Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI)

Women's History Month: The First Women Diplomates of the ��TV

megan — Mon, 11 Mar 2024 17:13:15 +0000

Women's History Month: The First Women Diplomates of the ��TV megan Mon, 11 Mar 2024 - 10:13

Lea Stogdale, DVM, D��TV (SAIM) | Dr. Lea Stogdale became a Board-Certified Small Animal Internal Medicine Specialist in 1981 and has worked in emergency and private practice for over 25 years.

"There was prejudice against the 'girl' vet in dairy practice but that was soon overcome by competence. When I graduated in Australia, women made up about 10% of graduates. Now its certainly over 50%, and people are oblivious to the gender of their professionals."

Wendy E. Vaala, VMD, D��TV (LAIM) | Dr. Wendy Vaala became a Board-Certified Large Animal Internal Medicine Specialist in 1988. She currently works at Merck as the director of strategic development and innovation.

"I think the door has opened regarding gender demographics within our profession as a whole and within internal medicine. I would like to see a focus on salary gender equity, identify where and why the biggest discrepancies occur, and support programs actively creating game-plans for work schedules for female veterinarians with young children."

Rebecca Gompf, DVM, MS, D��TV (Cardiology) | Dr. Rebecca Gompf Harris became a Board-Certified Veterinary Cardiologist in 1988 and received her Bachelor's, Master’s, and DVM Degrees from The Ohio State University.

"The profession has come a long way as more women have graduated and specialized in cardiology. Women bring a different perspective to the practice of cardiology and I feel we have shown that women can have a family and be a specialist, especially in private practice."

Women's History Month Spotlight: Wendy Vaala, VMD, D��TV (LAIM)

megan — Mon, 11 Mar 2024 16:33:38 +0000

Women's History Month Spotlight: Wendy Vaala, VMD, D��TV (LAIM) megan Mon, 11 Mar 2024 - 09:33

I think the door has opened regarding gender demographics within our profession as a whole and within internal medicine. I would also like to see a focus on salary gender equity.
”

What inspired you to pursue a career in veterinary medicine, particularly in specialty medicine
Bedtime stories! My mom read me stories by Thornton Burgess (a conservationist and author of children's books). In his animal-themed stories all the critters had names and personalities. I grew up feeling at-home around animals - domestic and wild. Probably where my strong empathetic side emerged. My love of biology and science seamlessly channeled me to veterinary medicine. In 5th grade I toured New Bolton Center (LA hospital of Penn Vet School) and became committed to vet medicine with a focus on horses. As a high school senior project I spent 5 weeks shadowing vet students at New Bolton Center. To this day I remember all the details - the faces and names of those students, interns, residents and clinicians I met. So many of those became famous specialists in their fields of medicine, surgery and reproduction. While in vet school I recognized that I was more interested in internal medicine - the diagnostic challenges, identifying the therapeutic options, and willing to take on the acute as well as the chronic cases. An internal medicine specialty was a no-brainier for me.

Describe your experience in veterinary medicine as one of the early women veterinary specialists.
I always felt at home within the ��TV - welcomed and supported without regard to gender by my peers and accepted by referring veterinarians and their clients. Establishing a relationship-building communication and respect with referring veterinarians, their clients and the specialist is essential. The medicine department at New Bolton Center, University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, was very supportive of my drive to develop an equine neonatal ICU and later a high-risk pregnancy program for mares. My early career memories are some of the best!

What initiatives would you like to see implemented in the veterinary profession to further increase representation for women veterinarians/specialists?
I think the door has opened regarding gender demographics within our profession as a whole and within internal medicine. I would also like to see a focus on salary gender equity, identify where and why the biggest discrepancies occur, and support programs actively creating game-plans for work schedules for female veterinarians with young children. The American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) has some great resources for equine vets addressing the 24/7 emergency dilemma. More business courses for vets to help us understand how to market our internal medicine expertise.

