Our Team

Our team is dedicated to providing the best care for your pet!
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Renowned experts who love your pet like you do.

Driven. Compassionate. Accomplished. The team you will find here at Hinesburg is at the top of their game. Because when the stakes are this high, we settle for no less.

Veterinarians

Rich Armstrong, DVM

About Dr. Armstrong
Dr. Armstrong has been with us at the Animal Hospital of Hinesburg since 2000 and became an owning partner in 2010. After graduating from the University of Georgia in 1995, he practiced in Virginia before moving with his wife Kristin, also a veterinarian, to Vermont – one of the best decisions they ever made. Rich has a special interest in laser surgery, wound therapy, and practice management. Rich and Kristin live in Hinesburg, where Rich enjoys activities like fishing and playing drums in a band. At home, 2 cats, 2 Golden Retrievers, and a former Bahamian street dog provide a constant reason (along with Rich’s cooking) to smile.

Patrick Leavey, DVM

About Dr. Leavey

Dr. Leavey returned to Vermont in 2009 after veterinary school at Tufts University. Pat has enjoyed being with the team at Hinesburg since 2014 and became an owning partner in 2019. Pat loves working with dogs and cats, but he also has an interest in working with exotic species, including reptiles, small mammals, and poultry. Pat’s areas of focus are surgery, dentistry, and ultrasounds. He and his wife, Anna, live with their son and daughter. They also have three pets: Fred, their black Lab, Frankie, a chocolate lab, and Theodosia, their quirky cat. When not at the hospital, he is usually having fun with his family and friends or playing music.

Ellen Foster, DVM, DACVIM

About Dr. Foster
Ellen Foster, DACVIM, has been our internal medicine specialist since 2004. She splits her time between seeing general practice patients and seeing dogs and cats referred from other veterinarians for endoscopy, ultrasound, or advice on a difficult case. She graduated from veterinary school at the Ohio State University in 1982. She then spent 3 years at the Animal Medical Center in New York City completing her specialty training in internal medicine and neurology, after which she (thankfully) moved to Vermont. When not at work, she is an avid gardener and Extension Master Gardener. She lives with her 2 dogs, an adult brittany, Finnigan, because he has red hair, and Matilda, a small terrier apparently crossed with a giraffe. She is named for the Ronald Dahl character because she is little, very smart, and a bit of a jerk. Ellen also has 2 rats. Harriet Ratter has a white lightning strike-like mark on her forehead. Her sister goes by Ginny Weaselish.Ellen has recently started making too many live edge wood tables, so there is no more room for additional pets.

Karen DeMoy, DVM

About Dr. DeMoy

We welcomed Dr. DeMoy into our practice in 2016. She graduated from the Cornell College of Veterinary Medicine in 1999. Dr. DeMoy practiced mixed animal medicine, focusing on small animals, for three years in central New York before moving back to Vermont in 2002. Karen lives in Orwell with her husband, Dave, a large animal veterinarian, and their son and two daughters. When not shuttling her children to their various activities, she also enjoys gardening, needlework, crochet, felting and is an avid reader of all topics. At home, Karen’s extended family includes a border collie mix named Moxie, a Havanese named Dottie, two miniature poodles named Harre and Heddi, and Melon the cat. They also have a leopard gecko, turtle, guinea pig, rat, and many chickens.

Kurt Kenney, DVM

About Dr. Kenney
Dr. Kurt Kenney brings over 30 years of small animal surgical experience to the Animal Hospital of Hinesburg. Kurt became part of our team in 2004. A Midwesterner, he graduated from Iowa State University in 1983. He completed an internship and surgical residency at the Animal Medical Center in New York City. Kurt sees surgical referrals from across the region and interests include orthopedics, soft tissue, and oncologic procedures. Kurt has incorporated surgical laser into every case for almost 20 years and enjoys seeing the amazing benefits to his patients. Kurt lives on Limping Dog Farm with his wife Sharron and when not in the OR you can usually find him on his bike.

