Meet our Team

The founder, Dr. Diane Monsein Levitan has over 20 years of veterinary medical experience. She has received worldwide recognition as founder and first owner of the Center for Specialized Veterinary Care and The Compassionate Care Center, the world’s first veterinary referral hospital to allow human owners to stay with their pets overnight. Founded in 2002, the Centers represented Dr. Levitan’s vision to build a model hospital that would encompass all aspects of advanced veterinary medicine, including 24-hour emergency care as well as address the intellectual and emotional needs of pet owners. After selling the Center, Dr. Levitan began Helping Promote Animal Welfare, Inc (Helping PAW)- a 501 (c)(3) tax exempt public charity. Helping PAW is dedicated to ending pet overpopulation through education of the public and by providing high volume, high quality, targeted, affordable sterilization services of unowned and companion animals and to subsidize care for animals whose owners are on government assistance. After 2 years without client patient relationships, Dr. Levitan decided it was time to practice full service medicine again, and in June of 2010, she purchased American Animal Hospital and transformed it into what it is now, Peace Love Pets Veterinary Care.

An accomplished Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, Dr. Levitan’s expertise spans all aspects of veterinary internal medicine. A board certified specialist in small animal internal medicine, she has also performed clinical research; lectured and taught courses in ultrasound, endoscopy and laparoscopy; published in veterinary textbooks and journals; and serves as a consultant for many businesses. Recently, Dr. Levitan has been sharing her expertise around the globe by offering volunteer spay/neuter and veterinary services in remote areas of the Dominican Republic and Bahamas. She is one of a team of international veterinary internal medicine consultants for Antech Diagnostics, a veterinary diagnostic laboratory.

Dr. Levitan is a member of the Nassau County Medical Reserve Corps, the American College of Hyperbaric Medicine, Fair Media Council and many other organizations that allow her to add to her profession and her community. She was the Chief Medical Officer of PetWatch, Inc. and currently acts as a veterinary medicine and business consultant as well as a media veterinarian. She has been appointed to the Board for Veterinary Medicine by the New York State Board of Regents. She is a member of the American Society of Veterinary Journalists and a member of the Veterinary News Network; is an advisor and contributor of educational video segments to PetStyle.com, a contributor to ThePetStyleBlogSpot as well as Newsday’s Long Island Parent’s and Children’s, Elements and Boulevard magazines and NBC’s PetSide.com.

Dr. Levitan is co-host of Petliferadio.com’s The Pet Doctor and is a frequent guest on Day Break USA syndicated radio as well as many other radio and television shows.

Dr. Levitan’s centers have been featured nationally and internationally on Fox News and NBC Nightly News, The Today Show and several others. She is known as the expert media veterinarian in this region and is proud to continue to present news, perform interviews and be interviewed in a responsible manner in the best interest of people and their pets. For examples, see our in the news section of this web site.

Dr. Levitan graduated Phi Beta Kappa and with high honors from the University of Michigan and earned her veterinary degree at the University Of Pennsylvania School Of Veterinary Medicine, also with honors. She has received accolades from many organizations such as the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, New York State Veterinary Medical Society, University of Pennsylvania Alumni Award, voted Woman of Distinction by Distinction Magazine and was inducted into the Hall of Fame as a third time honoree as one of the 50 Most Influential Women on Long Island, by Newsday’s Long Island Business News.

Dr. Levitan loves working in Commack and feels especially fulfilled every day by being able to help so many animals and their people! Providing the care, attention and expertise that animals and their families need and deserve is the most rewarding privilege any veterinarian can hope for!

Dr. Bari-Sue Glaser is excited to join the team at Peace Love Pets and continue to practice the highest quality compassionate veterinary care. A Long Island native, Dr. Glaser has over 20 years of practice experience.

After graduation from Huntington High School, Dr. Glaser earned a B.S. degree, Magna Cum Laude, in Animal Science from the University of Connecticut and received her DVM degree from Cornell University. After starting her career in small animal medicine and surgery at a general practice in Naugatuck, Connecticut, she returned home to Long Island where she worked at a small animal general practice in Huntington for over 15 years.

Dr. Glaser has made community health and well care a focus of her passion. She has extensive experience in all aspects of small animal medicine, dentistry and surgery with a special interest in correcting behavioral issues and strengthening the lifelong bond between people and their pets. She has been especially devoted to the care of rescued racing greyhounds over the years as well as pets from many other rescue organizations.

Dr. Glaser is an accomplished equestrian having competed at the highest levels. She carries her passion for athletic competition to running road races. She is a devoted mother, wife and pet parent to her two dogs, Bernie and Zoe.

Dr. Glaser is very excited to bring her many years of experience in general practice and wellness care to Peace Love Pets and looks forward to working with Dr. Levitan, Dr. Anderson and Dr. Infernuso to offer the highest quality compassionate care to all of your pets.