What advice would you give to women who are aspiring to pursue a career in veterinary medicine/specialty medicine?
Go for it! Internists are the core of a practice. We deal with the medical emergencies as well as the chronic care cases and the challenging medical enigmas. Internists can network easily with other specialists to provide bridging care for cardiac, dermatologic, oncologic, ophthalmic etc, cases. The internist is the lynchpin!

Women's History Month Spotlight: Rebecca Gompf, DVM, MS, D��TV (Cardiology)

megan — Mon, 11 Mar 2024 16:19:57 +0000

Women's History Month Spotlight: Rebecca Gompf, DVM, MS, D��TV (Cardiology) megan Mon, 11 Mar 2024 - 09:19

The profession has come a long way as more women have graduated and specialized in cardiology. Women bring a different perspective to the practice of cardiology and I feel we have shown that women can have a family and be a specialist, especially in private practice.
”

What inspired you to pursue a career in veterinary medicine, particularly in specialty medicine?
I knew since I was in fifth grade that I wanted to be a veterinarian. After I got into veterinary school, I did a masters along with my DVM with Dr. Bob Hamlin and the project was in cardiology. After an internship at AMC where I did a project with Dr. Larry Tilley, another cardiologist, I obtained a cardiology residency at UC Davis with Drs. Gary Bolton (on sabbatical there), Steve Ettinger (came over to do work with cardiology), Bill Thomas, and Ed Rhode plus Dr. Peter Suter in radiology.

Describe your experience in veterinary medicine as one of the early women veterinary specialists.
An intern classmate of mine, Dr. Betsy Bond, and I were the first women to become board certified in cardiology. When Lee and Inga Pyle took over running the ��TV office, I became secretary of cardiology which was a position I held for 30 years. The other male cardiologists treated me well and I became friends with many of them and enjoyed seeing everyone at the meetings. I felt especially close to new Diplomates as I helped them as secretary.

What initiatives would you like to see implemented in the veterinary profession to further increase representation for women veterinarians/specialists?
We need affordable daycare for students, interns and residents. Daycare on site of the veterinary school would be the best solution. We also need loan forgiveness or to go back to the system where student loans do not have to be paid off until after the residency is completed and no interest is accrued during the internship and residency. Right now our residents cannot afford to work in a university unless they are single or have a partner that can pay all the bills. This is not good for the future of the profession and something needs to change, especially as more veterinary schools are being built.

How do you think that the veterinary profession has evolved for women since you became a Diplomate?
Since there were only 18 women in my veterinary class of 120 people and Betsy and I were the only women cardiologists for several years. The profession has come a long way as more women have graduated and specialized in cardiology. Women bring a different perspective to the practice of cardiology and I feel we have shown that women can have a family and be a specialist, especially in private practice.

Women's History Month Spotlight: Lea Stogdale, DVM, D��TV (SAIM)

megan — Mon, 11 Mar 2024 15:56:12 +0000

Women's History Month Spotlight: Lea Stogdale, DVM, D��TV (SAIM) megan Mon, 11 Mar 2024 - 08:56

When I graduated in Australia, woman made up about 10% of graduates. Now its certainly over 50%, and people are more oblivious to the gender of their professionals.
”

What inspired you to pursue a career in veterinary medicine, particularly in specialty medicine?
When I initially thought about veterinary medicine as a career, at about age 15, it was to "feed the world." Predictably, that didn't happen. I traveled, worked in small animal practices in England, and moved to South Africa, where I was appointed as an assistant professor in the Department of Medicine. I had had no special training, no advanced degrees and knew only a little small animal medicine. The students, my colleagues, books, Babesia and Ehlichia enabled me to climb the steep learning curve rapidly. At the same time I embarked on a Master's degree in veterinary medicine. On arriving in Canada in 1980, three weeks later I traveled to Washington D.C. to sit the General exam. One year later, the Specialty exam. No time for studying, but due to my experience in South Africa, I passed.

