Our Team
Heading up your pet’s healthcare family are our veterinarians. Our vets have over 100 years of combined experience, and hold memberships in multiple veterinary and public health organizations. While each brings a unique set of interests, experience and expertise, all share a deep care for our clients and patients and their wellbeing. Working alongside our veterinarians is a caring healthcare team of certified veterinary technicians, assistants, customer service and administrators. This wonderful, talented group work with our clients and patients and behind the scenes, caring for patients, assisting veterinarians with appointments and procedures, educating pet parents and providing quality customer service.
Primary Care Physicians:
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Dr. Patrick Jennrich, DVM, is an Associate Veterinarian and Medical Director at Como Park Animal Hospital and 24 Hour Care, with 32 years of experience caring for pets and supporting the people who love them. Having grown up in the Como Park area, Dr. Jennrich is proud and dedicated to serve the same community that shaped him and to take care of friends and neighbors with compassionate, high-quality veterinary care.
Outside of work, Dr. Jennrich has been married to his wife, Patty, for 30 years and is the proud parent of two grown children, Victoria and Michael. He shares his home with two Golden Retrievers, Samantha and Callie, and three cats, Walter, Frank, and Binx. In his free time, he enjoys cooking, traveling, and spending time outdoors.
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Dr. Guzik was born and raised in a suburb of Chicago, IL, but has since made the Twin Cities, and now Como Park Animal Hospital, a second home. She received her undergraduate B.S. degree in Animal Science from the University of Minnesota (‘04), and her Veterinary Doctorate from Ross University in 2008. After completing a veterinary internship at Como Park Animal Hospital, Dr. Guzik worked for several years at VCA Bloomington Veterinary Hospital (previously Bloomington Animal Hospital). In July 2010, we were lucky enough to have her return to Como Park Animal Hospital.
Dr. Guzik’s special medical interests include surgery, pain management, exotic medicine, and client education.
When she isn’t at Como Park Animal Hospital, she loves spending quality time with family in the great outdoors including, but not limited to: paddle boarding, hiking, camping, reading, and going to the beach. Dr. Guzik and her husband, Kris (who is also a veterinarian), have three beautiful children – Liam, Paisley, and Piper, 2 cats — Phoebe and Bagheera, 2 dogs — Gordie and Blue, and 2 turtles — Mikey and Leo.
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Bio and Picture coming soon...
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Dr. Casey’s special interests include general medicine, dentistry, surgery, ophthalmology, and elder care for all dogs and cats while helping his clients plan the best care for all life stages of their beloved pets. He also enjoys the myriad of exotic pets helped at the clinic over his more than 25 years of service.
When he isn’t at Como Park Animal Hospital, Dr. Casey enjoys spending time with his wonderful wife Christa (who is also a veterinarian) and three busy kids. His family pets are continually evolving and have included cats, dogs, avians, reptiles and aquatic animals. Currently his family cares for Dodger the Springer Spaniel and three rescued cats Wheels, Rascal, and Betty.
Dr. Casey spends much of his free time cheering on his kids during their theater, dance line, hockey, and orchestra activities. His personal hobbies include playing hockey, canoeing in the Boundary Waters, shore fishing around Minnesota and Wisconsin, reading good books, and playing board games with family and friends.
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Dr. Sweeney grew up in St. Paul and attended Central High School. He joined Como Park Animal Hospital in 2009 when he worked as a veterinary assistant between his graduate school studies and veterinary school. He left us for a short while to pursue his Veterinary Doctorate in Illinois, and returned in 2014 to make St. Paul, and Como Park Animal Hospital, his home. He has a B.S. degree in Animal Science, a Masters degree in Geology, a Masters in Public Health and received his Veterinary Doctorate from University Illinois at Champaign-Urbana in 2014.
Dr. Sweeney’s special interests include primary care medicine, disease prevention, public health, and surgery. He also enjoys the opportunity of working with a variety of species.
When he isn’t at Como Park Animal Hospital, he enjoys spending time with his wife Jessie who is from North St. Paul and their two kids, Brenden and Annika. His hobbies include hiking, biking, camping, canoeing, board and card games, reading history and science fiction, enjoying craft beers, and exploring parks with his kids.
Emergency Care Physicians:
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Dr. Todd has been with Como Park Animal Hospital Urgent Care since 2012 and is our current Emergency Medical Director. She has been practicing emergency veterinary medicine in Michigan and the Twin Cities for over 25 years. She received her Veterinary Doctorate from Iowa State University in 1991. She is an active member of VECCS, AAV, AMVA and MVMA.
