The Ready, Vet, Go
Guest Speakers

Dr. Debbie Boone

BS, CVPM, Fear Free Certified
(she/her)

Debbie Boone, BS, CVPM, Fear Free Certified, has worked for the veterinary profession for more than 35 years. After earning her bachelor’s degree in animal science from North Carolina State University, she began as a client care representative and quickly moved into hospital administration. Debbie has experience in the management of small animal, mixed animal, specialty, and emergency practices.

Debbie is considered an expert in team communication, creating positive practice culture, and developing operations efficiency for veterinary practices. Debbie published her new book, “Hospitality in HealthCare: How Top Performing Practices Give the Best in Care to Their Patients and Boost Team Happiness” in July of 2023 which launched at a book signing at AVMA Convention 2023. Her business, 2 Manage Vets Consulting, helps practices develop extraordinary team communication and business skills, enhancing patient care, improving profitability, and increasing practice value. She strives to improve the lives of animals by using her expertise to improve workplace culture and the well-being of veterinary professionals.

Major national and international animal health organizations, including AVMA, OVMA, CanWest, WVC, NAVC, AAHA and more, consistently seek Debbie out for her skills as a trainer and speaker. She has even been quoted in the Wall Street Journal.  She has been published in numerous veterinary publications, was the 2022 President of VetPartners and served as a member of the VetPartners Board of Directors for 6 years.  She is on the Fear Free Advisory Council, Stokes and Epicur Pharmacy advisory board and a is a Key Opinion Leader for Weave, where she enjoys sharing her real-world clinic experience with companies.  She is currently hosting a vodcast and podcast called The Bend which invites guests to share their stories of triumph over adversity and how they are changing the veterinary profession for the better. 

Her latest collaboration is the creation of a non-profit association for veterinary client service representatives called NAAVR.  This association will support, empower and educate front office team members and elevate the job to a career. 

Debbie lives in North Myrtle Beach, SC where she spends her off time in her garden, at the beach, walking her dog Tucker, or on the boat with her husband, Mike. 

Dr. Azalia Boyd

Guest Speaker
(she/her)

With over 15 years of experience in emergency and general practice, Dr. Boyd has held leadership and mentorship roles across the profession. As a national speaker and workshop facilitator, she has presented at major conferences including the Humane World for Animals Expo, Humane Canada, and others. She has been featured on platforms such as Humane Voices and NPR, and speaks nationally on topics such as access to care, bias in medicine, and culturally informed approaches to veterinary outreach.

Dr. Boyd is passionate about helping the next generation of veterinary professionals thrive—while staying rooted in compassion, authenticity, and purpose.

Leah Smith

Guest Speaker
(she/her)

Dr. Leah Smith completed her undergraduate biochemistry degree at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, CA in 1996. After a few years teaching high school, she went on to veterinary school, graduating with her veterinary medicine degree from Oregon State University in 2002.

Dr. Smith entered onto active duty with the U.S. Army Veterinary Corps upon graduation, caring for military working dogs, military families’ pets, and even military dolphins. Dr. Smith joined VCA Anima Hospitals in 2008 after completing her active-duty commitment, although she remains active in the Army Reserves. She held the role of medical director in several VCA hospitals, worked in the VCA recruiting department for veterinary students, worked as a VCA emergency doctor, and now works as a relief veterinarian both for VCA and non-VCA hospitals in general, urgent care, and emergency practices.

Dr. Smith is board-certified in veterinary preventive medicine and holds a Master of Public Health. She also holds a Master Degree in Military Strategic Studies. She has many interests, including preventive medicine, complementary medicine such as acupuncture and physical rehabilitation, the human-animal bond, leadership, mentoring, and operational efficiency.

As an Army Reservist, Dr. Smith holds the rank of Colonel. She is currently the Battalion Commander of a medical unit comprised of 700+ Soldiers that includes both human medicine professionals as well as veterinary professionals. She has deployed and mobilized multiple times to regions including Kuwait, Afghanistan, Germany, Japan, Canada, and Guatemala.

Dr. Smith is married, with one daughter. She has loved and lost many pets over the years – she and her husband are currently taking a break to honor the ones they’ve lost this year. While most of her free time is spent serving in her Army Reserves role, when she does get some free time, she enjoys working out, playing volleyball, and discovering new interests.

Dr. Ryan Koopmans

DVM, MS, Financial Planning
(he/him)

Dr. Ryan Koopmans is a Financial Planner at Vincere Wealth. He is a Veterinarian and has practiced for over 10 years in small animal clinical medicine. A few years ago, after some advice from a colleague, he decided to switch his focus to financial planning. He has always been passionate about financial planning and now can work with his peers. He received his master’s in personal financial planning and is now working with Vincere Wealth since 2021. He passed the CFP® exam and has been a Certified Financial Planner since November 2022.

Dr. Barry Kipperman

Board-Certified Specialist in Internal Medicine
(he/him)

Dr. Barry Kipperman is a board-certified specialist in internal medicine and was staff internist and founder of a 24-hour referral/emergency practice in the San Francisco Bay area.

After 33 years in practice, Barry decided to devote the remainder of his career to animal welfare and ethics. Dr. Kipperman received a masters degree in animal welfare, ethics, and law from the University of Edinburgh, and is a board-certified specialist in animal welfare. He teaches veterinary ethics at the University of California at Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and animal welfare and ethics for the University of Missouri.

