My Veterinary Life

“It reflects, I think, the spectrum of pet ownership and just how different cultures care for pets and love pets. You know we didn’t really know what to do with this dog but we learned over time and we were so grateful for people who helped us. But it really convey that loving and owning a pet comes in a variety of ways.” Our guest today is Dr. Chumkee Aziz. Dr. Aziz is a graduate Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University. After veterinary school, she completed a small animal rotating internship with ASPCA in New York, then a shelter medicine residency at UC Davis. She shares that her path to veterinary medicine was not a straight shot and it all changed with one special dog. This career has led her to some amazing places and experience as well as opportunities. She currently serves as the president of the Association of Shelter Veterinarians. We learn so much about the importance of mentorship and following your passion as well as the impact you can have on your community. It’s such a fun a

“And then just be prepared to be adventurous, compassionate, and enthusiastic every day because the craziness will come your way and if you meet it with positivity you will really, really enjoy this type of career.” Our guest today is Dr. Traci Gilbert. Dr. Gilbert is a graduate from the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine. After graduation she was in small animal private practice until she learned of an opening for a veterinarian at a local animal shelter. She jumped at the opportunity and has built and incredible career from there. She shares a lot of great insights about working in shelter medicine and what her day ‘typically’ looks like and also how to keep a positive perspective on things. We are so excited to share this journey with you. Remember we want to hear from you! Please be sure to subscribe to our feed on Apple Podcasts and leave us a ratings and review. You can also contact us at MVLPodcast@avma.org You can also follow us on Social Media @AVMAVets #MyVetLife #MVLPodcast

“I got to a point in my career, and I’m sure other people can relate to this, where I had to balance what was comfortable against the desire to do more, to stretch my wings, to learn more, to add more to the organization that I was working for, Hill’s, but to do that in a different way." Our guest today is Joann Fuller. Joann is the Brand Engagement Manager at Hill’s Pet Nutrition and she joins us to talk about some of the incredible programs she is involved in that focus on working with Animal Shelters. Before we jump into that part of her career, we start at the beginning and learn how she joined the Hill’s Pet Nutrition Team and moved throughout the company. This episode is full of passion and lots of great information on the role we can play in helping animal shelters. We are so excited to share this journey with you. Remember we want to hear from you! Please be sure to subscribe to our feed on Apple Podcasts and leave us a ratings and review. You can also contact us at MVLPodcast@avma.org You can also fo

“We call them insureds-veterinarians that have professional liability insurance and are insured by the company can call anytime. So, we take a lot of insured phone calls to answer questions or they are in a tough situation and need some advice. I really love reviewing the claims and it’s really like I’m back at school. My textbooks are all dusted off. We do a lot of research, particularly I think my small animal surgery book gets the biggest workout, finding research or support for certain claims or situations. My textbooks have really come out of the closet and getting a workout again. So that was my biggest surprise, is that I’m kind of back at school.’” Our guest today is Dr. Kara Escutia. She wraps up our series meeting AVMA Trust Veterinarians. Dr. Escutia is a 2011 graduate of University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine. We chat about her career and how it has taken her from feline only medicine to small animal medicine from private to corporate and now to insurance. We also have fun disc

“When we talk to clients, we can completely put ourselves in that situation and our heart breaks for everyone that we speak to. And so, believe me, there is absolutely no judgement.’” Our guest today is Dr. Jennifer Frey. We have an incredible conversation that not only includes a thorough look at how insurance claims are handled, but also touches on her passion for the profession…. Diversity. We learn what her experience was like joining the profession and some ideas she has for helping to bring more diversity to veterinary medicine. We also talk about how she learned about the role at AVMA PLIT and why she thinks it is so important. It’s an informative and insightful conversation and we cannot wait to share this journey with you! Remember we want to hear from you! Please be sure to subscribe to our feed on Apple Podcasts and leave us a ratings and review. You can also contact us at MVLPodcast@avma.org You can also follow us on Social Media @AVMAVets #MyVetLife #MVLPodcast

