Deborah Spike-Pierce, DVM, MBA, an ambulatory practitioner and shareholder with Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Ky., has joined the board of directors of the American Association of Equine Practitioners. Dr. Spike-Pierce was installed during the Nov. 20 President’s Luncheon at the AAEP’s 63^rd Annual Convention in San Antonio, Texas. Her three-year term expires in 2020.

Dr. Spike-Pierce received her veterinary degree from Michigan State University in 1993 and practiced for a year at a Standardbred racetrack before interning at Rood and Riddle. She spent three years as an assistant to Dr. Larry Bramlage, primarily in equine lameness and imaging, before embarking on her ambulatory practice in Thoroughbred yearlings and sales work in 1998. She will discontinue clinical practice in 2018 to assume practice management responsibilities.

Dr. Spike-Pierce is a member of the AAEP’s Leadership Development Committee and previously served as chair of the Student Relations Committee and on the Membership Development Committee and Welfare and Public Policy Advisory Council. She is a former president of both the Kentucky Association of Equine Practitioners and the Kentucky Veterinary Medical Association, and currently serves as president of the KVMA Foundation and as a member of the KVMA Legislative Committee.

The American Association of Equine Practitioners, headquartered in Lexington, Ky., was founded in 1954 as a non-profit organization dedicated to the health and welfare of the horse. Currently, AAEP reaches more than 5 million horse owners through its over 9,000 members worldwide and is actively involved in ethics issues, practice management, research and continuing education in the equine veterinary profession and horse industry.

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