HILLSIDE FARMS - Key Persons

Abby Collins

ab..@hillsidefarms.org

Job Titles:

Director of Education

Chet Mozloom

ch..@hillsidefarms.org

Job Titles:

Executive Director

Donald Roskos

Job Titles:

Board Treasurer / Retired

Dr. Doug Ayers was born in Wilkes-Barre and attended Coughlin High School and King's College, Wilkes-Barre. His childhood was spent primarily on his family farm, which is nestled in the deep mountains of State Game Lands #57 in Noxen. Here he bonded with nature and the outdoors while working on his father's cattle farm. This background led Doug to study biology in college. While attending King's, he spent summers attending marine science courses on an island in the Atlantic Ocean. Doug also worked at a Primate facility in Texas, which had 150 Chimpanzees that were housed in order to re-socialize them and transform them from dysfunctional laboratory, home, or circus reared environments to a more normal Chimp family social structure. Doug's appreciation for biology and animals led him to pursue a career in veterinary medicine at The University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine. During this time he also worked at Harvard Medical School doing research on the AIDS virus. Ultimately, he declined offers from Harvard and Penn to attend Post Doctorate degrees in order to come home to Northeastern PA. His interest in small animal veterinary care provided him with the opportunity to create Plains Animal Hospital in 1994. Doug's farm boy ethic and conservation minded approach to life allowed him to become a successful leader in the non-profit world where he and friends started the North Branch Land Trust and The Lands at Hillside Farms. Doug enjoyed working with and caring for all species including people. He hoped his endeavors would influence as many folks as possible in order to redirect society toward a more kind, loving, responsible, and sustainable walk in life.