We are thrilled to bring you this bonus episode! Our guest today is Sarah Culberson. Sarah is one of the keynote presenters at the 2021 Virtual AVMA Convention. She is also an author, an actor, a humanitarian, AND a princess of Sierra Leone! We discuss what it was like to write her book “A Princess Found” and draw some parallels between her experiences and those that some of us face in veterinary medicine. It is such an inspiring conversation! We are so excited to share this journey with you AND hope you will join us at the virtual AVMA Convention to hear more from Princess Sarah Culberson. Remember we want to hear from you! Please be sure to subscribe to our feed on Apple Podcasts and leave us a ratings and review. You can also contact us at MVLPodcast@avma.org You can also follow us on Social Media @AVMAVets #MyVetLife #MVLPodcastIf you would like to learn more about Sarah and her non-profit work, please visit her website: https://sarahculberson.com/You can also find her book, A Princess Found, at Amazon,

“And so my colleague and I did a whole bunch of research on the AVMA website and through former JAVMAs and prepared this great argument for why we should not have our salaries. And we walked into the meeting and our boss and the leader of the large animal team said ‘So, we’re going to sell off the large animal practice and we’d like you guys to buy it.’” Our guest today is Dr. Rebecca Stinson. We are continuing our conversation with AVMA Trust Veterinarians and boy does Dr. Stinson have a lot to share! We cover so much ground including, internships, contract negotiations, business ownership, volunteering and so much more! It is a great conversation; we even learn a little bit about why she believes insurance is so important in the profession and how to understand what coverage you need. We also chat about how she learned about this role and how that story is connected to one of our co-hosts. It’s a fun conversation and we cannot wait to share this journey with you! Remember we want to hear from you! Please

“Delegate. Delegate. Delegate. You know, you’re a veterinarian, you just practice good medicine, and the business will come, and hire people that are experts in running businesses, or you know, HR and it might be you think you can’t afford it, but believe me it’ll pay it forward. You’ll have more business, if you are able to do what you were trained to do.” Our guest today is Dr. Nina Mouledous. This is our second installment in the 5-part mini-series focusing on AVMA Trust Veterinarians. We have an amazing chat with Dr. Mouledous and learn how veterinary medicine wasn’t her first choice of jobs initially, but thanks to her family and community she was able to pursue her dream of working with animals. Dr. Mouledous shares her experience of working as a race trace veterinarian and how she learned about the opportunity with AVMA PLIT. She has some great advice about business ownership and tips on how to be successful while also practicing good medicine. And finally, we of course chat about the importance of i

"That’s when I started remembering all of my contacts in industry and I used that network to finally land an equine tech services role at Merck.”Our guest today is Dr. Cynthia MacKenzie. She helps kick off this special series focusing on the AVMA Trust Veterinarians. Dr. MacKenzie shares what her journey to veterinary medicine looked like and how she handled some very unexpected challenges that came about in her career. We also discuss how her connections and network helped find her a job in in veterinary industry which eventually brought her to the AVMA PLIT Insurance team. It’s a great conversation and we can’t wait to share this journey with you! As always, we want to hear from you! Please be sure to subscribe to our feed on Apple Podcasts and leave us a ratings and review. You can also contact us at MVLPodcast@avma.org You can also follow us on Social Media @AVMAVets #MyVetLife #MVLPodcast

“Let me share that our groups are completely free to attend. They’re confidential. They’re virtual. They’re one hour in length and they are facilitated by clinical psychologists, myself, Dustin, and then we’ve recently been fortunate to add three other experts to our team, and we all have a background in grief and loss, work-life balance, mood symptoms and traumas.” Our guests today are Drs. Katie Lawlor and Dustin Kieschnick. They join us to discuss the Veterinary Mental Health Initiative, where they both serve as facilitators. Wellbeing and mental health are areas of veterinary medicine that continue to be in the spotlight and the need for more awareness and resources continues to grow. This initiative focuses on peer support with PhD level psychologists facilitating the discussion. They share with us how this FREE program came about through generous support of a veterinary client who saw the need in veterinary medicine. We also discuss how the program is set up and what you can expect from the sessions. It

