Dr. Mathis grew up in Santa Cruz, California.  She received her BS in Animal Science from UC Davis in 1980. After graduation and a summer of breaking horses in Oregon, she began a job in research at the VA in Palo Alto.  When her job at the VA moved to Oregon, she started working for her future mother-in-law, Kathryn Kennedy, managing the winery her husband still runs - Kathryn Kennedy Winery.  A few years later she began dog training and soon started her own dog training business.  In 1995 she started Veterinary School at UC Davis.  There she helped start the first Holistic Medicine Club and taught dog training classes for classmates and the blood donor dogs in the hospital.  After graduating with High Honors, she concentrated on perfecting her Western Medicine skills while working for VCA. She fully integrated into Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine after starting her own housecall practice in 2003.   Her education in the five branches of Chinese Medicine is on going.  She supports her profession through many professional associations, including serving as a director for the American Academy of Veterinary Acupuncturists.  Remaining time is spent with her husband, Marty Mathis, Morgan, a German Shorthaired Pointer and Charles Orion, an orange tabby,and six chickens at the Kathryn Kennedy Winery where they all live.