Meet Our Veterinarians
Dr. Laurie Hess, DVM, Diplomate ABVP (Avian Practice)
Avian & Exotic Pet Veterinarian
Owner & Medical Director
Dr. Laurie Hess is board-certified by the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners in avian (bird) practice and served as the President of the Association of Avian Veterinarians from 2009-2010. She is also an active member of the Association of Exotic Mammal Veterinarians and the Association of Reptilian and Amphibian Veterinarians.
After graduating summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa from Yale University, Dr. Hess received her veterinary medical degree from Tufts. She then completed a one-year internship and a two-year residency in avian and exotic pet medicine and surgery at the world-renowned Animal Medical Center in New York City where she went on to co-head their avian and exotic pet service.
Dr. Hess has lectured both nationally and internationally about exotic pet care and has published numerous articles and book chapters on birds and other exotic species. She is especially interested in exotic pet nutrition. In the late 1990s, she completed groundbreaking nutrition research on the importance of pelleted diets in birds. She presented these findings both in Europe and in the U.S. and later published the research in 2002.
Dr. Hess is currently Editor-in-Chief and Director of Scientific Affairs for the world-renowned Merck Veterinary Manual. Previously, she was Lead Exotic Pet Veterinarian for online pet retailer Chewy, providing expert counsel for exotic pets for the merchandising and health care teams. Before that, she served as Director of Veterinary Medicine nationally for the pet retailer, Petco. She also serves as a media spokesperson on bird and exotic pet care. Dr. Hess has been a guest exotic pet expert on Animal Planet’s exotic pet series “Little Pets 101” and “Peculiar Pets 101” and has appeared on Animal Planet in Drs. Foster and Smith’s TV series, “Faithful Friends.” In addition, Dr. Hess has made numerous national and local TV appearances discussing various aspects of exotic pet care including on CNN’s “Forensic Files,” the CBS morning show “The Doctors,” the “Martha Stewart Show,” the TV news magazines “Inside Edition” and “48 Hours,” Fox TV’s “Fox and Friends” and “Good Day NY,” the WPIX Morning News in New York City, Chicago’s “Windy City Live,” and the KTLA Morning News in Los Angeles. She has also made guest appearances on numerous local and syndicated radio stations throughout the U.S. and Canada discussing exotic pet issues.
Dr. Hess is the author of her memoir, Unlikely Companions: the Adventures of an Exotic Animal Doctor. She has written hundreds of articles about exotic pets in syndicated columns nationwide and in well-known exotic pet magazines such as Bird Talk, Birds USA, Pet Age, and Critters Magazine. She also blogs regularly about exotic pet topics on well-known pet websites, including www.petMD.com, www.Chewy.com, and www.dvm360.com. For many years, she served as associate editor of the Journal of Avian Medicine and Surgery, as well as a guest editor of the Journal of Exotic Pet Medicine, Veterinary Clinics of North America (Exotic Animal Series) and of Exotic DVM Magazine. She also has been published in internationally recognized veterinary journals including the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, The Merck Veterinary Manual, and Veterinary Record. In addition, Dr. Hess has consulted for several well-known companies in the bird and exotic pet industry, including ZuPreem, Lafeber, Harrisons Bird Diets, Oxbow, Zoo Med Laboratories, Marshall Pet Products, Antech Laboratories, Zoetis, Healthy Pet (makers of Carefresh), Furminator, Vitakraft, and Lifelearn.
Dr. Hess founded the Veterinary Center for Birds & Exotics in 2010 so that birds and other extraordinary exotic pets would have a specialized hospital catering to their unique species. She has dedicated her career to improving the health and well-being of birds and exotic pets in any way she can.
Dr. Jonah Marion
Dr. Marion was born and raised in Westchester County, but it wasn’t until his senior year of high school that he realized he wanted to work with exotic animals. He started volunteering at the Greenburg Nature Center in Scarsdale, NY, where he was exposed to a wide variety of reptiles, birds, and small mammals. From then on, he knew that he would spend his life working with these unique creatures.
Dr. Marion completed his undergraduate degree at Cornell University, and he obtained a master’s degree in laboratory animal medicine from Drexel University before returning to Cornell for veterinary school. After receiving his veterinary degree, he completed a one-year small animal rotating internship at two large 24-hour veterinary hospitals in Connecticut. He then came to the Veterinary Center for Birds & Exotics to complete a one-year avian and exotic pet specialty internship.
During college and veterinary school, Dr. Marion remained an active member of the Cornell University Herpetological Society, where he participated in numerous reptile outreach programs and lectured on the basics of reptile medicine. With his special interest in reptile and amphibian medicine, Dr. Marion continues to advocate for these species, who he feels are often overlooked as pets or even feared despite their amazing and unique features. Dr. Marion is currently undergoing specialty certification for reptiles and looks forward to providing your pets an even higher standard of care.
Dr. Marion also has a passion for technology and enjoys playing video games in his free time. He is our go-to guy when it comes to technology issues in the animal hospital. In addition to having many reptiles who have their own room in his house, Dr. Marion has four cats and a dog, most of whom have been with him since his undergraduate years.