Describe your experience in veterinary medicine as one of the early women veterinary specialists.
I have only occasionally experienced prejudice, either as a female, an Australian, or, now, as a senior. University of Melbourne School of Veterinary Medicine was blessed with having Dr. Doug Blood as its dean. He had five daughters; he did not tolerate any sexism. And that was in the sixties in Australia. When I graduated in Australia, women made up about 10% of graduates. Now its certainly over 50%, and people are more oblivious to the gender of their professionals.

How do you think that the veterinary profession has evolved for women since you became a Diplomate?
Becoming a veterinarian and a specialist has enabled me to work and live in a number of countries, to pursue various aspects of my profession, to enjoy a wonderful and fulfilled life, and to relish my senior years: I'm financially comfortable, active both physically and intellectually, and I'm having fun.

Puerto Rican Internist hopes visibility can inspire increased diversity in veterinary specialty medicine

mjbarbick — Tue, 20 Sep 2022 18:48:36 +0000

Puerto Rican Internist hopes visibility can inspire increased diversity in veterinary specialty medicine mjbarbick Tue, 20 Sep 2022 - 11:48

Photo credit: Karen Clifford, Multimedia Specialist, University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine

While growing up helping her parents at their veterinary clinic in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, it didn’t take long for Aida Vientós-Plotts, DVM, PhD, D��TV (SAIM) to fall in love with veterinary medicine.

“My father is a veterinarian and my mother is a veterinary technician,” Dr. Vientós-Plotts says. “I was lucky enough to be able to do every single job in a veterinary clinic, including cleaning cages, answering phones, assisting in surgery…you name it, I did it.”

While this early exposure to all things veterinary medicine may have made her future career choice easier, it also filled her with an insatiable curiosity and desire to do more.

“Deep down, I knew I wanted to do more than general practice,” Dr. Vientós-Plotts explains. “I wanted to have the time to dive in and be able to understand the details of behind what was happening to the patients.”

I was diagnosed with ADHD while in veterinary school. I had done the best I could to adapt up until then.

After completing high school in Puerto Rico, Dr. Vientós-Plotts attended veterinary school at Tuskegee University in Alabama. Towards the end of her second year, she realized that her love for complex case management and the need for a deeper understanding of physiology was pointing her toward specialization in internal medicine.

This pull towards internal medicine also inspired Dr. Vientós-Plotts to help establish an ��TV Student Chapter at Tuskegee, which led to her and fellow chapter members attending their first ��TV Forum.

2 Photo credit: Karen Clifford, Multimedia Specialist, University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine

"I distinctly remember attending a Q&A panel for aspiring specialists, as well as other sessions at the ��TV Forum that were geared towards students,” Dr. Vientós-Plotts recalls. “Being at the ��TV Forum as a student gave me the opportunity to see myself where they were one day.”

After earning her DVM from Tuskegee and with her sights set on becoming an Internist, Dr. Vientós-Plotts went on to complete a rotating internship at Auburn University, followed by a small animal internal medicine residency and eventually a PhD at the University of Missouri. While experiencing these successes, Dr. Vientós-Plotts says that she was also facing significant challenges and setbacks that were less obvious.

“I was diagnosed with ADHD while in veterinary school. I had done the best I could to adapt up until then,” she recalls. “But veterinary school, and then residency presented me with new challenges.”

The most significant of these challenges was not passing her exams to become a Board-certified Internist the first time she attempted them. Dr. Vientós-Plotts says that prior to this, she’d never truly considered the possibility of failure.

Having the opportunity to talk and get advice from people who are where you want to be is invaluable.

“Many of us are type A overachievers,” Dr. Vientós-Plotts says of people in specialty medicine. “Failure is not something that many people talk about.”

That’s why Dr. Vientós-Plotts says that having a support network of mentors who have faced similar challenges is vitally important, especially for minorities and those who identify as neurodiverse.

“I was surprised to learn that other people that I had looked up to had also faced challenges in their career, and that failing the exam didn’t mean I was a bad doctor, or that I wasn’t smart enough or good enough,” she explains. “It was just another obstacle I had to overcome.”

