My Veterinary Life

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

“I also think reflecting on asking yourself the question ‘When I’m healthy, when I feel, when I feel good, when I feel like I’m thriving, how do I know? What does that look like for me?” Our guest today is Dr Jen Brandt. Dr. Brandt is the Director of member wellbeing at the AVMA. She has PhD in social work and is a licensed clinical social worker. This is not her first time on the show! Be sure to check out her episode from March 2020 where we discuss Wellbeing tips during a pandemic and December 2020 where we discuss wellbeing during the holidays. Today we are continuing our series of welcoming the class of 2021 to the veterinary profession. Our main focus is on wellbeing during times of change. This really could apply to many different areas of your life and it is packed full of great advice. We are so excited to share this episode and are excited to continue 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

“What makes a great team? The first one is trust. And trust is really important and trust is not something that is given by default and I think for the associate veterinarian and newer grads, you’re going to walk into a new practice and probably be really nervous about your first day and may have some distrust starting out from the bat and that is totally human.” Our guest today is David Liss. David is a certified veterinary technician and double boarded in emergency and critical as well as small animal internal medicine. He is also a certified veterinary practice manager. In addition to his clinical responsibilities, he is also an author, educator, speaker, and award winner! He joins us in the second part of our April series welcoming the class of 2021 to the profession. Today’s focus is teamwork. How to build trust and join a team as the newest member. Even if you aren’t a 2021 graduate there is a TON of great information and advice in this episode. We are so excited to share this conversation with you! Re

“So I think for me what was most challenging after graduation was the leadership role that I was thrown into and having to lead a team on day one or day 7.” Our guest today is Dr. Tierra Price. This is the second time Dr. Price has been on the show. In her first episode, we talked about her move across country to start a job in community practice just after graduation. Today, we are kicking off our mini-series focused on welcoming the class of 2021 to the profession. The topic at hand is the transition from student to veterinarian and what lessons Dr. Price has learned along the way. We cover everything from developing your community to setting boundaries and even debate chocolate chip vs raisin cookies. We promise, there is something in this episode for everyone, even if you aren’t a 2021 graduate. It’s a great 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 and review. You can

“COVID clinics is an experience in and of itself, honestly. Every school handled it a little bit differently and I think at the end of the day one of the biggest priorities for a lot schools were making sure students were getting the hands-on experience they needed. It’s still looming in our brains of are we prepared to go out into the workforce?” Our guest today is Marie Bucko. Marie is a currently a fourth-year student at the Universality of Wisconsin’s College of Veterinary Medicine. She is also the immediate past president of SAVMA. She shares with us what the last 12 months were like for her and the challenges she faced as current SAVMA president almost from day 1. Marie also talks about her road to vet school, which wasn’t a straight-line and how the twists and turns showed her new areas of veterinary medicine. It’s such a fun and insightful 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

“Also, for new graduates, remember, we’re not finished veterinarians when we come out of veterinary school. The things that I knew back then and the things that I know now, it’s a continual path that we’re on learning and I think that’s what keeps us engaged in our profession the whole time.” Our guest today is Dr. Doug Kratt. Some of you may already know Dr. Kratt. He is the current president of the AVMA. He shares his reflections and lessons learned from the past 12 months. We also chat a little bit about his road to becoming AVMA president. It’s an awesome conversation and we can’t wait to share this 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