Mark Hitt, DVM, MS, DACVIM, is originally from Rockville, Maryland. He graduated with the DVM degree from Iowa State University in 1979. After working in general, small animal veterinary practices in Fort Lauderdale, FL and Richmond, VA, for 4 years he was accepted into a residency program in veterinary internal medicine at the University of Missouri. This program was completed in 1986. Doctor Hitt was recruited to the faculty at the then new Atlantic Veterinary College at the University of Prince Edward Island in Canada. In 1986, Dr. Hitt was certified in small animal practice in ABVP, and in 1987, he was certified by ACVIM as specialist in small animal internal medicine. He served terms as chief of the internal medicine section, head of the critical care unit, lecturer in several areas of internal medicine, and one of the leaders of the small animal practice rotations for senior students. Dr. Hitt earned an MS degree in the Department of Pathology and Microbiology. Promotion to associate professor and tenure were granted in 1992. Later in 1992, he left the university to found Atlantic Veterinary Internal Medicine in Annapolis, Maryland. The second center was opened in the Baltimore area in 1998, and in 2016, a third location in Columbia, MD.  Dr. Hitt continues to be invited as a contributor to veterinary textbooks and frequently lectures on topics of Veterinary Internal Medicine at local, regional, and national veterinary meetings. Although practicing in all areas of internal medicine, his interests are in diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, pancreas, and liver. He has enjoyed doing many abdominal ultrasounds and endoscopies over the years. As an aside, he is trained in hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) for clinical use in small animal patients. Hobbies include driving and maintaining a historic Fiat 2000 Spider and keeping up with his wife’s hobby of showing their four Labrador Retrievers. Dr. Hitt has been married for over 40 years to his wife, who also is a veterinarian (Lab Animal specialty). Together, they have two adult married children and two wonderful grandsons.