Josette Phillips Richmond, MS, DVM 
HSVMA VIRGINIA STATE CO-REPRESENTATIVE

Dr. Josette M. Phillips Richmond is a 2008 graduate of Virginia Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine. After graduation, she practiced in rural southwest Virginia as a large animal practitioner. Two years later, she decided to redirect her efforts into small animal practice.

Currently, Dr. Phillips Richmond, a resident of West Virginia, is the Medical Director of Angels of Assisi in Roanoke, VA, where she has been affiliated with the organization since 2011. Angels  is a NO-kill shelter that has been involved with rescues in hoarding and cruelty cases, and has helped take animals from natural disasters, including floods and hurricanes. Angels also offers low-income areas in rural Virginia and West Virginia, and provides low-cost surgeries—including spays, neuters, amputations, orthopedics and exploratories—to clients. Angels has a transport truck which goes to rural areas to provide treatment, and runs "transport" to other areas. On these transports, Angels will pick up animals in rural areas, bring them to the clinic, perform the necessary procedures and transport them back to their originating areas. Dr. Phillips Richmond also volunteers with several local police agencies, testifies in their animal cruelty cases, and is the supervising veterinarian of their controlled-capture program.

Working in conjunction with HSVMA, Dr. Phillips Richmond hopes to expand animal advocacy and grow membership engagement within Virginia. She also serves as the HSVMA West Virginia State Representative.

Laura Parkhurst, DVM, MPH, XMNR 
HSVMA VIRGINIA STATE CO-REPRESENTATIVE

Dr. Laura Parkhurst is a 2020 graduate of Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, earning dual DVM and MPH degrees with a concentration in epidemiology. After graduation, she completed a year-long internship in emergency medicine in northern Virginia. She is now an associate veterinarian with a nonprofit animal welfare organization located in Roanoke, Virginia. In this role, she works with both small and large animals providing surgical and wellness services to hundreds of pets and shelter animals per week. She is also intimately involved with operating mobile clinics which provide low-cost/no-cost veterinary services for pets throughout Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina. As part of her position, she works closely with local law enforcement agencies and consults with city/county prosecutors on animal neglect and abuse cases.

Before attending veterinary school, Dr. Parkhurst worked as an environmental engineer for an international engineering firm and received an Executive Masters in Natural Resources (XMNR) with a focus on global sustainability. During this time, she traveled and lived in many locations across the country and the globe, and she witnessed first-hand the need for veterinary care for extremely low-income, near homeless, or homeless people and their beloved pets. She knew her true calling was providing veterinary services to those in need, both animal and human.

Dr. Parkhurst is a dedicated advocate for animal welfare issues including increasing public outreach and community education. In 2018, she began volunteering with Rural Area Veterinary Services (RAVS), starting with a medical clinic on the San Carlos Reservation in Arizona. Since then, Dr. Parkhurst has continued to participate in RAVS trips, assist in teaching student labs through HSVMA, and volunteer with The Street Dog Coalition, Saint Francis Service Dogs, and Rescue Transport Services across the country. In addition to being the HSVMA Virginia State Co-Representative, Dr. Parkhurst is also a member of the Virginia Veterinary Medical Association (VVMA), AVMA, HSUS, and the Association of Shelter Veterinarians (ASV).

Along with her husband, Fred, Dr. Parkhurst currently resides on a small farm in Christiansburg, Virginia with countless rescue animals, including dogs, cats, and chickens. During her downtime, she likes to read true-crime novels, travel to new places, hone her bushcraft skills, and binge-watch murder mysteries.

To contact an HSVMA State Representative, please email [email protected].