Kara Palac, DVM

About Dr. Palac

Dr. Kara Palac grew up in New England and considers Vermont to be her favorite place in the world. She was thrilled to join The Animal Hospital of Hinesburg team and come home in 2020. She graduated from the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University in 2014. After graduation, she worked at a mixed-animal practice in central New York state for two years. She then spent over three years in New Jersey, focusing on practicing high-quality small animal medicine and performing routine surgeries. Her clients appreciate her candid approach towards taking care of their pets, as well as her dry sense of humor.

For fun, Dr. Palac enjoys running half marathons (she has a goal to run one in all 50 states), baking cookies, watching Netflix, and relaxing with her husky, Ginger, and her horse, Koko.

Jennifer Elliott, VMD

About Dr. Elliott
Dr. Jennifer Elliott joined the Animal Hospital of Hinesburg in 2004. In 2016, she wanted to shake things up and started her own small animal mobile practice, driving the roads of Chittenden County and beyond for 6 years. In early 2020, Dr. Elliott closed her mobile practice to spend more time with her ailing mother and there was no other place she wanted to continue to work than back at AHH. We welcomed her back with open arms!

Kristen Guldbech, DVM

About Dr. Guldbech

Dr. Kristen Guldbech grew up in New Jersey. Before attending veterinary school, she got her Masters in Animal and Dairy Science at the University of Georgia. She then attended St. George’s University School of Veterinary Medicine in Grenada, West Indies. During her time in Grenada, she was part of a program that would travel around the island and help provide spaying, neutering, and veterinary care to the local pets most in need. After Grenada, she did her clinical year at Iowa State University. After a year in the Midwest, she missed the mountains and decided to move back to the East Coast.

Since beginning in private practice, she has made several trips with volunteer organizations dedicated to providing population control and rabies vaccinations to endemic countries to help in trying to reduce rabies cases worldwide.

Her special veterinary interests include internal medicine, theriogenology, and worldwide rabies prevention. In her spare time, Dr. Guldbech likes making pottery, knitting, traveling, hiking, camping, and cooking, especially baking. Kristen lives in Williston with her dog Squirrel.

Leadership

Tammy Lavalette

Practice Manager
About Tammy
Tammy, the one who brilliantly takes care of all things behind the scenes for our practice, has been with us since 2011. She has been involved with both large and small animal veterinary medicine since 1979, first working as a technician and then evolving into management. Tammy loves labs! – she has been raising Labrador Retrievers since 1984. She also is an avid beekeeper and breeds rare varieties of chickens and quail. Tammy also loves spending time outdoors fishing, gardening, hunting, hiking, and spending time on her property in Maine.

Rachel Manikian, CVT

Veterinary Technician Supervisor
About Rachel
Rachel graduated from Vermont Technical College in 2005 with a degree in Veterinary Technology and joined the team at the Animal Hospital of Hinesburg as a technician shortly thereafter. Along with her regular technical duties, Rachel became the hospital’s Technician Supervisor/Assistant Manager in 2013. Rachel has a special interest and skills in emergency and critical patient care. When not on the clock, she can be found heading up a mountain with her lab-mix “Dexter”, taking a Zumba class, or just hanging out with her husband, daughter, cat, and flock of chickens.

Care Team

Maria Berger

About Maria
Never one to miss an opportunity to visit with a client, Maria’s face is familiar to many of you. She has been with HVA since 2006 and brings years of experience as a veterinary technician and veterinary pharmaceutical sales rep to her skill set at the front desk. Maria enjoys answering clients’ questions and giving advice, sometimes even in Spanish or French!

When not in the office, Maria might be found traipsing through local woods and fields sustainably harvesting wild edibles and medicinals or keeping buzzzzzy in her bee yard.

Brittney Osborne, CVT

About Brittney
Brittney has been with us since 2013 after graduating from the Vermont Technical College Veterinary Technician program. She chose this field after spending three semesters in the UVM pre-veterinary program where she decided she wanted something more “hands-on”. Brittney has previously spent most of her free time running, hiking, and enjoying the outdoors (mainly with borrowed dogs from friends). She loves running so much that she has gone on to complete several ultramarathons and several multi-day races (as a Vermont native, Brittney’s favorite post-race food is Ben & Jerry’s ice cream). However, nowadays you can find her “getting cozy” on the couch with her new baby Jolene (JOJO)! She is very excited to finally have a dog of her own. Though not to the same scale, Brittney still manages to get some “running” in chasing JOJO around as she is quite mischievous!