Dr. Emily Schleinkofer
Dr. Schleinkofer joins VCBE as an associate veterinarian all the way from Indiana. She completed her BS in Animal Science with an emphasis in Pre-Veterinary Studies at the University of Findlay in Ohio before making the journey to the beautiful Caribbean island of Grenada to study veterinary medicine at St. George’s University.
During her summers, Dr. Schleinkofer spent most of her free time working for the zoo in her home town of Fort Wayne where she discovered a passion for exotic animals. As a PADI-certified divemaster, she spent her weekends in veterinary school participating in coral regrowth programs, sea turtle nesting monitoring, and even a few sea turtle entanglement rescues. Every interaction built a desire to foster the health of aquatic species and their environment, eventually leading to continued education on medicine for marine and freshwater creatures.
After veterinary school, Dr. Schleinkofer completed an exotic specialty internship at an all-exotics clinic located outside of Washington, DC. She loved it so much she stayed on for an additional year as an associate veterinarian where she was fondly known as ‘the axolotl fanatic.” During that time, she completed the certificate program for the Care and Conservation of Aquatic Animals through the University of Florida. Dr. Schleinkofer is excited to bring her love of all things aquatic to the Veterinary Center for Birds & Exotics and is starting a fish practice at VCBE to give her water-bound friends the veterinary care they deserve. She is also in the process of becoming certified in veterinary acupuncture.
Dr. Schleinkofer also enjoys reading, videogames and various crafting hobbies. She spends most of her free time with her cat, Cheddar “The Big” Cheese, special needs Leachianus gecko, Scoli, and her ancient sugar glider, Mew, who has been with her since high-school.
Dr. Sara Cooney
Dr. Sara Cooney, VCBE’s ABVP Resident in Avian Medicine & Surgery, grew up in South Florida, where she developed a passion for all the exotic wildlife the area had to offer. This prompted her to obtain an undergraduate degree in zoology (with a minor in flute performance) from the University of Florida, where she graduated Cum Laude in 2016. Her career in veterinary medicine began as a college student working on weekends as a veterinary assistant at the local animal shelter; then, she renewed her love of wildlife by researching ways to prevent bird-window collisions and completing an undergraduate internship in wildlife medicine.
Dr. Cooney attended the Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine in Massachusetts. There, she focused her career path towards exotic animal medicine and performed research on aquatic bird bornavirus in Canada geese. After graduating from veterinary school, she pursued a rotating internship in small animal medicine and surgery at a large veterinary practice in CT at to further develop her knowledge across multiple veterinary specialties towards the care of dogs, cats, and exotic animals. She then completed a year-long exotic companion animal specialty internship in 2026.
As VCBE’s ABVP Avian Resident, Dr. Cooney’s goal is to provide advanced care to all species of birds. She and her fiancée are always kept on their toes with their two rescued Indian ringneck parakeets, Kenyan sand boa, Leachianus gecko, crested gecko, and clubbed-tail iguana. In her free time, Dr. Cooney enjoys birding, hiking, crafting cosplay for conventions - and, of course, spending quality time with her human, feathered, and scaled family.
Dr. April Hampton
Dr. April Hampton was born in Pennsylvania, but raised in Endicott, New York. She graduated from the State University of New York at Oswego in 2015 with a Bachelor of Science in Biology. After graduating, she moved to Jacksonville, Florida and started her career in the veterinary field as a kennel assistant. Over the next four years, she eventually became the kennel supervisor and was trained on the job as a veterinary technician. Dr. Hampton is an alum of the inaugural veterinary school class of 2024 at Long Island University and completed her rotating internship at a large veterinary practice in Long Island. She recently completed an avian and exotics specialty internship at Angell Animal Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts. Dr. Hampton's favorite season is fall and she loves Halloween. In her free time she enjoys traveling, knitting, baking, and of course, spending time with her four pets: Peyton, a husky; her two cats, Kitty Baby and Shelldon; and Strawberry, a red-tailed boa.
Dr. Jean Kheng
Dr. Kheng (pronounced "Kang," like kangaroo), VCBE’s ABVP Resident in Reptile & Amphibian Medicine & Surgery, earned her Bachelor of Science with Honors in Animal Biology from the University of Guelph in Canada before completing her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree at the Ontario Veterinary College. From the start of veterinary school, Dr. Kheng knew she wanted to dedicate her career to exotic animal medicine. Her experiences as a reptile zookeeper, raptor handler and trainer, and wildlife rehabilitator helped shape her passion for caring for exotic pets and native wildlife.
After graduating from veterinary schools, Dr. Kheng completed a specialty internship in Exotics and Wildlife Medicine at a large private practice in Ohio. Although she enjoys working with a wide range of exotic species, her primary clinical interests are reptiles and amphibians. She is an active member of the Association of Reptile and Amphibian Veterinarians and is committed to providing exceptional, compassionate care for exotic pets while partnering with owners through education on proper husbandry, preventive medicine, and lifelong wellness.
Outside the clinic, Dr. Kheng enjoys caring for her ever-growing collection of plants and spending time with her own animal family, which includes two rabbits, a lizard, a tortoise, and a frog. In her free time, she loves being outdoors and can often be found rock climbing, inline skating, snowboarding, gardening, or hiking. She also enjoys traveling and is always looking forward to planning her next adventure.