Practice Excellence
Diverse in talents, united in our mission.
Team
Driven by compassion and purpose, here is the team who will work to make a difference in your pet’s life. Every single visit.
Driven by compassion and purpose, here is the team who will work to make a difference in your pet’s life. Every single visit.
Dr. Faulkner has been the owner and veterinarian at Central Houston Animal Hospital since 2008.
Dr. Faulkner is a native of Tennessee but is quickly becoming a Texan at heart. She has owned Central Houston Animal Hospital since 2008. Dr. Faulkner started her path to becoming a veterinarian in the third grade. Her love of animals and desire to help them has never wavered from this path. She grew up riding horses and began working as a kennel assistant at a small animal hospital at the age of 15. Through her college years, she worked as a veterinary technician while obtaining her BS degree in Biology, Cum Laude, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. While working to obtain her veterinary degree, Dr. Faulkner spent summers working with polo horses and completed two externships. The first was a small animal specialty hospital in Los Angeles, and later, an overnight equine hospital in Lexington, KY. All these experiences served to solidify her dream of passionately pursuing a career in veterinary medicine. She earned her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree in 2000 from the University of Tennessee in her hometown of Knoxville.
Dr. Faulkner relocated to Texas in 2001 and began to practice in College Station, then Cypress and later Houston. She was driven to practice ownership and was motivated by the dedicated clients, excellent staff, and pet lovers here at Central Houston Animal Hospital. She is very passionate about wellness care and internal medicine and excels in diagnostics and soft tissue surgery. Finding the cause of an illness rather than putting a patch on the problem is very important to her. She enjoys working with animals and educating their owners to ensure happy and healthy pets.
Helping homeless pets in the city of Houston is an important mission of Dr. Faulkner’s and she continues to be involved with various rescue organizations here at Central Houston Animal Hospital. Dr. Faulkner revels in finding these special pets homes where they will be loved. She lives in Houston with her husband, son, daughter and four rescued dogs. When she has the time, she continues to enjoy riding and showing her horse.
Education
Dr. Reid has been with Central Houston Animal Hospital since 2004.
Dr. Darcy Reid was born in San Diego and moved to Texas in 1984. Growing up, her military family travelled extensively and animals were a joyful comfort in a world full of exciting change. She has always had a love of animals and values the important and unique relationships she formed with her pets over the years.
Dr. Reid received her undergraduate degree in Business Analysis from Texas A&M University in 1995 and achieved success in the computer consulting industry here in Houston. She continued to feel a strong connection to the world of animals and medicine and began moonlighting at a cat only practice at the encouragement of her then veterinarian. Instantly hooked, Dr. Reid was highly motivated to complete her prerequisite courses, and after being accepted to Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine she graduated Magna Cum Laude in 2002. Marriage brought her back to Houston and she joined the Central Houston Animal Hospital team in 2004.
Dr. Reid is grateful for the opportunity to improve the health and well-being of her patients and therefore their families and has enjoyed nurturing these relationships over the years. She believes that open communication, practicality, and attention to detail are vital to the process and appreciates that each family has a set of guidelines and expectations that are unique to them. Excelling in the long term management of chronic diseases.
Dr. Reid also enjoys wellness care, preventive medicine and education, internal medicine, and soft tissue surgery. She is a member of the AVMA, TVMA and Harris County VMA. Dr. Reid is thrilled to work in the middle of such a vibrant and diverse city. When she is not caring for her patients, she is caring for her family – her husband, two sons, daughter, and rescued animals including a dog, two cats, and many fish. You can usually find them outdoors enjoying various sporting activities as well as the many parks, bayous and walking trails that Houston has to offer.
Education
Dr. Smith has been with Central Houston Animal Hospital since 2014.
Dr. Natalie Smith was born and raised in Houston. Veterinary medicine was a natural fit for a child inclined to bring home every animal she found. Her desire to heal them sprang from the sad fate of a lizard named Buttercup. Dr. Smith’s love for animals later found an outlet with the Future Farmers of America in high school. Dr. Smith first practiced at a rotating internship in Long Island, New York, where she nurtured an interest in emergency medicine. She continued emergency and critical care medicine at East End Emergency and Specialty Center for two years. After braving Northeast winters, Dr. Smith gladly returned to her home state of Texas. She accepted an emergency position at North Houston Veterinary Specialists where she was part of the clinic’s 24-hour emergency service team. She found herself seeking the long term relationships that come with general practice and thus joined the Central Houston Animal Hospital team in September of 2014.
Her interests include emergency medicine, surgery, and oncology and she is a member of TVMA and AVMA. Outside of her veterinary practice, Dr. Smith loves to spend time with family, waterski, train for endurance events, and help all the animals she can. Her goal is to treat and heal every animal she meets – without being bitten.
Education
Dr. Holmes has been with Central Houston Animal Hospital since 2019.
