Meet Dr. Burns

From a very young age, Dr. Trenton Burns has always known he wanted to be a veterinarian. Similar to many children, his aspirations of caring for animals was a central driving force for him. However, his dreams became true goals in high school, where he began working in his hometown veterinary clinic that took care of his own family pets: Cassie, Kalli, and Rizzo.

Dr. Burns had aspirations of attending a University with a veterinary school directly on campus, setting his sights on his home region of the Midwest. Instantly, the University of Missouri (Mizzou) stood out, with a science and medicine focused undergraduate program of animal science that was a perfect springboard into the University’s veterinary program. As a senior in high school, Dr. Burns was accepted into the University of Missouri’s pre-veterinary scholars program, a selective group of outstanding students, ensuring him guaranteed acceptance to the veterinary program after earning his undergraduate degree from Mizzou.

Starting veterinary school in 2021, Dr. Burns took immediate interest in preventative medicine, client communication, and soft-tissue and orthopedic surgery. Although his undergraduate and veterinary degrees allowed him to work with large animals like cattle and horses, his passion has always remained with the human-animal bond seen with dogs and cats. His passion for small animal medicine and surgery led to an immediate and strong connection with Dr. Roger Welton, who served as a mentor for Dr. Burns through veterinary school despite the geographic distance. Dr. Burns completed multiple internship rotations with Dr. Welton at Premier, solidifying their teamwork and shared goals of exceptional patient care along with a caring and thorough bedside manner. He took multiple elective courses during veterinary school that allowed him to learn more focused aspects of companion animal medicine, including sports medicine and rehabilitation, ultrasonography, cardiology, and internal medicine. As a student, Dr. Burns volunteered as a veterinary student ambassador, showcasing the school to the community and meeting with prospective students of future classes.

Dr. Burns graduated veterinary school in 2025 and moved to central Florida. Dr. Burns and Dr. Welton chose to continue their partnership, with Dr. Burns beginning to serve Premier Veterinary Care’s animals in early 2026. As a recent graduate, Dr. Burns offers knowledge of cutting edge advances in veterinary medicine through both his education and desire to continually learn from published literature. In his spare time, Dr. Burns enjoys running, cooking and watching movies with his wife, Gretchen, and taking care of their cat, Dahlia.