed her undergraduate in the University of Puerto Rico at Bayamon where she received a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology. She then moved to St. Kitts for her veterinary education at Ross University. During her time at Ross, she completed volunteer trips to Costa Rica and South Africa, where she really enjoyed helping the local animals. After completing her clinical training at Texas A&M University, she moved to Denver, CO to complete an small animal medicine and surgical internship at VCA Alameda East Veterinary Hospital.
Dr. Acevedo special interests include Surgery and Emergency/Critical Care. She is focused on providing compassionate patient care and communicating effectively with clients.
Outside the hospital, Dr. Katia Acevedo enjoys entertaining her dog (Joshy) who was rescued from a Puerto Rican shelter. She plays competitive sports, including basketball, volleyball and others. Fun fact is that she was in the Puerto Rico’s national basketball team for a few years. She also partakes in salsa dance, hiking and enjoy the beach whenever she is back home. She generally tries to remain active and enjoy life.
Audrey Herndon,
Born in a small town in Indiana, Dr. Herndon grew up all over the world including 4 U.S. states, Brazil, Germany and China. After graduating high school in Shanghai, she moved to Colorado to attend the University of
Colorado Boulder, receiving her Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies in 2012. Dr. Herndon earned her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from Colorado State University in 2018. The driving force behind Dr. Herndon’s
career in general practice is her passion for helping others, engaging in her
community, and of course her love of animals! Her professional interests include preventative medicine, nutrition, dentistry, internal medicine, and end-of- life care. When not working, Dr. Herndon enjoys exploring the mountains with her wonderful husband and sweet Golden Retriever Paisley. She also enjoys riding her horse Piper, working outside in the garden, and
reading.
Nicole Peyton,
Nicole born and raised in Colorado. Her first job during high school, was a Veterinary Assistant. A year later, she decided since she enjoyed being around animals so much, that she wanted to make a career out of it and became a Veterinarian Technician. She continued to worked at the same place until she was 24 years old. While working she attended college, and after a lot of changed majors, she finally obtained a Bachelor's degree in Healthcare Administration. She grew out of being a Vet Tech and started her career in Healthcare. After college, she started as a full time Certified Nursing Assistant and part time phlebotomist. Then life changed when her beautiful daughter, Mia, was born in January 2013. A few months later she started to work at an Assisted Living that was expanding quickly and due to expansion, had the option to move to California to pursue her career/dream job as a Program Director, running a Memory Care facility. She enjoyed it, but after a few years realized, she rather just go to a memory care facility to be a volunteer, and help in her spare time. Now, she is here at, Liberty Animal Hospital to enjoy and love on all the animals, and she wouldn’t want it any other way!
Tina Phillips,
Tina moved here from California in 2000. After life’s up and downs decided to pursue her love and passion for animals. She then attended Bel-Rea and graduated as a Vet Tech in 2007 all while raising a teenager. After working at a few clinics, started working at an all Cat Clinic for 7 years which developed her love for the frisky felines. As her Friends and Family refer to her as “The Crazy Cat Lady”, a term she wears proudly. Since working 11 years as a technician she wanted to stay in the Veterinary field and so turned her expertise to becoming a Client Care Specialist.
She currently has 5 Cats (Gus Gus, Love Bug, Jean Claude aka Mister, Gemma and Fleetwood) and one dog a sheltie (Dakota)who thinks she is a cat.
In her spare time she has a passion for Photography especially when nature or animals are her focal point, Cooking, Baking, Crafts and Mountain Drives.
Elisha Argo,
Elisha Argo is a certified veterinary technician with over 12 years of experience. Ms. Argo completed her pre-veterinary medicine and veterinary technician degree at Murray State University in Murray, Kentucky. Elisha is certified with both the Tennessee dept of veterinary medicine and the Colorado Board of Veterinary medical examiners. Elisha also spent 4 years focusing on emergency and critical care for small animals in Memphis, Tn. She is a new transplant to Colorado from Tennessee and truly enjoys the animal care conscience attitude across Colorado.
Elisha has always been very passionate about all animal care and strives to treat all her patients as if they were her own pets. In her professional life Elisha enjoys orthopedic surgery as well as lab sample collection and analysis. On her free time, she enjoys camping, hiking, fishing, anything football (go Vikings). Most of all Elisha enjoys spending time with her family and her dog Aurora.
Delmi Penaloza,
Delmi fell in love with Liberty Animal Hospital during her internship and decided to start her career here as a veterinary technician upon graduation from Community College of Denver. Delmi has two cats, Stark and Daenerys, and recently adopted a puppy named Onyx. Outside of work Delmi loves to travel as much as she can and enjoys hiking. Delmi hopes to continue to learn and grow as a technician in the years to come.
Abby Medina,