Dr. Christine Holmes was born and raised in Houston, TX. Her love and passion for animals started at a very young age. She obtained her undergraduate degree in Animal Science, Magna Cum Laude, from Texas A&M University in 2012. Dr. Holmes then received her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, Cum Laude, from Texas A&M University in 2017. She has worked in small animal private practice ever since. She is a member of TVMA and AVMA. Her special interests include internal medicine, preventative care, and dermatology. Dr. Holmes feels very blessed to have the privilege of being a veterinarian. She is dedicated to serving her community by providing care to all her patients and those who love them.
Dr. Holmes lives in Houston with her husband, Kevin, and their two kids. In her spare time she enjoys spending time in the Texas Hill Country and Galveston with her two dogs, Fischer and Lucy.
Education
Kristina was born and raised in Katy, Texas. She discovered her passion for veterinary medicine at the age of 16 with her first job working as a veterinary/kennel technician assistant. After high school she obtained her veterinarian paramedic certification. . During her fist year at Lone Star College – Tomball, she was awarded the Candice Howard Scholarship. She earned her associates of applied science and became a licensed Veterinary technician in 2011.
During her preceptorship at Gulf Coast Veterinary Specialists, she fell in love with the rehabilitation and fitness department. After accepting a permanent position with the department, she obtained her certified canine rehabilitation practitioner (CCRP) certification from University of Tennessee in 2014.
Kristina loves constantly expanding her rehab knowledge to better help her patients in every way. She is always researching and taking extra continuing education classes to further develop her skills as a practitioner. She is a member of American Association of Rehabilitation Veterinarians (AARV) and International Veterinary Academy of Pain Management (IVAPM).
Kristina is currently working towards her veterinary specialty in physical rehabilitation (list credential abbreviation). Her professional interests include alternative pain management for patients recovering from surgery and chronic osteoarthritis, in conjunction with developing a strong client patient bond to achieve all goals for each patient.
Outside of practicing rehabilitation and pain management, she enjoys spending time with her fur baby, Gus, a Terrier mix. Gus was adopted from school as he one of Kristina’s surgery patients. Outside of loving her fur family, she enjoys staying active and anything to do with the great outdoors.
Dr. Jessica Marziani has wanted to be a veterinarian since a very early age. Growing up on a small family farm in northeast Indiana, she knew the best career for her would be one surrounded by animals.
Dr. Marziani’s family farm had a little bit of everything. If it lives in a barn yard, Dr. Marziani has probably owned one or more! She was very active in 4-H growing up, completing ten years of 4-H showing livestock, horses and even doing crafts and baking. Her family history is deeply rooted in 4-H as she is a fifth generation member.
​Dr.Marziani also actively competed in the Indiana Paint Horse Association show circuit and will tell you stories about the most influential animal of her life, Gretta, any time you want to hear them!​
Dr. Marziani attended undergrad at Central Methodist University and vet school at the University of Missouri (Mizzou).  After vet school, Dr. Marziani completed a grueling one-year rotating internship at Arizona Equine Medical and Surgical Centre.  Dr. Marziani’s main interest going through school and her internship were lameness and getting horses back to competition.  Having had injuries take her out of the show ring growing up, she wanted to be able to help keep horses moving at their best.  After her internship, Dr. Marziani spent several years in equine medicine helping countless horses overcome injuries and making them comfortable.  All the while, Dr. Marziani herself dealt with pain from years of horseback riding and strain on her neck.  During this time, Dr. Marziani tried countless western therapies to try to reduce her neck pain without any success.  All the while, she had witnessed several patients of hers improve dramatically through acupuncture therapies.  This compelled Dr. Marziani to try acupuncture herself.  After waking up for the first time in years without a headache, thanks to acupuncture therapy, Dr. Marziani was a believer!  She knew this was a therapy method that she had to learn to help her patients even more.
Dr. Marziani attended the Chi Institute and became certified in mixed animal acupuncture.  Once practicing acupuncture, Dr. Marziani started realizing that disease and injury prevention is a more effective service than simply reacting to ailments.  She added chiropractic medicine to her tool belt by attending Parker University’s animal chiropractic course and becoming certified by the American Association of Veterinary Chiropractic.  Practicing chiropractic exposed Dr. Marziani to cases that needed rehab, some due to surgery and some just due to lack of muscle mass from skeletal frame misuse.  Wanting to know how to isolate a muscle and engage it to help build its mass lead to Dr. Marziani becoming certified in canine rehabilitation therapy by the Canine Rehabilitation Institute.  Now Dr. Marziani believes her career has come full circle. From her childhood dream of getting her horse back into the ring after an injury, to being able to not only help patients recover from injuries, but help them prevent injuries in the first place!
Next time you’re at the Houston Zoo, keep your eyes out for Dr. Marziani.  You just may see her rolling her bag around the zoo visiting some of the animals there and providing complimentary veterinarian therapies.  Dr. Marziani has been volunteering her services at the zoo since September of 2014 and enjoys every second she gets to spend there.