“My vision for this profession in 10 years, so by 2030 we’ll say, I want to see more people joining the profession than leaving the profession. So, I really want to see the script flipped.” Our guest today is Dr. Jacqui Horner. Dr. Horner shares how her career has taken her in new and unexpected places. After graduation, she started in small animal practice, and while she began to hit her stride, she also faced several challenges, that were only amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic. This led her to think about how she wanted to make work really fit into her life. After some time off, she started working as a relief veterinarian and focused more of her attention to her newly formed LLC Resilience Rising Vet. It’s a great conversation full of hope for the profession. We are so appreciative of Dr. Horner being so open to sharing her story. We cannot wait to share this journey with you! Remember we want to hear from you! Please be sure to subscribe to our feed on Apple Podcasts and leave us a ratings and review

“I mean I try. I still try to help him out when I can. He figured a lot of it out. He’s in such a unique position. I came straight into veterinary school from undergrad, so it was a very clean, or I guess cleaner transition and so he put in a lot of effort to get into vet school and get all his prerequisites done while working and it’s very impressive. I’m very proud of him.”Our guests today are Craig and Alex Barnett. They are currently students at NC State College of Veterinary Medicine and Craig just completed his first year of veterinary school, while Alex completed her third year. They share more than the same veterinary school! Craig is Alex’s father and we chat about what it is like to not only go to veterinary school together but go to veterinary school together during a pandemic. It’s a great conversation and we learn so much from each of them. We cannot wait to share this journey with you. Remember we want to hear from you! Please be sure to subscribe to our feed on Apple Podcasts and leave us a rat

“I learn too. I get to say ‘Wow that’s a great idea. I have never done that.’ I think it’s important for people to see that even if you are a specialist, you never stop learning. You never have all the answers. You don’t have every case go perfect. You know you flub up on stuff. It’s just really important to visualize that because I think people think ‘oh specialist, well you know it all.’ Our guest today is Dr. Ashley Bourgeois! Dr. Bourgeois a board-certified veterinary dermatologist. We discuss what the path to specialty medicine looked like for her. We also discuss where she got the idea her website and social media platform the Derm Vet. These outlets allow her to share some incredible information and help veterinarians and owners take better care of their pets. Dr. Bourgeois also shares how she prioritizes things in her personal and professional life so that she has a job that works for her. It’s an incredible conversation and we can’t wait to share this journey with you! Remember we want to hear from

“And it’s really, it’s a universal experience. We all have to learn how to bear the things we think we cannot bear over the course of our lives. And I think in so many ways that is why Wild resonated with so many people around the world because it’s not necessarily they all want to go hike the PCT. They all are thinking, you know, I’ve had that moment in my life too where I thought I couldn’t take it, or lift it, or do it and I did.”Our guest today is Cheryl Strayed. Cheryl is the author of several #1 New York Times Bestsellers including Wild, a memoir about her solo hike through the Pacific Crest Trail. This conversation is truly inspiring and build upon the presentation she gave for the 2021 graduating class, which can be found on AVMA Axon. We discuss the importance of resilience and taking time for yourself and draw several parallels between veterinary medicine and the arts in the basic human experiences we all have. It was such an honor to host Cheryl and we cannot wait to share this journey with you! Re

“And so then I went full vet. Right? I’m like ‘oh yeah, I’ll show you.’ And I went and I took classes and I’m like I’m going to be the best. I just got really into it. And then I realized, this is great because I said before I don’t like surgery. And it’s not because I’m not precise, it’s because I don’t like things bleeding and being able to think about things. And when you make a cake, you can take as long as you want.”Our guest today is Dr. Jessica Vogelsang. Dr. Vogelsang has had an incredible career. We talk about how her path to veterinary medicine was not exactly a straight line and life in veterinary medicine has been full of a lot of surprises and amazing opportunities. You may already know her as the author of the book “All Dogs Go to Kevin” or from one of her blogs, or perhaps from her time on Nat Geo Wild. This is a fun and inspiring conversation and we can’t wait to share this journey with you! , Remember we want to hear from you! Please be sure to subscribe to our feed on Apple Podcasts and leav

