A team of passionate animal lovers focused on providing you and your pet with an unprecedented level of care. Meet the team that now has your back.
Doctors
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Gretchen Guth
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Peggy Minnich
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Tod Vincent-Johnson
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Simeon Taft
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Jaqueline Kennedy
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Joanne Rue
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Michelle Hanenburg
Gretchen Guth
Dr. Guth graduated from Kansas State University in 1998 (go Cats!) and came straight here to AGAH. After working as an associate for 13 years, she bought the practice with Troy Snuffer in May 2010. She has interests in exotics, dentistry, and oncology. Her ultimate vision is to make AGAH THE state-of-the-art facitility in Stafford County.
She shares her home with 3 cats: Cahoots, Pooka, and Feanor (Nori), a lab mix: Haylee and two Jack Russells: Paige Angel and Beren.
Peggy Minnich
Dr. Peggy Minnich is a 1987 graduate of Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine. She is a third-generation Aggie who came to Virginia with her husband “for a few years” and stayed. They love the historical aspect and the variety of outdoor activities offered in the Region. She is a member of the AVMA, AAHA, and the VVMA.
She has a passion for pain relief in pets, especially in educating owners about lameness and helping improve flexibility in pets to increase mobility and decrease pain to help them live happy healthy lives. She incorporates not only traditional pain medications but also Cold laser therapy, arthrostim treatments, massage, and education of the owner. She is a firm believer in exercise and training to help with the mental well-being of the pets to help them be a successful part of their families.
She and her husband have 2 grown daughters and a son-in-law. Their current menagerie includes a 3-legged cat named Lt. Dan, a Siamese cat, a Quaker parrot, a Boykin/Aussie mix, and a homebred Hanoverian Gelding that she competes in FEI dressage. Her previous pets include a Therapy dog, multiple Labradors, a Pomeranian, numerous cats, a rabbit, turtles, fish, and several horses.
Tod Vincent-Johnson
Dr. Vincent-Johnson graduated from the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine in 1987. After being in a 99% dairy cow practice in Wisconsin for one year, he married his friend and classmate, Nancy, and followed her as she pursued a career in the U.S. Army. As they moved around the globe, he practiced veterinary medicine in diverse locations from Montana to Germany, finally settling in Virginia in 2002 where he joined the staff at Aquia-Garrisonville Animal Hospital.
Dr. Vincent-Johnson truly enjoys veterinary medicine. Knowing that the clinic is an intimidating place for pets, it is his goal to make every patient as comfortable as possible. He strives to thoroughly explain your pet’s medical condition and treatment options and make you a team member in your pet’s health care. Although he enjoys all aspects of veterinary medicine, his special interests include diagnostic ultrasonography, wound management, and soft tissue surgery.
The Vincent-Johnsons have one daughter who is in college and an assortment of pets which include birds, cats, dogs and horses. Dr. Vincent-Johnson enjoys canoeing, skiing, biking, hiking, horse camping, and leisurely trail rides in the mountains. He enjoys sharing his love of music by playing percussion with the contemporary music worship services at Church.
Simeon Taft
Dr. Taft earned his V.M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, where he was a small animal and large animal major. He furthered his interests in ophthalmology, small animal internal medicine, and equine medicine & surgery via externships at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He also spent a summer in Wisconsin under the tutelage of the official veterinarian of the World Dairy Expo, Dr. Rick Halvorson.
Dr. Taft is a member of the American Veterinary Medical Association and a certified member of Penn H.I.P., the Hip Improvement Program developed at the University of Pennsylvania for the assessment of hip dysplasia in dogs and cats.
Immediately before veterinary medical school, Dr. Taft was an animal keeper in the Elephant House at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park in Washington, D.C. In addition, for several years, he was a volunteer at the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria, Va.
After he earned his B.A. in Economics from the University of Virginia, Dr. Taft worked at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in Washington, D.C. While at the Fed, he studied graduate-level economics at Johns Hopkins University.
Jaqueline Kennedy
My pathway to Veterinary Medicine started as a very young child, fostered by my supportive parents and siblings as I accumulated various dogs and cats over the years. The world of animals was my haven, and James Herriot my hero.
As a graduate of Oklahoma State University, I believe that being a veterinarian is not limited to just interacting with animals though. I also communicate and incorporate the family into the treatment plan for the pet. My “Gold Standard” is to above all else, do no harm.
I have had the privilege of working at AGAH for my entire career. I have chosen to work strictly in outpatient care as my joy comes from working with the pets and their family. Many of my long-term clients have become my extended family. I have been with them during the good and bad times, both personally and professionally. I thank them for this gift and consider my life well spent on continuing in this manner for years to come.
Currently my daughter is, of course, the center of my universe. She shares with me a love for all of God’s creatures. We share our home with Taggerung, her sleek black male cat who always keeps us both thoroughly entertained.
Joanne Rue
Dr. Rue has been a part of the Aquia Garrisonville team since 2012. She grew up in a suburb of Melbourne, Australia where she completed a Bachelor of Science Degree with Honors at Monash University. She obtained a PhD in Molecular Biology studying the pathogenesis of footrot in sheep before traveling to the Unites States for a post doctorate at the University of Tennessee Medical Campus in Memphis, Tennessee, where she met her husband, a PhD in Virology.
After several years in the biomedical research field, she made the decision to pursue a Degree in Veterinary Medicine due to her love of animals and science based medicine. She realized her dream of becoming a veterinarian when she graduated from the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine in 2012. She lives with her husband, teenage son, and five cats, all of which were originally strays. She has also enjoyed the companionship of several Boxers over the years, and the breed holds a special place in her heart.
Dr. Rue is passionate about science based medicine and loves to educate clients so that they may make informed decisions about the health of their pets. When not caring for patients, she spends her time cooking, gardening and supporting her son’s baseball endeavors. She is also an avid fan of the Nationals.
Michelle Hanenburg
Dr. Hanenburg graduated from Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine in 2016 before joining AGAH the same year. Before veterinary school, Dr. Hanenburg volunteered as a mentor for therapeutic horseback riding programs and worked in the Oncology Department of Purdue University Veterinary Teaching Hospital. She tracked small animal medicine during her clinical year as a veterinary student and completed an externship at an emergency veterinary hospital in Virginia. She enjoys all aspects of medicine, but has special interests in ophthalmology, wound management, and diagnostic imaging.
After living in Indiana for 20 years, Dr. Hanenburg decided to settle in Virginia where she can be closer to family. When she is not in the hospital taking care of your pets, she enjoys cooking, drawing, playing tennis, and spending time with her Cairn Terrier, Snickers.