3 Dr. Vientós-Plotts at work.

With the support of her family, a counselor and her mentors, Dr. Vientós-Plotts retook the exams and passed the following year. Now an assistant professor of Small Animal Internal Medicine at the University of Missouri, Dr. Vientós-Plotts makes sure to tell her students and trainees that there is no shame in failing. She also hopes to provide an example for underrepresented students – the kind of example she would have liked to have when she was in their shoes.

“While I have had the privilege of finding amazing mentors along the way, I didn’t know of another Puerto Rican small animal internist in academia that I could look up to,” Dr. Vientós-Plotts says of her time as a student. “I still don’t.”

Her best advice for underrepresented communities and particularly aspiring Latinx veterinarians or specialists is to “network, network, network.”

“Having the opportunity to talk and get advice from people who are where you want to be is invaluable,” Dr. Vientós-Plotts says. “Now there are many more resources like the Latinx VMA or the Multicultural VMA that have directories, panels, scholarships and opportunities to meet potential mentors.”

Within the ��TV, Dr. Vientós-Plotts believes establishing a group dedicated to the discussion of these issues and potential solutions will be central to making real change within the college and the profession as a whole.

“The creation of the ��TV Diversity, Equality and Inclusion (DEI) Committee and a strategic DEI plan is a good start,” she says. “But my hope is that it doesn’t stop there.”

4 Dr. Aida Vientós-Plotts with Veterinarians for Puerto Rico co-founder Willie Bidot, DVM, MPH, MS, DACLAM

While Dr. Vientós-Plotts no longer resides in Puerto Rico, being able to give back to her profession at home has always been important to her. After Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico in 2017, she and a fellow resident at the University of Missouri co-founded Veterinarians for Puerto Rico, a non-profit organization that aims to improve the lives of dogs and cats on the island through spay and neuter efforts. Since its inception, Veterinarians for Puerto Rico has facilitated over 15,000 spay/neuters and vaccinated close to 20,000 dogs and cats.

“More recently we’ve been concentrating on working with government offices, local rescue organizations, shelters, veterinarians and technicians to coordinate smaller but more frequent TNR (trap, neuter, release) clinics,” Dr. Vientós-Plotts says. “We also help provide more training for local veterinary professionals so that the work may continue for years to come.”

This summer, Vientós-Plotts returned home to speak at the Colegio de Médicos Veterinarios de Puerto Rico's annual conference. There, she helped provide two days of continuing education on respiratory medicine for local veterinarians and technicians.

I often joke and say that I am a little bit of a unicorn. But I hope that someday, that is not the case and there are many others like me.

“It an incredibly rewarding, full circle moment for me, to be able to go back to home and share some of the knowledge I’ve gained so far with my colleagues in Puerto Rico,” Vientós-Plotts says. “To make the experience even more special, attendees included my parents, and many other veterinarians and technicians that have known me since I was a child.”

5 Dr. Vientós-Plotts and family.

Somehow, between her work in Puerto Rico and her job at the University of Missouri, Dr. Vientós-Plotts also dedicates time to raising a family. A wife and mother of two young children, she works hard to balance all areas of her busy life as best as she can, while trying to be an example for other young women.

“I am a neurodiverse, underrepresented minority woman in specialty medicine at an academic institution,” she says. “I often joke and say that I am a little bit of a unicorn. But I hope that someday, that is not the case and there are many others like me... my career is just getting started, so I am excited to see what lies ahead.”

Despite the challenges and setbacks she experienced, Dr. Vientós-Plotts says that determination and help from others along the way helped see her through it all.

“I didn’t do it alone,” she says. “I had support from my husband, my family, my coworkers and all my mentors. All of this to say that it wasn’t a straight road getting here, but I hope my story helps other aspiring veterinarians and specialists to know that with hard work, determination and a supportive network they can do it too.”