“So, the way I think about, you know, just our mission statements, is how do we alleviate pressure on the veterinary team by allocating responsibility to pet parents. And they are happy to do so, these are their furry children. They call them as such and so we can, in fact, five them more responsibility. It just is important that we actually utilize them as resources for our patients.”Our guest today is Dr. Zay Satchu. Dr. Satchu is one of the co-founders of Bond Vet. She talks about why it was important to her to start her own practice and how they are prioritizing the entire TEAM. She also shares their guiding principles and how they hold everyone accountable to these. We also talk about how she has created a plan to elevate support staff and how they are refining their on-boarding process for new veterinarians. It is an inspiring conversation and we can’t wait to share this journey with you. Remember we want to hear from you! Please be sure to subscribe to our feed on Apple Podcasts and leave us a ratings

“So, the same process happened again. I had an interview but then got wait listed again. And I say this because I hear so many stories of people, of how they got somewhere and they just succeeded, and I feel bad because I’m like, ‘Why is everyone else just getting what they want and I’m not and so I think it is important to share the stories of failure or, you know, not being accepted into something because I think that is so important. And then when I actually talk to people and they tell me oh no I applied to this and this and didn’t get any of that. And I’m like Oh I didn’t know, I had no idea.”Our guest today is Dr. Leslie Brooks. She has had an amazing career, which has included time in private practice, working with non-profit organizations such as SOAR and freelance writing. We also learn what her newest adventure will be! It’s breaking news on the podcast! She shares that the journey wasn’t always smooth, and she encountered some speedbumps along the way but with every roadblock she learned something,

“You get really good at being efficient with the things you want to get done. You move those things that have to get done- cleaning bottles or whatever- up to the top of the list. I guess you kind of triage your house so to speak when you’re a mom.”Our guest today is Dr. Amanda Hampton! Dr. Hampton is a small animal practitioner and a new mom! Her partner is also a veterinarian, so we talk about what the transition into parenthood has been like and how they are planning to balance two full time veterinarian schedules, while still making sure they have plenty of family time. We also talk about the benefits of becoming involved in organized veterinary medicine. It is a great conversation with a lot of wonderful advice that applies to everyone in veterinary medicine. We are so excited to share this journey with you! Remember we want to hear from you! Please be sure to subscribe to our feed on Apple Podcasts and leave us a ratings and review. You can also contact us at MVLPodcast@avma.org You can also follow us o

“Really thinking about financial tools as tools, not as the goal. Right? So, you know when you build a home, the goal is to build a home, it’s not to buy tools. But you need to buy tools in order to build a home. And I think when it comes to financial stuff, when it comes to 401Ks and investment accounts, bitcoin and auto insurance, homeowner’s insurance- all of it. They’re all products. They’re all what they consider financial products. And when you have products, recognizing that they in and of themselves are not the plan.”Our guests today are Tom Seeko and CJ Burnett. They are co-founders of Florida Veterinary Advisors and Co-hosts of the Smarter Vet Podcast. They join us on the last episode in our mini-series welcoming the class of 2021 to the veterinary profession. The focus today is finances. What do we need to know when we are just starting out? If you are not a 2021 graduate, don’t worry, they weave in some truly great advice to keep in mind at any stage of your career. We truly appreciated their stra

“Ashley and I have been doing these IG lives lately on these medical cases and one of the things that we say is ‘Bring your curiosity, and drop your judgement, medicine is not a place for judgement.’’ Our guest today is Dr. Monica Tarantino. She joins us for our fourth installment of welcoming the class of 2021 to the profession. Our topic today is mentorship, something Dr. Tarantino and her business partner Dr. Ashley Gray know a lot about. If you haven’t heard about their book, website, and newsletter, be sure to check out Vets on the Rise. They are doing a lot to bring mentorship to the profession in a variety of ways. This conversation is so helpful and again, the things we learn don’t just apply to 2021 graduates. There are tidbits that all of us can apply to our career no matter what stage we are at. We are so excited to share this conversation with you and we know this won’t be the last time we have Dr. Tarantino on the show! Remember we want to hear from you! Please be sure to subscribe to our feed on