Dr Erin Stayton was born and raised in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. She obtained an associate's degree at Oklahoma City Community College before traveling to Stillwater to pursue veterinary medicine. She graduated from Oklahoma State University, School of Veterinary Medicine in 2015 and returned to Oklahoma City to work at a small animal and exotic practice. 

After two years, she returned to OSU for a residency in Veterinary Anatomic Pathology. During residency, she became interested in a rare blood borne parasite, Babesia conradae and published a paper documenting its emergence in Oklahoma. 

Following residency, she started graduate research under Dr. Clinton Jones studying human herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1). She plans to complete her master’s degree in Comparative Biomedical Sciences in the summer of 2023 and sit her Pathology Board Exam in August 2024. 

She is married and has a young son. All of her family is in Oklahoma and she is a proud Okie. 

Her special interests include reptiles and amphibians, beer brewing, learning new recipes, traveling and scrapbooking.