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AAPI Heritage Month: Spotlight on the AAVMP

mjbarbick — Thu, 12 May 2022 18:01:50 +0000

AAPI Heritage Month: Spotlight on the AAVMP mjbarbick Thu, 12 May 2022 - 11:01

Can you tell us a bit about the mission and goals of the AAVMP?

The AAVMP was founded by two veterinary students, Hira Basit and Stephanie Kuo, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Our founders created the organization with the goal in mind to highlight all underrepresented veterinary medical professionals, particularly those of Asian descent.

The AAVMP is currently two years out from our founding date, and our mission of building a community for Asian veterinary medical professionals worldwide remains the same. As an organization, we want to continue to inspire, empower, and support our members through continual mentorship, scholarship, and educational opportunities.

Currently, the AAVMP has 14 student chapters at AVMA-accredited veterinary schools, over 2,000 followers on Instagram, and members in 7 countries worldwide. We hope that through this organization, we can learn, share, and connect with all AAPI veterinary professionals across the globe. In addition, the AAVMP works alongside other DEI organizations as we seek a more diverse veterinary medicine profession.

What would you like to see organizations like the ��TV do to support and recognize AAPI individuals in veterinary specialty medicine?

As a current ��TV Candidate, I have directly experienced the competitiveness that is associated with matching into a residency program. Through the AAVMP, I have met and become friends with several Asian veterinary colleagues, mostly international veterinarians. A common struggle that I’ve heard from my Asian colleagues is the difficulty of obtaining a Visa when trying to advance their education through United States internship and residency programs. I hope that one day we can provide more support for our international veterinarians by supplying them with more opportunities and resources to overcome the hurdles of acquiring specialty Board-certification.

...

Learn more about the AAVMP and get involved at AAVMP.org. You can also keep up with the AAVMP on their Facebook, Instagram and Linkedin accounts.

Dr. Kelly Hicks

"I am a first-year medical oncology resident at Oregon State University. I am a multiracial, Filipino-American and currently the Visual Communications Director for the Association of Asian Veterinary Medical Professionals (AAVMP). My role through the AAVMP involves managing and creating visual content for all of our social media accounts. My interests include hiking and traveling in my free time."

��TV Diplomate’s work to compile timeline of Black members illustrates deficit

mjbarbick — Wed, 23 Feb 2022 19:09:42 +0000

��TV Diplomate’s work to compile timeline of Black members illustrates deficit mjbarbick Wed, 23 Feb 2022 - 12:09

There aren’t that many Black specialists. I learned that Dr. Mears was maybe fourth or fifth in the order of boarding in 1996, and I was maybe ninth or tenth, and I was boarded in 2006.
”

In January, Coretta Patterson, DVM, D��TV (SAIM), began thinking of ways she could recognize Dr. Erick Mears – a fellow small animal internal medicine Diplomate and colleague at BluePearl – for Black History Month.

“We had similar mentors,” Dr. Patterson says of herself and Dr. Mears. “We had similar focal points in our lives, so it started as a way for BluePearl to honor one of their own.”

Dr. Patterson reached out to Marian Tuin, Membership Manager at the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (��TV), to help determine when Dr. Mears became Board-certified. Dr. Patterson also was interested in knowing Dr. Mears’ position in the overall timeline of Black specialists Board-certified by the ��TV.

“I figured that Dr. Mears was probably in the single digits in terms of Black Internists,” Dr. Patterson says, explaining she believed Dr. Mears to be one of the first Board-certified small animal internal medicine specialists in the history of the ��TV.

As they exchanged emails, Tuin shared that the ��TV has not historically collected racial demographic information from its members and, thus, could not determine Dr. Mears’ place in the college’s history of Black Diplomates.

“That is sort of how I got started on this whole thing,” Dr. Patterson says.

What started as a way to recognize her colleague became a complete timeline of Black ��TV members that Dr. Patterson took upon herself to compile. She explains that she sees the project as both an important historical record and a way to honor the college’s Black members.