Dr. Kipperman co-edited and co-authored the book Ethics in Veterinary Practice, and his most recent book, Decision Making in Veterinary Practice was published in 2024. His research interests include the influence of economics on animal welfare and veterinarian well-being, and the ethical dilemmas and moral stress faced by veterinarians.

Dr. Brianna Armstrong

Medical Director & Co-Owner, Firehouse Animal Health Center 183 | Co-Host, Choose People Love Pets Podcast
(she/her)

Dr. Armstrong is the co-host of Choose People Love Pets, a podcast exploring leadership, team dynamics, and innovation in veterinary medicine. She also launched DVM Off Script, a series that highlights veterinarians pursuing non-traditional and entrepreneurial career paths. Her work extends into developing certification programs and leadership tools designed to help veterinary hospitals operationalize cultural values and improve team retention and morale.

With a background in both veterinary medicine and fine arts, and as a patent holder in veterinary technology, Dr. Armstrong brings a creative, multidisciplinary lens to clinical leadership. She is a passionate advocate for reshaping the profession to better serve both the people who work in it and the communities they care for.

Rachel Hilbert

CVT, Time Management and Team Efficiency
(she/her)

Rachel currently lives in Reading, PA, with her handsome CVT husband. They enjoy their days with their new baby, Everly, their two Pit bulls, Sophie and Simona, their two Chihuahuas, Petrie and Ducky, and their Chinchilla, Alfred Shredder. On weekends, Rachel enjoys outdoor activities like hiking and kayaking, live music, traveling, listening to murder podcasts, and mastering her new hobby of archery.

Stiles Foster

Chief Learning Officer at Blendvet
(he/they)

Stiles Foster (he/they) is currently the Chief Learning Officer at Blendvet ™. Throughout his extensive career in veterinary medicine, he has transitioned from being a veterinary technician to working as the diversity, equity, inclusion, & belonging (DEIB) coordinator at a major corporate veterinary emergency group, and DEIB consultant within the veterinary profession. During their pivot into the world of DEIB, Stiles claimed the inaugural role as the first DEIB educator within their corporation, developing & overseeing the educational team, content, programming, & strategy prior to joining blendvet ™.

Additionally, his efforts helped to create lasting internal and external partnerships with third-party affiliates, stakeholders, and investors, proving key to company culture and DEIB success.

Stiles has lectured virtually and in-person on numerous topics within DEIB at the University of California Davis, Pennsylvania State, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has also participated in various DEIB discussion panels and is a co-educator & co-creator for a DEIB subsection of the Communications course at Cornell University.

Amidst the many nonprofit organizations such as PrideVMC and BlackDVM Network in which they’ve partnered with, their passion thrives through advocating for those who are marginalized by delivering a message which highlights personal experience coupled with the importance of DEIB integration.

Since joining blendvet ™, Stiles continues to utilize and curate his skills to drive the companys’ mission forward and with exciting anticipation, awaits his most recent contributions to Pride VMC’s Gender Diversity Guide vol.2, to be published Fall 2023.

Josh Vaisman

MAPPCP, CCFP | Flourish Veterinary Consulting
(he/him)

When he’s not cultivating ways to elevate the veterinary community, Mr. Vaisman spends his time with his wife, Greta, and their many creatures in Firestone, Colorado. To fill his bucket, he’s a soccer-playing, reef-keeping, cookie-eating, beekeeper.

Melyssa Allen

MA, NBC-HWC, DipACLM, Veterinary Well-Being Buddy
(she/her)

Coral Doherty

RVT, CPHSA, Psychological Safety Specialist
(she/her)

She found her niche, talking to people about their pets but also talking to veterinary teams and finding out that she enjoyed collaborating with workplaces to help them achieve their goals.

She achieved her Certification in Management in 2019 and instantly became familiar with the National Standard for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace and received her training to become a psychological health and safety advisor, trained by the Canadian Mental Health Association.

Coral believes in collaboration. More minds together can accomplish more than one alone. She joined up with other leaders in the veterinary wellness space and began her website Better Mental Health for the Future to provide resources & a webinar series to spread awareness of the Canadian National Standard for Psychological Health and Safety in January of 2021. Mind the Gap was launched as an 8-week webinar series to share the concepts of psychological health and safety in 2021 and 2022.

Since 2022, employees have been through intense stress at work and at home. Now, more than ever, employers have begun a “new normal” with their teams using psychological health and safety. Currently, Coral included her vision for psychological safety in veter med and was awarded the best vision to improve mental health at work for veterinary teams.

Now, Coral is on the solutions squad to implement an industry standard to improve the lives of our veterinary community as well as the communities across the Nation, who want their loved ones to receive a rewarding career as well as prevent occupational mental illnesses before they affect their loved one’s quality of life as well as their career.

Danny Vazquez

RVT, Time Management and Team Efficiency
(he/him)

One of Danny’s favorite parts of veterinary medicine has always been anesthesia. He enjoys how dynamic any anesthetic event can be. He expanded his skillset in this area by obtaining a certification in Anesthesia and Analgesia. Another passion he has is ensuring any team he is a part of does not feel alone or suffer any burnout. That is why he has worked in general practice as well as emergency and critical care. He feels having that well-rounded foundation allows him to jump in and help a colleague in any scenario.

When not at work, Danny loves spending time kayaking or just spending time outside with his Fiancé and 4 dogs.