Eric was raised in the beautiful countryside of Northeastern Pennsylvania amongst cows and corn fields.  He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry, graduating summa cum laude and being named a National Goldwater Scholar for Excellence in Science, from King’s College, just outside Scranton, Pennsylvania (which, yes, is the setting for the sitcom The Office, which, no, was not actually filmed there, although the cast has made appearances).  He first came to Central New York as a graduate student at Cornell University and then at SUNY-ESF, where he studied coral reefs while his wife (Alison) attended law school at Syracuse University.  While at SUNY-ESF, he also worked at Quarryside Animal Hospital as a veterinary assistant, specializing in the scooping of poop and shoveling of snow.  He volunteered at the SPCA of Ithaca, New York and Blue Chip Farm Animal Refuge of Dallas, Pennsylvania, and he milked cows during the night-shift in the Tully Valley.  After his wife completed her law degree, Eric attended veterinary school in Blacksburg, Virginia.  During summer breaks, he performed tuberculosis research at the National Institutes of Health just outside Washington, DC, working with marmosets.  Eric finally earned his Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine and was awarded the American College of Veterinary Surgeons Student Surgery Award for Excellence in Small Animal Surgery from the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech.  Although he and his wife love their hometowns, they were never happier than when living in CNY, watching Billy Fuccillo’s commercials and shopping at Wegmans, so they hoped to return to the area.  Dr. Gelsleichter is elated to see patients at Quarryside, where he appreciates the unique passion and compassion for pets that characterize both the staff of the clinic and the citizens of the community.  He and Alison reside in Camillus with their pit-bull Abbey (rescued from the Cortland County SPCA seven years ago when they first moved to the area) and cat Linus.  In his spare time, Dr. Gelsleichter enjoys reading, photographing, running, biking, canoeing, fishing, hiking, backpacking, camping, cross-country skiing, rock and fossil collecting, and fumbling around on his guitar (essentially, anything but cooking).