Since the ��TV does not record racial demographics but does record its members’ boarding dates, Dr. Patterson began by compiling a list of names, passing them on to Tuin to confirm their date of certification.

“It is basically just me going through my phone and talking to other people,” Dr. Patterson says of her process. Without official records to work from, the effort has involved her reaching out to colleagues, acquaintances and former mentors. What Dr. Patterson has discovered so far has confirmed what she initially knew to be true.

“There aren’t that many Black specialists,” she says. “I learned that Dr. Mears was maybe fourth or fifth in the order of boarding in 1996, and I was maybe ninth or tenth, and I was boarded in 2006.”

Of the discovery, Dr. Patterson explains that she has mixed feelings. “It was cool, but also sad to see so few Black members, with the [��TV] being as old as it is.”

Statistics from the US Census Bureau, the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC) and the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) show that veterinary medicine is among the least racially and ethnically diverse professions in the United States, with Black men and women making up somewhere between 1-2% of all veterinarians. Additionally, 2018-2019 data from the AAVMC shows that only 2.1% of veterinary school applicants were Black. When it comes to specialty veterinary medicine, as Dr. Patterson discovered in her search, the data is less readily available.

Sarita Miles, DVM, MS, D��TV (Neurology) is one of the members on Dr. Patterson’s list, as well as a colleague at BluePearl. Boarded in neurology in 2012, Dr. Miles attributes much of her personal career success to having a caring and involved Black mentor in the field who helped guide her through a “predominantly white, racially exclusive” veterinary program. She also says she would have benefitted from access to other Black veterinary students and professionals and sees Dr. Patterson’s project as an opportunity for Black ��TV Diplomates to come together and share their unique experiences.

“It is most important to have access to as many resources as possible when considering furthering our education,” Dr. Miles says. “Providing a list of Black ��TV Diplomates can only help with this, but can also help those of us who are colleagues network with one another about employment opportunities, experiences and ‘coping’ with the unfortunate norm of dealing with microaggressions and other problems uniquely faced by BIPOC.”

“Recording racial demographics provides goals and inspiration for minorities in this country who are interested in veterinary medicine as a career. It is especially important in this time when there is a concerted politically-motivated effort to pretend that racial prejudice does not exist and that criticism of racism should be banned.”

David McKenzie, DVM, MPH, PhD, D��TV (LAIM), is one of the few Black Diplomates and even fewer non-white specialists in large animal internal medicine. He also views Dr. Patterson’s project as being “vitally important” in a profession with so little diversity.

“Recording racial demographics provides goals and inspiration for minorities in this country who are interested in veterinary medicine as a career,” Dr. McKenzie explains. “It is especially important in this time when there is a concerted politically-motivated effort to pretend that racial prejudice does not exist and that criticism of racism should be banned."

As a professor at Alabama’s Tuskegee University, Dr. McKenzie has made an effort over the years to collect information on the college’s veterinary school graduates – not all of whom are Black – who have gone on to achieve Board-certification. Tuskegee is the only historically Black university with a veterinary college, with an estimated 70% of Black graduates of veterinary medicine in the United States having come from the program.

One of these Tuskegee graduates is Aja Harvey, DVM, D��TV (LAIM), a student of Dr. McKenzie’s whom he believes to be only the eighth Black Large Animal Internal Medicine Specialist ever. When she was informed of the list of Black ��TV members, Dr. Harvey said she sees it as an opportunity for connection and mentoring.

“I hope that it will provide representation and a chance for mentoring upcoming veterinary students of color who wish to pursue board-certification down the road,” Dr. Harvey says. “That is an opportunity that I would have loved to have, had it existed at the time of my schooling.”

A small group of Black ��TV Diplomates and Candidates came together for an informal luncheon during the 2017 ��TV Forum conference. Back row left to right: Dr. Lauren Dodd, Dr. Christine Jenkins, Dr. Jody Lulich, Dr. Coretta Patterson, Dr. Sarah Waithe, Dr. Melissa Moya, Dr. Aja Harvey, Dr. Pamela Martin. Front row left to right: Sharon Costello, Dr. Carla Gartell, Dr. Forest Cummings, Dr. Sarita Miles, Dr. John Goodwin. Photo courtesy of Dr. Coretta Patterson.