Heather Lutton

About Heather
Heather has been with the Animal Hospital of Hinesburg since 2014. Before becoming a part of our team, she graduated in 2011 from Vermont Technical College with a major in dairy farm management. Heather grew up on a dairy farm in Bristol with four siblings, her dogs Max (Bernese Mountain Dog) and Daisy (Yellow Lab), and many many cows! Heather decided to further pursue her passion for animals, along with people and joined our reception crew at the front desk. When Heather is not working, she’s going on an adventure with her son, Henry, helping her husband with their sugaring business, and taking care of her chickens. You may also find her hiking, kayaking, baking, and just enjoying the beautiful scenery of Vermont!

Stephanie Whitten

About Stephanie
Stephanie was born in Maine but has grown up in Vermont. She attended Vermont Technical College in 2010, earning a veterinary technician degree in 2012. During her tenure at VTC, she took on an externship in Chicago at a mixed animal hospital. After graduation, she jumped right into the technician field and started working at an animal hospital in Burlington and then joined our team in January of 2015. Since becoming part of our team, Steph bought a new house, has gotten married, and now has two new puppies running around. When she’s not working, she enjoys hiking as much as possible and bass fishing in Lake Champlain with her dad.

Meghan Forsyth

About Meghan
Meg is a Vermont native who was eager to join our team! She started here at HVA in January of 2015 as a technician. She graduated from Johnson State College in 2010 with a B.S. in Biology. While earning her degree she took on an internship at Lamoille Valley Veterinary Service to explore her passion for working with animals. Meg lives in Shelburne and enjoys cuddling and playing with her golden retriever Henry as well as her two cats Snickelfritz and Mr. T. In addition to her love for animals, you will also find her kayaking in Lake Champlain, hiking with her dogs, dancing, playing tennis, and spending time with friends and family.

Sarah Lathrop

About Sarah
Born in Arizona, Sarah moved to Vermont at the age of three. She moved to Maine after high school, where she worked at a doggy daycare for three years. Her interest in working with animals led her to become a veterinary technician, a career which she has greatly enjoyed for the past 13 years. She became part of our team in the summer of 2015. She and her wife Sommer reside in beautiful Lincoln, Vermont, with their three cats (Donny, Mio & Bean) and their big beautiful mastiff/boxer mix Malcom. In Sarah’s free time, she enjoys camping, fishing, kayaking, and hunting. In the summertime, you’re likely to find her floating in the New Haven River.

Moriah Pratt

About Moriah
Before becoming part of our team, Moriah had a career in grooming at PetSmart. She is a Vermont native that grew up all over the state from St. Johnsbury to Randolph to Bristol. She currently lives on a local Hinesburg dairy farm owned by her boyfriend’s family, with his son, their baby girl and their beagle Kiara and cat Magenta and a herd of cows! Moriah joined the Animal Hospital of Hinesburg team in early 2019. When she is not working, she can be found traipsing around farm fields with her family.

Kevin Williams, CVT

About Kevin
Kevin is originally from New York state. In 2015 he earned his bachelor’s degree in environmental science and then spent the next 3 years conducting a wildlife research project on Adirondack loons. He moved to Vermont in 2018 to attend Vermont Technical College for a degree in veterinary technology. He completed his externship for VTC with us in 2019 and then joined the team as a full-time technician in 2020. He lives in Winooski with his girlfriend Samantha, and their southern rescue dog, Ivy. When not working, he plays guitar and enjoys outdoor activities.

Emily Haskins

About Emily
Emily has worked at the Animal Hospital of Hinesburg since October 2018. One of our full-time receptionists, she enjoys assisting clients and their pets each day. Emily has worked in the customer service field for over ten years and has been caring for animals since she was a child. She is a Vermont native, hailing from Huntington, where she still lives with her three dogs, three cats, and a rabbit. Emily is recognized as the office’s “crazy cat lady,” and enjoys getting to know each feline that comes in for an appointment. When not at work, she enjoys spending time outdoors, reading a book from her collection of over 1,500 volumes with a cat on her lap, or drinking tea with friends.