Is the Profession Too White?

   From The Vet Gazette Editors: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not reflect the official opinions of SAVMA or The Vet Gazette.       

Leo Holguin, Western

Op-Ed submission

            Veterinary Medicine is the whitest profession in the United States. While the US population is experiencing a dramatic demographic change, the profession’s demographics have remained the same for the past 20 years. Can a profession who does not reflect the general population effectively serve its community?

The United States population is experiencing a rapid change in its ethnic makeup. Based on the Pew Research Center, it is estimated that by 2040 people of color will comprise more than half of the US population. Yet, while US demographics are changing, the phenotype of the veterinary profession remains unchanged. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, approximately 96% of all practicing veterinarians and 88% of all veterinary students are White. 96% are White. But, you may be asking yourself, why care. In order for the veterinary profession to address the needs of its clients and fulfill its mission of serving all of society and all animals to the best advantage, it must embrace diversity!

            A plethora of theories have risen in attempts to explain the lack of diversity within the profession. Unfortunately, those theories have been proposed by the very leaders of the profession: older white men who have adopted preconceived notions of race and gender. One theory claims that

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Symposium Success!!

Samantha Gerb, Ross University

Experiences, Entry          

            I've always known that I wanted to be a veterinarian. As I got older and started researching the profession I quickly realized that I had a variety of options with a DVM. When I finally came to veterinary school, at Ross University, I became overwhelmed with the plethora of careers I could have. I knew I wanted to be a vet, but I didn't know what kind. Did I want to be a small animal practicing vet? Go into research? Teach? I was completely lost.

            Studying quickly occupied my time and I put career options on the back burner. Then, I got an email encouraging me to attend the 2014 SAVMA Symposium in Colorado. Although at the time I was only in my first semester, I was instantly excited and wanted to go to the symposium. At the time I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I figured it would at least give me a study break and an opportunity to make new friends.

            A couple months later I arrived in Colorado, along with roughly 20 other Ross students. We were all excited and freezing. We were talking about what lectures we wanted to attend, what wet labs we signed up for, and how excited we were to there in general. As I got caught up in all the excitement I thought, “here is the perfect place to figure out what I want to do for the rest of my life”.

            I set out the first day of the symposium to gather as much information as possible from as many different people as possible about all the different careers in veterinary medicine. I talked to veterinarians that owned their own practice, to professionals who worked in the pet insurance industry, and people who were in research and development. I was able to sample a little bit of everything.

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"Cotton"

Kelsey Daroca, Louisiana State University

Creative Corner, Entry

Medium: Conte crayons/pastels on paper

"GoldFish" the Pet Rock

Janel Wong, Western University

Creative Corner, Entry

Medium: Oil on rock

Scream. Pause. Jump.

Merry Kroeger, Texas A&M University

Life as a Vet Student, Entry

Over the course of my last 2 years, I have made some fond memories in veterinary school. During my second semester as a first year student, I had to take 6 hours of large animal anatomy. We were put into groups of 6 to 7 per cadaver horse for lab. One of my newest friends, Ashley, was put in my lab group. All semester we had a blast dissecting our horse. On one occasion, I had wandered over to look at some radiographs on the wall of the equine limb, and Ashley came up behind and scared me. It surprised me so much I screamed, and then jumped. I think a majority of the lab heard my racket because when I turned around to see who had scared me, not only was Ashley there laughing, but half the lab was looking my way. They were probably wondering why I had screamed and why Ashley was laughing. I have never be so scared out of my wits like I had that day. And to this day, Ashley still teases me about the pause between when I screamed and when I jumped, because in her head, she cannot understand why a person would jump AFTER they screamed, instead of screaming and jumping at the same time! I guess I am a bit unusual.

A fond memory during first year was Hawaiian Friday. One of our microbiology professors had a routine of dressing every Friday in a Hawaiian shirt, shorts and sandals. Not kidding. And so, one of my classmates had the clever idea of emailing the entire class and coordinating a Friday in which we would wear Hawaiian shirts in spirit of Dr. Musser's Hawaiian Friday. This resulted in about 20-30 students showing up for Friday classes in Hawaiian shirts and making Dr. Musser gleefully excited. Our class historian recruited some of the students to stay after class and pose for a picture with Dr. Musser as a capturing memory of a fun day.

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