Our History
The founding veterinarians of each of our practices are special. Experienced, community focused, and service minded, BluePearl’s founders share a passion for building collaborative partnerships with our referring veterinarians. This passion not only makes BluePearl a great place to work within our home communities, it enables us to provide exceptional specialty and emergency care to our patients and terrific service to our clients.
And while we are growing, BluePearl “thinks local” to assure that each community we are a part of receives comprehensive and compassionate veterinary care in an exceptional patient-care and work environment.
BluePearl Veterinary Partners Development Timeline
| 1990 | Michigan Veterinary Specialists opens |
| 1992 | Veterinary Specialty & Emergency Center-Kansas City opens |
| 1995 | Georgia Veterinary Specialists opens |
| 1996 | Florida Veterinary Specialists opens |
| 2003 | Michigan Veterinary Specialists-Auburn Hills opens |
| 2005 | Florida Veterinary Specialists-Brandon opens |
| 2006 | Florida Veterinary Specialists-Clearwater opens |
| NYC Veterinary Specialists-Manhattan opens | |
| 2008 | BluePearl Veterinary Partners forms with Florida Veterinary Specialists, NYC Veterinary Specialists and Veterinary Specialty & Emergency Center in Kansas City |
| Michigan Veterinary Specialists-Grand Rapids opens | |
| NYC Veterinary Specialists-Queens opens | |
| 2009 | BluePearl Veterinary Partners-Minnesota opens |
| 2010 | BluePearl Veterinary Partners-Tennessee opens |
| Georgia Veterinary Specialists & Michigan Veterinary Specialists merge with BluePearl | |
| NYC Veterinary Specialists-Brooklyn opens |
How did this all get started? In the mid-1990s, when veterinarian Neil Shaw was completing residency training in internal medicine at the University of Florida, his brother, Darryl Shaw, was finishing an MBA at Northwestern University. They dreamed of moving back to their hometown of Tampa to be near family. A plan was formed to open a private specialty practice in which newly board-certified Neil would provide the medical care and Darryl would oversee business operations.
Before proceeding, the brothers turned to their dad for guidance. Also a veterinarian who has practiced in Tampa for many years, the brothers give their father credit for encouraging their plan and building confidence in their dream.
The day after Neil completed his residency in July 1996, he began seeing patients at their new hospital in Tampa. From the beginning, the Shaws focused on providing exceptional patient care and exceptional service to referring veterinarians and clients.
Over the next few years, Florida Veterinary Specialists added board-certified veterinarians in different specialties, growing to become one of the largest multi-disciplinary private veterinary specialty hospitals in the Southeast. Their successful philosophy led to new opportunities, and specialty and emergency hospitals opened in other locations in the Tampa Bay area and in New York City.
While the Shaws’ community of hospitals was expanding, other veterinary specialty hospitals around the country were similarly thriving. Friendships were formed with like-minded and progressive veterinarians. Over time it became evident that working together toward their common goals made sense.
While the Shaws’ group of hospitals was expanding, in Kansas City, Dr. Jeff Dennis and Dr. Joe Desch were growing the specialty and emergency hospital they founded in 1992. The four men became good friends who shared their vision of collaborative veterinary medicine provided with utmost compassion for animals and their families. In 2008, BluePearl Veterinary Partners was formed, by merging the Kansas City hospital with the Florida and New York hospitals.
Most recently, the BluePearl community was joined in 2010 by Georgia Veterinary Specialists and Michigan Veterinary Specialists. Now with three locations in the state, Michigan Veterinary Specialists was Michigan’s first private, referral-based specialty veterinary practice, founded in 1990 by Dr. Dan Lorimer and Dr. Laura DeLellis. Five years later, Georgia Veterinary Specialists was founded by Dr. Lorimer, Dr. Mark Dorfman, and Dr. Renee Kaswan and is now the largest private multi-specialty hospital in Georgia.
BluePearl Veterinary Partners continues to grow a community of hospitals and continues to be owned and managed by a group of passionate, practicing veterinarians. BluePearl remains committed to retaining strong local leadership within each hospital, with veterinarians and veterinary professionals who are dedicated to advancing veterinary medicine and treating pets as family members. The local hospital leaders are also shareholders in BluePearl, who were invited to join BluePearl precisely because of their attitudes, what they bring to our community, and how well they fit with our culture.
Today, there are 13 BluePearl hospitals in seven states.
