Dr. Carol

Dr. Carol Ross Lewis founded Healing Hands Animal Hospital to realize her vision of combining the best of conventional veterinary medicine with complementary therapies to enhance the health and well-being of pets on the lower Eastern Shore. Carol was destined to be a veterinarian. Growing up on a farm in Garrett County taught her about hard work and compassion for animals from a very early age.

Her initial exposure to organized medicine began with a veterinary technology degree from Garrett Community College, passing her state board exams at age 18. A bachelor’s degree in Animal Science from West Virginia University followed at which time Carol was selected for a year-long technician internship at The Animal Medical Center in New York City, a high-volume, cutting-edge research and teaching hospital. It was there that Carol was encouraged to continue her studies, and she went on to earn her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine Degree at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine in 1991.

After 11 years of practicing conventional veterinary medicine and surgery, Dr. Lewis had a strong desire to offer her patients other alternatives. And so began the pursuit of studying complementary modalities: a 2003 graduate of the International Veterinary Acupuncture Society (IVAS) was followed with intensive studies in Advanced Acupuncture, Tui-na, Food Therapy and Chinese Herbology at the Chi Institute under the direction of Dr. Huisheng Xie and colleagues. Dr. Lewis was certified in Veterinary Medical Manipulation (chiropractic) in 2017 by the Integrative Veterinary Medical Institute founded by Dr. Carla Pasteur.

Believing that the best veterinary care is achieved by the integration of Eastern and Western techniques, Dr. Lewis now regularly incorporates these modalities into her practice to correct imbalances that would otherwise result in illness, injury and poor mobility.

A founding trustee and board member of Snip/Tuck, Inc., Dr. Lewis enjoys volunteering for the non-profit organization dedicated to reducing feral cat populations on Delmarva. She resides in Dorchester County with her husband David and their menagerie of rescue cats.