Dr. De Bernardis grew up in the area and went to Wootton High School in Rockville, MD. She then attended Cornell University for her B.S. where she majored in Animal Science and Biology and minored in Spanish. She studied abroad for a year in Argentina, and took several trips around the world to volunteer and help animals in need. She stayed at Cornell University for veterinary school and then completed a rigorous one-year internship at the University of Georgia. She worked at Cornell for an additional year before joining the A Cat Clinic team. She became certified in veterinary acupuncture at the Chi Institute in Florida in 2018 and has enjoyed bringing this to the practice and seeing how it can improve the quality of life of our patients. In 2023, she joined Dr. Mustillo as a Diplomate of the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners, certified in Feline Practice.

Dr. De Bernardis has always loved feline medicine, and is especially interested in feline friendly handling techniques and cat behavior, neonatal care, and internal medicine.

In her free time, Dr. De Bernardis enjoys traveling, reading, and indoor cycling. Dr. De Bernardis and her husband live with their four cats – Sherlock Holmes, John Watson, Maxwell’s Equations, and Napoleon Bonaparte, who was an orphaned neonatal kitten raised by the clinic.