Our Team

Dr. Jason Tolton, BSc., DVM - Veterinarian
Jason earned an honours degree in Biological Sciences with a minor in Nutritional Sciences from the University of Guelph in 1998 and went on to obtain a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from the Ontario Veterinary College in 2003. In addition to regular veterinary studies, Jason completed an Aquavet program focusing on veterinary medicine of aquatic animals. Immediately after graduation he moved to Cochrane, Alberta and has practiced in the area ever since. His experience includes both large and small animal medicine, with significant time as an emergency veterinarian. He is currently a member of the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA).
Jason is married to Lisa Tolton, who is a cardiac sonographer with the Calgary Health Region. This is very convenient as his career interests include ultrasonography. Lisa and Jason have two beautiful young daughters, Madison and Jordan and a son Jack. This family loves the Western outdoor lifestyle. In addition to the humans in the house Jason has two hounds, Nate and Demi, two cats, Jazz and Fitz, and lots of fish.

Dr. Ania Plenzik, BSc., DVM - Veterinarian
Ania grew up in Calgary, and received a Bachelor’s degree in Zoology at the University of Calgary. She moved to Saskatoon to pursue her dream of becoming a vet and graduated from the Western College of Veterinary Medicine. She moved back to Calgary and worked as an emergency veterinarian at a hospital in south Calgary, where she met Jason and Cindy. In the year prior to building Cornerstone Square Veterinary Hospital, Ania worked at a general practice in NW Calgary.
Ania likes all aspects of small animal medicine, but has a special interest in surgery and orthopedics. She also enjoys working with rambunctious puppies, challenging kitties, and has a soft spot in her heart for rabbits.
She currently lives in NW Calgary with her husband Daniel, her daughter Natalia and son Anthony, her bird-crazy Golden Retriever Poppy, her part-time cat-in-law Stella, and her many tiny fish.

Ariana Wright - Technician Assistant/Technician Student
Ariana was born and raised in Calgary. Having an avid interest in sports, Ariana began playing competitive soccer at a young age. She recently graduated with honors in Sports Medicine and went on to train a number of sports teams. Ariana is currently taking the distance education veterinary technician program offered through Cedar Valley College. She has a background working in emergency and critical care units at the Alberta Childrens hospital, as well as obtaining a medical internship to Africa. Working in the medical field has fostered in Ariana growth and independence as well as a strong understanding of medicine. Ariana currently holds certification in Basic Life Support, CPR, First Aid, and Medical terminology.

Ariana was drawn to working in the animal side of medicine to explore more options and to pursue her love of animals. This love had led her to be surrounded in the world of dog shows where she was a handler for a large part of her life. She currently has two Golden Retrievers named Callie and Misfit, a Golden Retriever mixed breed named Kaya and her most recent little addition the popular man Pheonix.

Cindy Kokoski, AHT, R.Ac - Hospital Manager, Technician and Acupuncturist
Cindy has a broad range of skills and qualifications that make her an invaluable asset to Cornerstone Veterinary Hospital in the role of office manager, as well as Animal Health Technologist, and acupuncturist.
Cindy graduated with honours from the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology in the Animal Health Technology program in 1997. She completed an internship at the Animal Medical Center in New York, New York, in 1998. She moved back to Calgary, where she has worked at busy 24-hour veterinary emergency hospitals, with experience in many departments including internal medicine, surgery, emergency, and diagnostics.
Cindy graduated with honours from the Alberta College of Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine (2001-2004) to become a Registered Acupuncturist, after which she completed an internship at Kunming Municipal Hospital, China (2004). She is looking forward to helping many animals, as she has humans.

Amie Barnes, AHT - Technician
Amie is a born and raised Calgarian who grew up with animals. She graduated with honours from Olds College in the Animal Health Technology program in 2004. Amie completed her 2 month course practicum at the Phoenix Zoo in Arizona where she not only learned a lot, but got experience handling many different species, including a cheetah, lion, orangutan, babboon, as well as many other monkeys, birds and reptiles. Since graduation Amie has worked in small animal hospitals here in Calgary. She is currently taking the dog trainer program offered by the Karen Pryor Academy for Animal Training and Behavior. Amie loves to train her two dogs, a mMlamute cross named Wrecks and a Golden Retriever named Ousa and is looking foward to adding her new little Sheltie named Zest into the training trio! She competes with Ousa in agility and rally obedience and is working towards CKC obedience competition. Amie also has two rescue kitties, Theo and Pippin.

Caroline Dawson, AHT - Technician
Caroline is a native of Ottawa, Ontario.  She graduated with honors from Ridgetown College, University of Guelph in Veterinary Technology.  Her love of the mountains has brought her back to Calgary after living and working in Christchurch, New Zealand for the last two years. 
She has been in the veterinary industry for 10 years, the last few years concentrating in the fast paced and demanding environment of the ER and ICU.  After experiencing the benefits of a regular schedule and close relationships with clients and their pets in New Zealand, she realized that general practice is where she wants to concentrate and develop as a technician.
In her newly found spare time she likes to ski (both on water and snow), horseback ride, rock climb, watch hockey and rugby and travel the world.  She also loves spending time with “Beans”, her demanding rescue cat from the Christchurch SPCA, who has courageously made the long haul back to Canada with her.Caroline recently completed two weeks of volunteer work with the Esther Honey Foundation, working on the beautiful island of Rarotonga in the South Pacific.  Here she worked closely with the locals to educate them on animal welfare and the importance of spaying and neutering their pets to control the wild dog and cat population.  This once in a lifetime opportunity has been one of her greatest challenges to date, working with the out-dated equipment and medical supplies that were available to the foundation, but she treasured each day that ended with taking the dogs to the white sandy beach for a swim.

Kathy Turriff, AHT- Technician
Kathy was born and raised in Kamloops, B.C. Her love of the outdoors and background in equestrian drew her to a career in animal health medicine. Kathy graduated with honors in 1997 from the Animal Health Technology Program at Thompson Rivers University and worked for 15 years as a Registered Technician in a busy small animal practice in Kamloops, B.C. In 2010, Kathy and her family made the trek across the Rockies and settled here in Calgary. Along with her husband Keith, and daughter Pyper, Kathy's family also includes 2 cats named Kona and Tulip, as well as the cutest little English Springer Spaniel named Blossom.