James Barr, DVM, DACVECC, is chief medical officer (CMO) at BluePearl Specialty and Emergency Pet Hospital. Barr holds undergraduate and veterinary degrees from Louisiana State University. He was a staff criticalist at Florida Veterinary Specialists (BluePearl’s original hospital), then left to teach at Texas A&M University in 2009, returning to BluePearl in 2017 to serve as a group medical director and then CMO. As CMO, he oversees the medical operations of BluePearl’s 100+ practices, supporting more than 1300 veterinarians.

Richard Stone, DVM, DACVIM (SAIM) is regional vice president, medicine, at BluePearl Specialty and Emergency Pet Hospital, supporting over 30 hospital teams from Texas to Michigan. He practiced medicine and served as hospital medical director until 2018, when he took on the role of group medical director. He has also led BluePearl’s biosecurity and infection control committee for several years He completed his veterinary training and internship at Texas A&M University and completed an internal medicine residency at The University of Georgia.