Meet Our Veterinarians

Dr. Norman Roskin

Dr. Norman Roskin grew up in the Miami area of Florida. He attended The Ohio State University for his undergraduate studies and received his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from the University of Georgia in 1974. In 1977, Dr. Roskin purchased Sandy Spring Veterinary Clinic and has been practicing small animal medicine and surgery in the Sandy Spring community for more than 30 years.

Dr. Roskin maintains a reputation among veterinarians and breeders as an expert in the area of canine reproduction. He is a member of the Society for Theriogeneology (the study of reproduction) and attends the society’s annual meeting each year. He is also a member of European Group of Reproductive Veterinarians (EVSSAR) and has attended conferences in the Netherlands, Norway, Canada, and Vienna, Austria. Under his direction, OSSVH maintains one of the few American Kennel Club-approved canine frozen semen storage facilities on the east coast.

Seeing a need to track reproductive cases and to try to establish some minimum standards, Dr. Roskin—with the help of computer expert Sergiu Baluta—developed software called Repro Manager. The software allows us to track the heat cycles of bitches and generate reports for chilled and frozen semen, while also providing a storage system for frozen semen and offering other helpful functions not provided in standard veterinary software. Aside from OSSVH, there are more than 25 practices in the United States, Australia, Canada, Sweden, and Slovenia that use the software.

To keep up with advances in veterinary medicine, Dr. Roskin attends continuing education seminars locally, regionally, and nationally. He is a past president of the Montgomery County Veterinary Medical Association and current member of the Maryland and American Veterinary Medical Associations.

Dr. Roskin and his wife, Janet, a Montgomery County schoolteacher, have two beautiful adult daughters. The Roskins currently reside in Montgomery County with their big yellow lab, Cooper. In his spare time, Dr. Roskin is easing his way into retirement by playing golf and tennis and traveling as much as possible.

Dr. Karen Hoffmann

Prior to beginning her veterinary career, Dr. Karen S. Hoffmann received her MS from the University of Connecticut in biochemistry. She obtained her veterinary degree from the University of Minnesota in 1991. In veterinary school, Dr. Hoffmann focused on equine medicine, which she practiced for the first several years after graduation. Over the next few years, Dr. Hoffmann worked in several small practices throughout Maryland, transitioning to mixed practice and later exclusively small animal medicine.

Dr. Hoffmann joined Olney-Sandy Spring in the spring of 2000 and is OSSVH’s medical director. She has special interests in dentistry and behavior and takes a holistic approach to the wellness of all her patients. Certified to perform PennHIP studies, Dr. Hoffmann received formal training in the PennHIP method of canine orthopedic evaluation from the University of Pennsylvania. She regularly attends local and national continuing education meetings.

In addition to her responsibilities at OSSVH, Dr. Hoffmann is an active member of the American Veterinary Dental Society, the American Association of Feline Practitioners, the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association, and the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior, as well as the Maryland and American Veterinary Associations. As medical director and majority owner of the OSSVH practice, Dr. Hoffmann is also a member of a national veterinary study group that addresses business and management development.

Dr. Hoffmann is married to a professor of physics at the University of Maryland and the couple has three children. She spends her spare time running her farm, gardening, and breeding and obedience training her champion miniature schnauzers. She enjoys hiking, biking, and other outdoor activities.

Dr. Joellen Gregory

Dr. Joellen Gregory is a 2005 graduate from the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine. During school, she was a two-time AKC veterinary scholarship recipient, thanks to her involvement with the dog fancy. She has shown otterhounds in conformation, obedience, agility, and tracking since the late 1990s. Dr. Gregory has a special interest in reproduction, genetics, and canine sports medicine. She is currently studying to become a Diplomate for the American College of Theriogenologists. She is a member of the American Veterinary Medical Association and the Society for Theriogenology. In her free time, Dr. Gregory enjoys training and showing her dogs. When the dogs need a break, she enjoys traveling and music.

Dr. Elise Geldon

Dr. Elise Geldon grew up in Rockville, Maryland, and majored in ecology and evolutionary biology at Princeton University. Between college and veterinary school, she spent a year working as a technician at a small animal hospital in Gaithersburg, Maryland. After graduating magna cum laude from the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in 2007, Dr. Geldon completed an internship in small animal medicine and surgery at VCA Veterinary Referral Associates in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Dr. Geldon joined OSSVH in 2008 and has a special interest in soft tissue surgery, neurology, and alternative therapies. She lives with her two Himalayan cats in Bethesda and enjoys horseback riding, scuba diving, reading, and watching movies.

Dr. Ilana Schafer

Dr. Ilana Schafer grew up in Rockville, Maryland and majored in Animal Sciences as an undergraduate at the University of Maryland. She graduated from Cornell University's College of Veterinary Medicine in 2008 and afterwards completed an internship in small animal medicine and surgery at VCA Veterinary Referral Associates in Gaithersburg, Maryland. In addition to practicing at OSSVH, Dr. Schafer is currently pursuing a Masters in Public Health and Emerging Infectious Diseases at George Washington University. Combining her love for international travel with her career, she has worked on maned wolf conservation in Brazil, livestock disease control in Senegal, and fruit bat infectious diseases in Israel. Her life is shared with Akko, a Doberman pinscher; Morrie, a loving black cat; Sky, a parakeet; and Agatha, a Russian rat snake. In her free time she enjoys swing dancing (lindy hop), playing her harp, gardening, and being outside as much as possible doing anything from hiking to rock climbing.