When her timeline is complete, Dr. Patterson plans to present it during a meeting hosted by BluePearl between the Multicultural Veterinary Medical Association (MVMA) and the National Association for Black Veterinarians (NABV). While this meeting is still in the planning phases, Dr. Patterson is hopeful that it will help to kickstart ongoing collaboration between the two groups.

“The goal is to give these two organizations, who are kind of doing very similar things but not operating together, a meeting place hosted by one of the largest employers of veterinary professionals in North America. We want to help facilitate a conversation.”

Dr. Patterson looks forward to sharing her timeline during this meeting, seeing it as both an interesting historical piece and something that will help contextualize and inform plans to increase diversity in the profession going forward.

Within the ��TV, Dr. Patterson’s project highlights the importance of recording the diversity of its membership, which includes over 3,000 individuals in the United States and beyond. The organization plans to begin offering members the opportunity to provide expanded demographic information – including race – for Diplomates to share voluntarily. The ��TV’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Linda Fineman, says that she hopes this effort will help the organization better recognize and acknowledge the various identities of its members.

“We are looking forward to starting our work with a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) consulting group this month,” Dr. Fineman said in February. “They will guide our strategy around creating opportunities and supporting a more diverse membership, while also building an intentionally inclusive culture.”

For Black members like Drs. Harvey, Miles and McKenzie, this effort by the ��TV is a move in the right direction. While still acknowledging that “increasing diversity does not and will not happen overnight,” as Dr. Harvey says, recognizing the lack of diversity in the college and taking steps to find solutions is how the important work will begin.

“The main help would be to create a specific group of individuals who can work together to encourage, support and help guide BIPOC through the process and preparation of what it is truly like to not only matriculate through vet school, but to be fully aware of the complexities that are unique to practicing in this field where we are constantly at a disadvantage in many ways."

“In my time as a veterinarian, I believe the ��TV has made considerable progress toward attracting minorities to internal medicine specialties,” Dr. McKenzie says. “When I first started attending the ��TV Forum in 1996, I did not see any other people of color. They may have been there, but their numbers were so small as to be almost invisible. We are a lot more visible now, and with this initiative, our visibility should only increase.”

Dr. Miles is also hopeful, while still remaining reserved in her expectations of how long it will take the profession to truly improve for aspiring and existing Black specialists.

“The main help would be to create a specific group of individuals who can work together to encourage, support and help guide BIPOC through the process and preparation of what it is truly like to not only matriculate through vet school, but to be fully aware of the complexities that are unique to practicing in this field where we are constantly at a disadvantage in many ways,” Dr. Miles says. “I am hopeful that someday these circumstances will change –- I am just not optimistic that it will happen in my lifetime.”

On the point of more support, resources and action being needed from veterinary organizations like the ��TV, both Drs. Miles and McKenzie agreed.

“It is vital that we promote inclusion and recognition of differences,” Dr. McKenzie says. “We will have to learn to celebrate and support our differences if we are to survive as a profession in an increasingly diverse country.”

…

If you would like to contact Dr. Patterson in regards to her project, please reach out to Membership@��TV.org.

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References:

An overdue awakening: Addressing systemic racism in veterinary medicine

AVMA Diversity Report

Pet Owners Are Diverse, but Veterinarians Are Overwhelmingly White. Black Veterinarians Want to Change That

2019 AAVMC Annual Data Report

Veterinary diversity at a historically black college

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI)

Women's History Month: The First Women Diplomates of the ����TV

Women's History Month Spotlight: Wendy Vaala, VMD, D����TV (LAIM)

Women's History Month Spotlight: Rebecca Gompf, DVM, MS, D����TV (Cardiology)

Women's History Month Spotlight: Lea Stogdale, DVM, D����TV (SAIM)