Dr. Erika Friedrich is a native New Yorker who received her Bachelor of Science degree in biology with a mathematics minor from Union College in 1999. She received her veterinary degree from The Royal Veterinary College, University of London, in 2005. She worked in small animal general practice for one year before completing a Rotating Internship in Small Animal Medicine and Surgery at The Center for Specialized Veterinary Care in Westbury, New York, where she was honored as the “Intern of the Year” (2007).
Since then, she has worked mostly in emergency medicine. She has been the Head of the Emergency Department at 24-hour emergency and referral hospitals on Long Island, New York (2008 – 2017), as well as in Northern Virginia since (2017-2023). Education of fellow Emergency Doctors, Interns, as well as support team members is a major strength for her, including being an adjunct instructor at Suffolk County Community College in New York for licensing veterinary technicians where she lectured in pharmacology, cardiology, and radiology. In addition to emergency medicine and hospital leadership, she has been selected for the past several years as an Iditarod sled-dog race veterinarian to help keep the sled dogs healthy during their trek, and can be found doing this every March.
It had been her dream to own a Veterinary Hospital, and that dream is here!! It is her passion for education, love of animals, and leadership, combined with amazing family, colleagues, and life experiences that has allowed the dream of Royal Oak Veterinary to come to fruition.
Outside of work she dabbles in hobbies ranging from DIY projects, puzzles, travel (local and afar), spending time with friends, and enjoys staying active and, of course, following the New York Yankees. She has one pet, a dog cat named Jones.
Dr. Sienna Church grew up in small town right across the border in Maryland on a small hobby farm where she found her passion for animals at an early age. She got her Bachelors of Science degree from Colorado State University in biology with a minor in biomedical sciences and concentration in anatomy and physiology in 2012. She graduated from Virginia Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine in 2016.
She then completed a one-year rotating internship in small animal medicine and surgery before working in emergency medicine. She has a passion for anesthesia, trauma, and neonates but enjoys all aspects of veterinary medicine.
In her free time, she loves visiting all the vineyards Loudoun County has to offer, board games, and hanging out with her menagerie of animals (2 dogs, 4 cats and 1 horse).