Power of 10 Program

While I’m relatively new to holding a DVM degree, I’ve been working in various assistant and managerial roles in veterinary medicine since 2005. I graduated from Oregon State in 2019 and then spent part of my ER internship year and first years out in the middle of the new COVID era of practicing. Over the past 17 years, I’ve seen a variety of challenges and successes in vet med, but the recent pandemic challenges have been the toughest to navigate. There were already some deep chasms in our field that widened during the pandemic. I’ve watched as some colleagues and friends have gotten lost or struggled to see the other side. Even just a few years from my DVM, I’ve wondered if this is still the field for me.

With P10, I found a source of camaraderie (even when socially distanced), a source of invaluable information on best practices, risk management, financial skills, mental health tools for both practitioners and clients, diversity and inclusion training, forensics training, and many soft skills. Medicine, as teamwork-oriented as it is, can feel incredibly isolating. Practicing during the pandemic has been tough on everyone, but especially new doctors. P10 has shown me new ways to embody resilience and create new ways to advocate for myself, our patients, and our field without falling into those chasms.”

As a recent graduate and an east coast transplant in the midst of a pandemic, I felt I was lacking the connection and opportunities to connect with my fellow colleagues. The PVMA Power of 10 was a great platform to explore, shape, and build my  professional skill sets. It opened the door to many relationships and resources that the Portland veterinary community has to offer. I am very excited to welcome the incoming class. I look forward to sharing my experience and growing on the journey with them.

Facilitator 

PVMA Board Liaison

Facilitator 

Assistant Facilitator

Facilitator

Washington State University CVM, 2013

There is a sad sense of disenchantment among young veterinarians. For many of us, the career is not turning out to be what we expected, we are less engaged, feel less satisfied and less hopeful than we were when preparing to do this work. We can accept the realities and trudge on, or we can get involved and use our voice to transform our field. The PVMA Power of 10 Program is a platform for our voices and can allow us to make change on a very local level. The program provides much needed community, exposes its participants to innovative ideas and allows for skill development, reflection and insight. At the very least it supports the lives and careers of young veterinarians and at its most it could be a vehicle for a revolution in the Portland Veterinary community! I deeply appreciated being part of the inaugural P-10 class and am honored to be able to come back this year as a facilitator. I look forward to meeting you all and hearing your perspectives and vision for our wonderful profession.

Facilitator, UC Davis CVM, 2011

In all honesty, I struggled in veterinary school. A type-B extrovert living in a type-A introvert’s world. I never felt like the “average” veterinary student, having pursued marine biology, not veterinary medicine, from age 8-23. Beyond my unique past, I felt too sensitive, too deeply affected by the way students were treated by faculty and residents, and unsure of what to do other than put my head down and miserably forge on. I thought it was just me, but then I graduated and started to hear about the suicide rate in our field, read about prominent, seemingly successful veterinary figures taking their own lives, heard some of my best friends talk about how soon they could leave the profession if they just paid off their student loans. Slowly, I realized how everyone was affected by our training, the stresses of practice, the disillusionment of reality as a veterinarian, it wasn’t just me. Our profession suffers from deep-seated, systemic issues that may take decades to change, but it is our obligation is to support each other, now. Building community, creating spaces to speak openly about challenges and emotions, respecting our peers in the career decisions they make, and generally being kind to one another. I initially saw the P10 program as an incredible opportunity to forge connections in the local veterinary community, to which I’m relatively new. And after completing the program, I have the new connections I expected, but what I didn’t anticipate is the potential in our synergy moving forward, as we build a P10 alumni group and begin accepting applications for the next class of P10. I am so excited to see what this group can do as we work together!