Hayley Phipps ’00
written January 2013
Veterinarian Dr. Hayley Phipps ’00 enjoys even the routine aspects of her job, such as giving vaccinations to puppies and seeing adult cats and dogs for annual exams. She likes the head-scratching, problem-solving challenge of caring for patients who can’t speak and who sometimes aren’t displaying in the exam room the problem that the owner is seeing at home. And then there is the technical side—mostly routine spaying and neutering surgeries, or operations to remove a foreign object a dog has swallowed. “It’s pretty fun, actually,” Hayley says of the operating room experience. “I find it therapeutic.”
Perhaps this is not an unexpected sentiment from the former Harding lower school student who found dissecting a worm to be “cool” rather than gross. “I was definitely a nerdier kid,” she says.
Hayley was inspired by the science program at Harding; she loved the little world of the science lab with the creek running through it, and the animals to observe and to care for at home during holiday breaks. She says, “I’ve always had this really big love for animals. I can remember being in fifth grade and saying I wanted to be a vet.”
In retrospect, though, Hayley realizes that Harding did more for her than just nurture her love of science. She says the emphasis on character building and developing a strong work ethic certainly helped her as she continued her education at Harpeth Hall, then Auburn University for undergraduate studies, and then four years of vet school at Ross University in the Caribbean. “I think a lot of people don’t know how much school we go through [to become a veterinarian],” she says.
Having completed her studies at the start of 2012, she moved back to Nashville, began her career as a small animal vet at Cool Springs Animal Hospital, and got herself a black Lab puppy. Hayley, who enjoys gardening, cooking, and waterskiing, is glad to be near her family again and also to her alma mater. She enjoyed attending Harding’s Art Show in the spring and looks forward to other alumni opportunities and gatherings.
Describing herself as “passionate” about her work, Hayley says that bonding with pet owners during an animal’s illness has been one of the unexpected rewards of the job. She hopes to have her own practice someday. In the short term, her goal is to set up a charitable organization that would provide low-cost spaying and neutering for rescue cats and dogs.
Inspiring The Mind • Nurturing The Spirit