Meet our Team

Dr. Joan Burkhart began her veterinary career at North Center Animal Hospital immediately upon graduation from school in 1988. The neighborhood, Lake Michigan, and the Cubs drew her to the practice. Dr. Burkhart is particularly interested in soft tissue surgery and dentistry. Although she really enjoys seeing her patients and their families for preventative care, she feels that there is nothing more gratifying than seeing a pet through a successful recovery from an illness or injury.

When she’s not at NCAH, she’s busy spending time with her two teenagers, her husband Jim, and their Labrador Ruby and cat Carmela.

Dr. Robert Castillo grew up in the neighborhood 2 blocks east of Wrigley Field, long before the neighborhood became the Wrigleyville of today. Having no siblings, Dr. Castillo considered his big black Labrador named Claude his brother. As a young boy, Dr. Castillo learned how powerful the human-animal bond is. Claude was his playmate, protector and best buddy. He had various other pets growing up as well, often times strays he couldn’t help but bring home. He always enjoyed going with Claude to visit the veterinarian and decided early on that he wanted to help animals live long, comfortable lives and to be with their owners as long as possible.

Dr. Castillo began his veterinary career at North Center Animal Hospital when he was in high school and worked his way up from a general cleaner to a technician over the next 7 years until he was accepted into the Veterinary school at the University of Illinois. He continued to work at the hospital over the summers and was overjoyed to be offered a position as a veterinarian here upon his graduation in 1996.

Dr. Castillo truly enjoys the challenges and rewards of diagnosing and treating animals, performing surgeries and dentals, and watching his patients grow up through the years.
Dr. Castillo has always had Labradors and currently has a brother/sister pair (Butkus and Payton) whom he adopted when they were 7 years old. At the time of their adoption, they had never been swimming. It gives him the greatest joy to watch them playing in the lake and enjoying their new life. Dr. Castillo also has a completely blind kitty named Marley (who incidentally runs the house) and a semi-feral cat named Ketel who was originally part of a feral colony. Dr. Castillo couldn’t stand to see her put back outside as a 3lb kitten in 2004. He also has a one-eyed cat named Chico and a kitty named Chili who is a fearless guy who is always willing to put the occasional Labrador foster dog in check whenever needed. His most recent addition is a foster-failure named Riggs (aka Rig-Dog), also a chocolate lab. Three of his kitties came through the Tree House Humane Society where Dr. Castillo had previously worked once a week to help spay and neuter homeless cats. He truly valued his time there and the ability to have helped so many homeless kitties.

Dr. Castillo also worked part-time at the MedVet Chicago (Back when it was Chicago Veterinary Emergency and Specialty Center) where he met his wife Angela when she was a technician. They were married in 2005. Angela shares his passion for animals and is now the operations manager for Medvet.

When not at work, Dr. Castillo can be found at the lake with his 4 legged kids, performing some kind of insane CrossFit workout, training for a triathlon, or at Wrigley watching his beloved Cubbies from the seats he has held for over 15 years.

Dr. Jansen was born in the city of Utrecht in the Netherlands and, while she also lived in Switzerland and Belgium for several years, she spent most of her childhood in the Netherlands. As a child, Dr. Jansen always surrounded herself by animals, whether they were her own pets, looking after other people’s cats, dogs, horses, rabbits, or taking home feral animals if it seemed they needed help (which often was not the case).

When she graduated as a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine at Utrecht University in 2013, her childhood dream had finally come true.

During her years in college, Dr. Jansen always tried to combine her love for animals with her love for travel and so she went to the Czech Republic for an "Exotic Animal" course, she volunteered in a shelter in Turkey, she studied dairy cattle in Uruguay and she worked with a wildlife vet in the South African bush (she even got to dart wild animals from a helicopter!).

After working in the Amsterdam area for several years, she and her husband moved to New York City in 2015.

Since 2019, dr. Jansen has been living in Chicago and is loving the friendly Mid-Western vibe and people.
When not at work, she loves to be active, go hiking, explore the city and spend time with her husband, 2 kids and 2 cats (Cato & Gijs) who were adopted while in Amsterdam.

Dr. Joshua Locher grew up in Amesbury, Massachusetts, a small seacoast town north of Boston. After living out west, he and his wife have been slowly making their way to the Midwest, and are thrilled to be close to family in Glenview where his wife, Rita, spent her childhood.

Dr. Locher finds that veterinary medicine provides a perfect blend of his interest in science with his desire to help animals and serve people. Although Dr. Locher finds many aspects of veterinary medicine rewarding, he has a special interest in internal medicine, oncology, and preventative medicine.

Dr. Locher did his undergraduate work at the University of North Carolina Asheville, where he graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in Cellular and Molecular Biology.

Dr. Locher attended the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Illinois, where he was active in the Wildlife Medical Clinic. When not practicing veterinary medicine he enjoys cycling, snowboarding, fishing, and gardening, but is generally most happy doing almost anything outdoors, especially chasing his daughters Maeve, and Georgia. Dr. Locher has a mixed breed dog, named Baska, a gray tabby named Chicken, and a hamster named Gus.

Steph started at North Center when she was 16 and after 12 years still loves her job. After a few short times away for college and to explore her emergency care skills, she returned as a Purdue University graduate with a widened variety of accomplishments. She prides herself on being an advocate for pets in need of basic and emergent medical, physical and emotional care. She has a pitbull named Earl, who holds the title of happiest and wiggliest dog ever. Her wonderful husband Brandon, and Earl, are always happily waiting for her when she gets home. You can always expect to see a smile when you see her! She is also the lead on staff for our research studies.