Drumm Veterinary Hospital Veterinary Team

Amanda Hansberger, DVM
Medical Director

Dr Amanda Hansberger grew up in Stuyvesant, New York and graduated from Ichabod Crane Central School. She attended undergraduate school at SUNY Delhi and Cornell University and graduated from Ross University Veterinary School in 2012. Her kindness and say yes positive attitude are what help drive our hospital to give the best pet care we can to your pets. When not taking care of all the animals at the hospital, Dr. Amanda enjoys being with her husband and two daughters. She has two dogs, Berta and Zoey, and three horses – Lilly, Minnie and Lane. As a competitive person, one of her favorite hobbies is competing in horse shows and plans on showing Lane as much as she can in the upcoming years.

Fun Fact: Dr. Amanda is also a big foodie and loves to always have treats in the hospital – salt or sweet, it doesn’t matter!

Ruth Loree-Houser, DVM

Dr. Ruth Loree-Houser is a seasoned veterinarian in small animal medicine and surgery. She completed both her undergraduate and graduate studies at Cornell University. She is also a proud alumni of Cornell’s polo team. Dr. Ruth is our go to surgeon here at the hospital. She is always researching and is devoted to finding the best ways to help your pets. When she is not at the hospital, you can probably find her riding her dressage horse, Cipriano, doing yoga, or practicing archery. Dr. Ruth has two grown daughters, a supportive husband, two dogs, two cats and more than 800 dairy cows.

Fun Fact: Dr. Ruth has a sweet tooth and will never turn away a good treat.

Kayla Killoran, Veterinary Assistant

Kayla is one of our veterinary assistants and is currently enrolled in school to become a Licensed Veterinary Technician. She is from Staten Island, went to SUNY Oswego for a Zoology degree and then moved to Albany, where she found a home at our Veterinary Hospital. When Kayla is not working, you can probably find her with her daughter, two dogs and the people she loves. For fun Kayla enjoys being outside, taking her dogs to the creek, water rafting, snowboarding, football and KanJam. One of Kayla’s favorite parts of work is talking with clients and listening to them tell stories about their pets.

Fun Fact: Kayla is a picky eater, but can be won over with french fries, double dark Milano cookies or seven-layer (rainbow) cookies. 

Shyla Popa, CSR, and Veterinary Assistant

Shyla has dual roles in the hospital as both veterinary assistant and customer service representative. She has been with us for three years. Shyla grew up rescuing cats and other small animals and is often called our cat whisperer. Shyla always knew that she would work in the animal care industry. She currently has seven cats, two rabbits, two ferrets, and a dog. She is also taking courses to become a cat and dog groomer. In her free time Shyla loves reading, dance, archery and baking.

Fun Fact: Shyla can often be heard giving her coworkers hydration checks then watching as said coworkers rush to drink some water.

Brianne Kilmer, CSR and Veterinary Assistant

Brianne has worked in the veterinary community for over 24 years as a veterinary assistant and receptionist. Bri has enjoyed developing meaningful relationships with both our clients and our patients. She truly believes that it helps to impact the level of care and medicine we are able to offer. In her free time Bri enjoys gardening, pet sitting, helping people, traveling, seeing different places, meeting new people and spending time with her family. She has always known this is what she was meant to do and feels blessed to be doing what she loves.

Fun Fact: Bri LOVES to do things for the staff and often leaves little gifts for them to brighten their day.

Claudia Eckel, Veterinary Assistant

Claudia is one of our veterinary assistants and is currently in school to become a Licensed Veterinary Technician. Claudia has loved to be around different kinds of animals all her life and currently has many chickens, a family cat and three family dogs-a German Shepherd, a Pitbull/Beagle mix and a Pug. She herself owns a cat, a German Shepherd puppy and two fish. Claudia recently brought her love for animals to South Africa for three weeks to volunteer in a veterinary program. In her free time she enjoys going to concerts (especially country), doing aerial yoga and paddle boarding.

Fun Fact: Claudia tells us she is the favorite daughter out of her four sisters. 

Ashley Scott, Licensed Veterinary Technician

Ashley has been a Licensed Veterinary Technician for six years. She has worked in all kinds of facilities – from research dairy farms to animal shelters to small animal practices. She had several pet dogs growing up, but once on her own, decided to adopt an FeLV+ cat as her first pet and immediately became a “cat person” Today, Ashley owns three cats, Penny, Dex and Sebastien, with her wife in Halfmoon, where they spend as much of their free time outside as possible. Ashley is an aspiring 46er, but also enjoys kayaking, camping, snowboarding and snowshoeing.

Fun Fact: During hockey season Ashley plays on the Saratoga Storm women’s hockey team, who became national champions in 2022.

Casey Rowen, Licensed Veterinary Technician

Casey is one of our Licensed Veterinary Technicians who has been in the field for over 18 years. Her knowledge, along with her calm and gentle nature is invaluable to everyone and every pet at our hospital. She spends her spare time camping and listening to Taylor Swift. She has three dogs, three
cats and a horse who she loves spending time with. Casey is one of the kindest people your will ever meet and she will do anything for the people she loves.

Fun Fact: The ocean is Casey’s happy place so you can find her there every summer vacationing with her daughter, son, and husband in Cape Cod. 

Rose Knox, Practice Manager

Rose has over 37 years’ experience in the Veterinary industry (she says she was extremelyyyy young when she started.) She enjoys spending time with her family, friends and her dog Zoey. Rose loves going on new adventures especially to Maine, which is her happy place. She enjoys reading (romance novels, of course) and loves taking pictures…some call her “hobby” photography, but Rose says she is too spontaneous to “set up the shot.” She also enjoys crocheting and doing holiday crafts. Rose has a grandson and in July 2023 is expecting a new granddaughter. She is currently the treasurer of her local fire company’s board of commissioners.

Fun Fact: Rose is an avid baker, especially at Christmas and tends to gift out more of the 15 variety of baked goods she makes then eat them.

Jill Rom, CSR 

Jill is one of our customer service representatives and has been a fixture at the front desk for seven years. Jill loves her job so much that she drives a long way to serve our pet parents every day. In her spare time Jill loves to do water aerobics, take her boss of a dog, Benjamin, on truck rides, complete jig saw puzzles and crafts with her sisters. She is a nurturer and a caregiver at heart who always goes out of her way to help people with their problems.

Fun Fact: Jill is obsessed with Sunflowers and loves anything and everything to do with them.

Nicole, CSR

Nicole is one of our staff members that is crosstrained as a customer service representative and as a veterinary assistant. She has worked with us for almost 18 years. Nicole works on the weekends as she is a teacher during the week for Head Start. Nicole took her love of kids and animals and made a lifelong career out of both. When she is not working, Nicole is at home enjoying family time with her 3 kids and their 3 family pets.

Fun Fact: Nicole is obsessed with anything to do with pickles. Whether it is pickle soup, dip, a frozen pickle pop, chips or a platter of assorted pickles, Nicole is always ready to try it.

Karen O’Neil, CSR 

Karen is one of our customer service representatives and has loved animals since she was a little girl. Karen started working in the veterinary field when she was 16 and her love for animals and helping people grew from there. She started working with us in 2006 at our sister hospital in Latham and in 2019 switched over to our office. In her free time, Karen enjoys camping, hiking, kayaking and biking with her husband and daughter. She also enjoys spending time at home with her animals which include a golden retriever, a cat, and three very nosey chickens.

Fun Fact: Karen loves country music and never seems to get caught telling “Alexa” to change the station.