Gallagher and his wife, Elaine, grew up in Williamsport and moved to the area in 1991 so he could attend veterinary school at the University of Pennsylvania. He also holds an undergraduate degree in biology from Lycoming College and a master’s in biology from Bucknell University.

“My family was always very involved with animals,” said Gallagher. “My mom was on the board of the SPCA in town.” Gallagher worked at a local pet store in high school and college, then, in his second year of college, took a job as a zookeeper at Reptiland in Allenwood.

His practice is in a house on Matsonford Road that dates to the 1790s, which Gallagher just finished renovating. He started out last year in a smaller building in the back, a former chicken coop, where Ken Sanders, the previous veterinarian who retired, had his office. There is a barn on the property that also dates to the 1790s. Gallagher praised Upper Merion officials who “were very wonderful to work with” during the remodeling of the old house into an office. In the walls of the house’s former kitchen, now the reception area, he found newspapers dating from 1946.

An exam room in the house is now used for surgery and dentistry until the back building, which is now undergoing renovation, is finished.

Before striking out on his own, Gallagher worked for 19 years at the Bryn Mawr Veterinary Hospital. And over the years, a lot has changed in veterinary care, as in human medicine.

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