PELL CITY ANIMAL HOSPITAL - Key Persons
Daphne Orr worked for two and a half years as the hospital manager at Britt Animal Hospital in Birmingham before transferring to Pell City Animal Hospital after a 17-year career in Camp and Retreat Ministry management.
Born and raised in Pennsylvania, Daphne grew up with pets of all kinds and spent time volunteering with the local veterinary clinic. While passionate about animal health, she ultimately pursued a career in Outdoor Ministry, and served as Executive Director of a camp and retreat center in Pennsylvania for 12 years before moving to Alabama with her family where she worked in Operations before becoming Executive Director at a local camp.
Daphne has a passion for team-building and coaching, relationship building, and extending gracious hospitality.
Away from work, Daphne is an enthusiastic fan of the Washington Nationals. She enjoys spending time outside with her husband and 3 children, attending their wrestling matches, soccer games, and horse-back riding lessons. Their family is made complete with their dog Eva and their cat Calypso.
A native of Lawrence County Alabama, Dr. Emerald Ford is a 2022 graduate of Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine where she also completed her bachelor's degree in Animal and Dairy Sciences and worked as a bacteriology researcher.
Dr. Ford's first love in veterinary medicine was dairy goat production medicine but she has grown to have strong interests in small animal medicine and surgery. She is excited to start her professional career at Pell City Animal Hospital.
Outside of the clinic, Dr. Ford is invested in international veterinary development having participated in multiple trips with Christian Veterinary Missions and an externship with the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations.
In her free time, Dr. Ford enjoys visiting family and spending time with her two dogs and cat.
Dr. Jim Farmer graduated from Mississippi State University in 1984 and has been at Pell City Animal Hospital since 1989.
Dr. Farmer lives with his beautiful daughter and they have two dogs, Cletus and Maddie, one cat, and a varying number of chickens, horses, and cows.
He enjoys flying, cycling, working on the farm, shooting sports, and college football.
Dr. Jim Ray is a 1985 graduate of the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine.
The majority of his professional life was spent in Tampa, Florida working at several small animal practices. He was also a co-owner of Tampa‘s first, exclusively feline veterinary practice. In addition to domesticated cats, he was fortunate enough to assist at Big Cat Rescue, a refuge for abandoned and abused large exotic cats from all over the world. He joined our Pell City Animal Hospital family in March 2021.
For the past seven years, Dr. Ray was chief of staff at Spartanburg Animal Clinic in South Carolina. His areas of professional concentration are feline medicine and surgery and small animal surgery.
Dr. Ray has been blessed with two daughters, five grandchildren, two horses, and two dogs. His hobbies are motorcycling, hiking, fishing, and woodworking. Welcome to Pell City Animal Hospital!!
Dr. Ken McMillan, born and raised in Union Springs, AL, graduated from the Auburn University School of Veterinary Medicine in 1981.
He has been associated with Pell City Animal Hospital since 1983 and became a partner in 1985. In 1997 he was awarded the El Toro Award for Excellence in Food Animal Practice and was a member of the Alabama Agriculture Board for 8 years. He is a past President of the local Cattleman's Association and the local Veterinary Medical Association.
Dr. McMillan currently serves on national advisory panels on small animal parasite control and antibiotic resistance issues and is the legislative liaison for the Alabama Veterinary Medical Association. He also writes the "Ask the Vet" column for Progressive Farmer. Dr. McMillan was named the 2017 Alabama Veterinarian of the Year by the ALVMA.
Dr. McMillan has been married to Priscilla since 1991 and they have 2 sons, 2 dogs, 12 cats, and a herd of Polled Hereford cattle. He enjoys farming, gardening, fishing, tennis boating, traveling, football and baseball.
Dr. Margaret Heath is a 2023 graduate of Auburn University, where she also completed her bachelor's degree in Animal Sciences Pre-Vet.
During her time at Auburn, she worked as an Ag Ambassador for the College of Agriculture and a tour guide for the College of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Heath's interests in veterinary medicine include small animal medicine and surgery as well as herd health management and small ruminant medicine.
Dr. Heath was recently engaged to her fiancé, Matthew, and they have one cat, Butterscotch. In her free time, Dr. Heath enjoys crocheting, reading, and traveling.