Dr. Todd’s special interests include emergency surgery and internal medicine. When she isn’t saving pet lives, she enjoys spending time with her husband, daughter and her pet family including a variety of dogs, and an Amazon parrot named Mozart. She enjoys
the sport of flyball with her dogs and has been competing since 1992. Her other hobbies include gardening, any fitness class and relaxing on a beach by the ocean.
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Dr. Pereira has lived far and wide between growing up in Michigan, attending vet school in the West Indies, and spending some time on the east in New Hampshire and Boston before making her way to Minnesota in 2016. Prior to joining our team at Como Park Animal Hospital full-time in 2017, Dr. Pereira provided emergency relief work at other clinics in the area. Dr. Pereira received her bachelor degree from Michigan State University and completed her veterinary education at St. George’s University in Grenada, West Indies in 2014. After completing her clinical year at the University of Minnesota, she went on to pursue an internship in a mixed animal medicine at Myhre Equine Clinic in Rochester, NH (2014-2015) and completed a small animal emergency and critical care internship at Massachusetts Veterinary Referral Hospital in Woburn, MA (2015-2016).
Dr. Periera’s special medical interests include emergency medicine, critical care, and wound management. When Dr. Pereira isn’t saving pet lives at Como Park Animal Hospital & Urgent Care, she is hiking with her husband (who is also a veterinarian), their son, Oliver, and their Corgi, Quinn. They also have an orange tabby cat, Tigre, who does not enjoy hiking! Dr. Periera additionally enjoys spending time with her retired horse and her riding/driving horse.
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Dr. Yacout graduated from the College of Veterinary Medicine, Alexandria University, back in 2014 and has enjoyed working in various roles ever since. She has worked in food safety, chicken hatcheries and as a primary care and emergency care veterinarian in 3 different countries!
Dr. Yacout moved from Canada to the USA late 2025 with her husband, Pet-Ra (her half-chicken, half-Malinois puppy), Pumpkin (her dog-in a cat's body) and Panther (her handsome, no-brain-cells cat).
Dr. Yacout enjoys working as an emergency veterinarian and appreciates the challenges and growth everyday provides.
She is fond of internal medicine, critical care and surgery.
When not working, Dr. Yacout enjoys reading (with a nice cup of tea!), hiking, exploring new places and cooking for friends and family.
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Dr. Torfin has been with Como Park Animal Hospital Urgent Care since 2012. Prior to that she practiced emergency medicine for over 10 years in the Twin Cities. We were lucky to meet her for the first time when she chose Como Park Animal Hospital as a site for an in-clinic veterinary preceptorship during vet school. She received her Veterinary Doctorate from the University of Minnesota in 2002. Following graduation, she chose to continue her education with an option 1 year internship in Emergency
and Critical Care. She is an active member of VECCS, AMVA and MVMA.Dr. Torfin’s special interests include wound management and critical care. When she isn’t saving pet lives, she enjoys spending time with her husband and their dogs, reading, and traveling. She’s climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro!
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Dr. Anna Ries is also a Twin Cities native. She started working for Como Park Animal Hospital in 2017 as a veterinary technician and continued through her undergraduate and veterinary studies. In 2019 she obtained a B.S. in Biology with a minor in business practice from Hamline University. Dr. Ries then obtained her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from the University of Minnesota in 2023. After graduating from the University, she signed full time as an emergency associate veterinary for Como Park Animal Hospital.
Dr. Ries’ special interests include emergency and critical care medicine, exotic medicine and increasing access to veterinary care in these species, and client communication and education.
When she is not at Como Park Animal Hospital typing notes, Dr. Ries enjoys spending time with her whole family and her two cats- Bats and Handsome. Her other hobbies include reading, relaxing, and movies with the family.
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Dr. Becker grew up in Roseau, Minnesota, and has been part of the Como Park Animal Hospital family since 2018 when she started as a veterinary technician. After earning her DVM from the University of Minnesota in 2025, she was thrilled to continue her journey with the clinic—this time as a veterinarian!
She has a passion for emergency surgery and exotic species, and she’s even a published researcher in veterinary nutrition and the canine urinary microbiome.
When she’s not caring for patients, Dr. Becker can be found traveling, mountaineering, or spending time outdoors. Some of her favorite adventures include climbing Mount St. Helens and backpacking through the Andes to Machu Picchu. At home, she and her partner share their lives with a lively crew of 13 pets—ranging from a dog and cats to a three-toed box turtle, freshwater puffer fish, and a few other fish and snail species!
