My Veterinary Life

Continuing our internship series, this episode we talk about all things zoo medicine internship and residency with Dr. Rachel Tuner and Dr. Liandrie Swanepoel. From bears to alligators, lions, and rabbits, our guests have seen it all! Dr. Turner is an associate veterinarian at the Birmingham Zoo, and she tells is about both her internships and her 3-year zoo med residency at the University of Flor...

As we continue in our internship series, our guest for this episode is Dr. Shireen Zolghadri and she shares her experience pursuing an equine internship. We start with her background growing up in Georgia with no animals in the house. During high school we hear how she shadowed in an ER Vet on Sundays. Wanting to stay involved, Dr. Zolghardi shares how she made it a point to join a variety of club...

We are kicking off a new series, all about internships. Dr. Emily Tincher is the current Sr. Director of Pet Health at Nationwide Pet and our first guest of this series! We dive into all things internship related as she talks about the decision to take a year to invest in herself and do the internship, her priorities/criteria for matching. We discuss the ranking and matching process and how to neg...

This week’s episode of My Veterinary Life Podcasts features two very special guests. We are joined by Drs. Megan Skeffington and Christy Michael to talk about Artificial Intelligence. They both have the opportunity to follow this passion with their work at IDEXX. It is a great conversation focused on what artificial intelligence is and is not, opportunities to utilize AI in veterinary medicine and...

Buckle in as we chase passions with Beth Venit, VMD, MPH, DACVPM! As a late bloomer, we hear how she tried it all from park ranger, marine biologist, to veterinarian. She discusses her difficult decision to leave the ER practice she loved for a lifestyle shift, which led to an exploration of public policy work as a AAAS Fellow and at the US Department of State. Seeking new professional growth, she...

Cathy Santos, a student at Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, is our guest for this episode. We refer to her as “our Cathy” as she is a student extern with the membership division for the AVMA. She tells us the story of being saved by a terrier and how it has led her to become a veterinarian. She discusses being empowered to try new things during convention week, imposter syndrome,...

Our guest for this episode is one of the keynote speakers at the 2023 AVMA Convention. Mariana Atencio is a Peabody award-winning journalist, best-selling author, motivational speaker, and television host. She recaps her keynote speech and encourages us to walk in our power. We learn that there are parallels across all professions about thinking on your feet, being authentic and flipping the scrip...

Our special guest for this episode is Dr. Caleb Frankel, Founder/CEO of Instinct Science, ER Veterinarian, and Author/Speaker. We hear how he became passionate about emergency and critical care and how that led to an intense interest with the state of technology in vet med. From dumpster diving in the middle of the night to having a start-up in his basement, this episode addresses challenges and f...

This is our quarterly vet debt session and our guest is Dr. Elaina Petrone, DVM and owner at Long Branch Animal Hospital. As a graduate from the University of Pennsylvania in 2014, she is not shy about her debt. We hear how she accidentally started planning out the repayment road on a group date and now has an annual wellness exam for debt to help stay on track. We hear how important it was import...

In this episode we talk to Dr. Elliot Garber. He is a veterinarian, entrepreneur, author, public health practitioner, and Army officer. A Tuft's graduate with MPH and DVM, he received an Army scholarship so we talk about that experience and what life was like right after graduation. He discusses writing a novel, selling 2 businesses, and keeping a healthy appetite for risk. We hear how commenting...

Our guest for this episode is Theo Berlanga, current veterinarian student at the University of Illinois. We hear their moving story and all the ways to actively get involved with diversity, equity, and inclusion. Theo disucsses the importantance of sharing stories and making connections as well as the difference between malice and ignorance. We hope this episode inspires you as much as it inspires...

Claire Simeone, DVM, marine mammal veterinarian and founder of Sea Change Health is our guest for this episode. She recalls her childhood with supportive parents who watched TV with 6 mice-- yes six as an experiment! She tells us her fears of the emergency room and how she became involved in TED Talks. Climate change is a passion of hers, and we talk about each animal playing their role in our cli...

Our special guest for this episode is Dani Rabwin, DVM, the Founder/CEO of Ready, Vet, Go! We find out how she juggles clinical medicine, emergency medicine, and starting her mentorship company during the pandemic. We focus on the human side of vet med and how making connections and teaching tools can lead to a long, satisfying career. We wrap up with Dr. Rabwin sharing some brilliant advice that...

