Dr. Courtney Brunagan grew up in the panhandle of Florida and has always enjoyed working with animals. She was introduced to veterinary medicine in middle school when she shadowed her family veterinarian. She was in awe of how much he knew about so many different things. In high school, she began working at a wildlife sanctuary, where caring for and rehabilitating injured animals confirmed her calling.

Dr. Brunagan earned both her undergraduate and veterinary degrees from Mississippi State University, graduating in 2010. She then completed a rotating internship at Tufts University in Massachusetts, where she discovered her passion for emergency medicine. She stayed in the Boston area as an emergency veterinarian for a couple of years before moving back to the South, where she spent eight years at an emergency and specialty hospital in South Carolina. In 2020, she headed for the mountains and settled in Chattanooga, where she has practiced at Animal Emergency and Specialty Center ever since.

At home, Dr. Brunagan shares her life with her daughter, her rescue dog, Charlie, and her beehives. In her free time, she enjoys beekeeping, relaxing on her patio, hiking, camping, playing board games, cooking, and exploring the surrounding mountains.