Who is Dr. Mollyann Holland?

Welcome to our blog! I have never blogged before, and Dr. Reeds and I will try to post informational stuff on here for you. I thought the first posts should be our introductions, though, to let you get to know us better.

In case you didn’t know, I was born and raised in Tennessee. I am a graduate of the University of Tennessee, and my blood runs a little different shade of orange from my OSU colleagues. My undergraduate degree is in Agriculture (my major was Animal Science), and my DVM is from there as well. I loved my time in Knoxville. Football Saturdays were amazing, screaming in Neyland Stadium with 95,000 other rabid UT fans. I know the stadium is bigger now, but even with only 95,000, it was incredible. Some of my friends actually took care of Smokey. Someday, I will have a bluetick hound because every good Tennessee fan needs one! On Saturdays when the Vols were on the road, we would road trip to the Smokies and hike the Chimneys. In the springtime, I would take my dog for walks along Cherokee Boulevard when all of the dogwoods were in bloom – gorgeous! I have two dogwoods in my yard because they make me feel like I am at home. The longer I am away, the more I love and miss it.

As a Tennessee fan, my favorite football player was Peyton Manning. I even named my standard poodle for him. She was my official greeter at work for years, and she was my favorite dog of all times. I still miss her even though I lost her to cancer over 6 ½ years ago.

After graduating, I went to Boston where I completed an internship in medicine and surgery at Angell Memorial Animal Hospital. They have changed their name, but to those of us who have been there, it’s just Angell anyway. It was an eye-opening year! I saw SO MANY interesting cases, and the people were interesting, too. I’ll never forget the first time someone told me their dog was “scooting his bum.” I had no earthly idea what they were talking about, and I asked them to repeat what they said. After I asked the third time, I left the exam room to ask somebody what a bum was. They laughed so hard that I felt like an idiot. Then, they told me the dog was scooting its rear end, and I needed to check the anal glands! Like I said, an eye-opening year.

Next, I traveled to Alexandria, VA right outside Washington D.C., and I worked for a little less than a year. My boss had been an internmate with one of my heroes, Dr. Rhea Morgan. She is double-boarded in internal medicine and ophthalmology, and she is incredibly brilliant. Anyway, Virginia was fantastic. On my days off, I got to explore the Smithsonian, and I went to the Preakness that year.

In the fall of the year that I was in Virginia, I applied for residencies, and the following summer, I moved to Columbia, MO. Now, my residency was much different from my internship, and it was hard on so many levels. There was so much pressure to write case reports and pass qualifying and certifying exams, but I had the most awesome resident advisor, Dr. C.B. Chastain. Plus, I made great friends along the way, and most importantly, I met my husband, Shaun, while I was there.

Fast forward, after we got married, my husband took a job in Oklahoma with Dr. L.D. Barker, who is a great veterinarian and friend. When I got here, there were no internists in Oklahoma outside of the Teaching Hospital at OSU. So, I started my practice, and 21 years later, here I am. I still have my wonderful husband, and we have two great kids whose pictures hang on the walls of my office – Betsy and Billy. Betsy is almost 16 now, and Billy is 12. We have two dogs, Kosmo (a black miniature schnauzer who I got from one of my Animal Science professors at UT) and Bella (a 6-pound Chihuahua). We have two Scottish Folds, Scarlett and Whiskers, that I got through the Central Oklahoma Humane Society after I kept them for their foster mom for a weekend. Talk about a foster failure! Then, there is Truman, the clinic cat. He grew up at my house, and he moved up here because he kept chewing through iPhone cords. He is an orange polydactyl (he has extra toes), and he is named for Truman the mascot of the Missouri Tigers. That was supposed to endear him to Shaun, but it didn’t work. Both of my kids show goats. By the way, goats are the most awesome animals. They are so smart and funny. Our show goats are named Boo, Jem (yes, we had a To Kill a Mockingbird theme going), Murphy, LuvBug, and AllieBug. Betsy also shows a Hereford heifer named Aurora. We have pet chickens, too, that Betsy hatched and raised. I desperately love them because they are the funniest creatures. Ours are so tame that they squat for you when they want to be picked up!

Being a veterinarian is an incredible blessing because I get to do something every day that I enjoy and love. Now, I have other interests and hobbies, too. I love cooking, especially if my husband and kids will clean the kitchen after the meal. I love reading novels, and good historical fiction is my favorite genre. I love sewing, but that is definitely the hobby that is hardest to carve out time for at this point in life. Someday, I will finish all of the quilts I have bought the material to make. I love football, and since Peyton has retired, I am only cheering for my Vols. What kind of Oklahoman would I be if I didn’t adore the Thunder?! Nick Collison is, was, and always will be my favorite Thunder player, but he is followed very closely by Russell Westbrook! This is so cool watching history in the making as The Force makes triple-doubles look easy. Last but not least, I love my church and being involved in the ministries there. So, I hope this helps you know a little more about who I am and what makes me tick. Thank you for letting me play a role in your two-legged and four-legged family members’ lives!