Jennifer Baillie is a native New Yorker that grew up on the south shore of Long Island. She completed her undergraduate degree at Stony Brook University and pursued her dream career studying on the sandy shores of Saint Kitts and Nevis, at the accredited Ross University. During her stay on “de Island” she was an active member of their feral cat TNR program, and helped care for the exotic animals at the town’s local Zoo. She even spent time in Central America to provide free veterinary care and sterilization to much needed families.

She completed her clinical year at Louisiana State University, and acquired quite the palate for southern cooking. During one her elective externships she met Dr. Levitan, owner of the wonderful Peace Love Pets veterinary practice, and fell in love with the compassion and quality of medicine practiced there. After graduation, she joined their team for a brief stent before heading into New York City for a year internship at the prestigious BluePearl Veterinary Partners Emergency and Specialty center. There she immersed herself in emergency medicine and worked alongside multiple veterinary specialists to sharpen her technical skills and learn cutting edge treatment options. Upon completion she was honored to be offered a full time position with Dr. Levitan and her team, continuing her mentorship with great and knowledgeable colleagues.

On her off time, Jennifer is an enthusiastic baker and cook, often times using it as a stress reducer. She also is a member of Helping PAW, where you will find her spaying and neutering feral cats at the town of North Hempstead shelter.

Dr. Zeifman is thrilled to join Peace Love Pets, and to have the opportunity to practice high-quality medicine in a state-of-the-art facility where compassionate care is a cornerstone of the practice philosophy. It is an honor to work for Dr. Levitan, a board-certified internist. Dr. Zeifman is pleased to join the team of brilliant, skilled, and caring veterinarians, technicians, and staff at Peace Love Pets.

 Animals were always an important part of Dr. Zeifman’s life. As a child growing up in New York City she enjoyed taking care of an assortment of fish, turtles, newts, lizards, hamsters, rabbits and, finally, cats and a dog.  She loved drawing animals, watching them in zoos, and above all, observing them in their natural habitats: from bird watching in Central Park, to whale watching, to snorkeling in coral reefs, to studying marine life in mangrove swamps, to searching for elk, mountain goats, marmots, prairie dogs and coyotes while hiking.  All kinds of creatures fascinated her.

The idea of becoming a veterinarian, however, did not come to her until nearly halfway through college.  She was trying to decide between careers in oceanography, anthropology and comparative French and English literature, when she went to stay at her uncle’s farm in California.  He and his wife, both medical doctors, said that if they had to do it over again, they would have been veterinarians.  Helping to take care of their menagerie of horses, goats, chickens, cats and dogs and living in the country, the idea quickly took hold of her.  It probably also helped her decision that, at the time, she was reading James Harriet’s series of novels (All Creatures Great and Small…) about the life of a rural vet in England.  With newfound direction and passion, she returned to college in New York and immersed herself in pre-vet courses. 

She spent the next years studying extremely hard, working for veterinarians whenever possible, and a memorable summer upstate shadowing a vet and milking cows on a dairy farm.  The hard work paid off.  She graduated from Barnard College, Columbia University with honors, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa and was admitted to Cornell for Veterinary College.

During vet school, Dr. Zeifman did externships at the Bronx Zoo and the Oklahoma City Zoo and volunteered at Cornell’s Avian Clinic helping to treat injured hawks and owls.  After graduation from vet school, she completed a one-year internship at the Animal Medical Center in Manhattan.  She rotated through many specialty areas including cardiology, neurology, nephrology, exotic animal medicine, and surgery.  It was a year of intense learning and of honing skills through many long days and nights.  Being night doctor, the sole veterinarian on duty all night for all of Manhattan, as a first-year intern was a trial by fire, but it taught many invaluable lessons.

After her internship Dr. Zeifman worked for high-quality small animal practices in Westchester and Nassau County.  She has over 30 years of clinical experience which gives her a large font of medical, surgical, and dental knowledge and expertise to draw from in her daily practice.  She has a special interest in feline medicine, renal disease, and endocrinology.  Her thorough, detail-oriented approach helps her solve the many diagnostic challenges presented by her patients.  She is a firm believer in the importance of continuing to learn and seek new solutions to the ever-evolving medical problems posed by our furry friends.  She also understands that there is often a delicate balance that must be maintained between the needs, expectations and desires of the various family members and their pets’ needs, behaviors and medical issues.  Veterinary medicine is in many ways not just a science but also an art that must be finessed to fit into the lives of individual owners and their unique animals. There are few things as rewarding as a seeing a joyful reunion between a loving owner and their animal companion after its recovery from an illness.

Dr. Zeifman is enjoying her new role as part of the deeply caring, talented team at Peace Love Pets with Dr. Levitan, Dr. Glaser, Dr. Baillie and Dr. Eylers. It is a pleasure and an honor to be able to help this community’s pets stay healthy and to strive to treat their illnesses. 

When not working, Dr. Zeifman loves to climb mountains, be outdoors in nature and travel with her loved ones.  She enjoys hiking with her dog Mandy and playing with her cats Romeo and Juliet.  She also enjoys reading, going to museums, theater and movies, and spending time with friends and family.