This episode we bring you some heavyweight guests: Latonia Craig, Ed. D. Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer at the AVMA, Brigette Dean-Hines, DVM, Kentucky State VMA President, Rebecca Stinson, DVM, AVMA Trust Student Services Manager, and Jennifer Quammen, DVM, AVMA Vice President. We learn about their outreach trip to Central High Magnet Career Academy in Louisville, KY where Muhamm...

Dr. Annie Chavent, DVM, MBA, gets put in the hot seat as a guest along with Dr. Lauren Rowe, DVM. We dive deep into their roles as Assistant Directors at the AVMA. We find out how they landed their roles at the AVMA and how they have transitioned from all online during COVID now to in-person school visits. We discuss clinical skills translating to the office, like triaging and effective communicat...

Our guest this episode is one of the trailblazers in the global food security arena, Shannon Mesenhowski, DVM, MPH. Her early career consisted of mixed animal practice in rural Oregon then corporate and private small animal practice in Minneapolis. She then pursued her discovered passion for international livestock work with the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Fellowship...

Our guest for this episode is Zach Tooley, DVM Candidate 2023, National Student AVMA President 2022-2023, and U.S. Army Vet Corps 2LT. He talks about his time on the Veterinary Leadership Conference (VLC) keynote panel and about his crucible story, from not planning to go to college to being close to graduating as DVM! We go over how he became SAVMA President and what it entails. We discuss the im...

Dr. Susan Little, feline medical expert, and Dr. Jolle Kirpenstein, veterinary surgeon, are the hosts of the PurrPodcast, and they join us for a special crossover episode! With a combined 10 years’ experience in podcasting, we talk about all things podcasts! We start off with an exploding toilet leading to starting a podcast, our favorite podcasts to listen to, and how our podcasts are a passion p...

Today we have a great conversation with Dr. Jeff Rothstein, President/Co-Founder of Mission Veterinary Partners (MVP). He talks about working at the Bronx Zoo in college, getting his MBA and DVM at the same time, and coming back home to Michigan after graduation. He touches on his path from private practice to corporate practice, with a vignette on franchising as well. We discuss the importance of...

In today's episode, we explore the diverse opportunities of vet med with our guest, Dr. Jennie Lane. As a Field Veterinarian with the One Health Institute at UC Davis, the Institute Director and Lead Coordinator of RX One Health Field Institute, and a member of the external advisory board for the Dept of Homeland Security Food, Agriculture, and Health Resilience Directorate, she has experienced ma...

Today's episode features a returning guest, Dr. Kara Escutia. Our focus todayis the importance of medical record keeping. This is crucial documentation for liability, malpractice issues and the state licensing board. She covers all the Do's and Don'ts of record keeping including documenting patient conditions, plans of care, checking for updates or changes in requirements for state law, and the ev...

Today's episode is an interesting conversation with Dr. Aaron Judson. We discussed how his interest in science and animals began in elementary school. His passion then took him to Vet School at Tuskegee where he was involved in the Student American Veterinary Medical Association. From there he spent time in private practice before settling into his current role as a captain in the US Army. The top...

This Episode is a fun one with Dr. Lindsey Hedges. Today we discussed things happening at the right time. Dr Hedges veterinary journey started at 16 as a vet assistant where she learned she loved client interactions. Throughout her career, she has spent time in organized veterinary medicine, especially enjoying her time with the IVMA Power of 10. She also became a practice owner and learned the im...

Today we discussed many of the different things you can do as a veterinarian. Dr. Julie Liu talks about having a portfolio career with multiple streams of income. She started off with a degree in English, went through vet school, started as a small animal practice and now lives in Austin and splits her time between a relief clinical work and freelance work such as speaking. She also speaks about t...

On today’s episode, Dr. Jon Geller shares his fascinating story of 20 years of emergency veterinary work to now focusing on public health and founding the Street Dog Coalition. The conversation discusses the power of storytelling, “shower thoughts,” and learning to jump in and make mistakes. We also share how powerful the human-animal bond is and how we can help even in small ways. We hope you enj...