EXTERNS ON THE HILL

Submitted by Jacey Cerda, Colorado State University (AVMA Government Relations Division extern)

Multi-talented People

As we walked to an Irish pub a couple of blocks away from the U.S. Capital, Dr. Lindsey Hornickel (a veterinarian and an assistant director with the AVMA’s Government Relations Division [GRD]) talked to me about the purpose of our evening event. At least three members of Congress were likely to be present, and it was our mission to build a relationship with those members and their staff as representatives of the veterinary community. There are several bills immensely important to the veterinary field currently pending before Congress, and it is imperative for members of Congress to meet with veterinarians and veterinary students, like me, to understand our position on those issues; otherwise, our voices are lost in the cacophony of other interested parties whose positions may be detrimental to our profession.  

As we were directed to where the event was happening, I was picturing a large hall full of people speaking to each other in a strict, formal manner. I was wrong. We entered a small room bedecked in dark brown mahogany with less than 30 people present. After just a few minutes of mingling, a member of Congress thanked us all for being there, grabbed his guitar, and proceeded to sing two of his own original songs. Other representatives followed suit on the piano and bongo drums. 

After they played a few more songs, we were able to complete our mission and have positive conversations about veterinary medicine with the members of Congress and their staff. This experience provides a great example of what it is like to be a veterinary student extern with AVMA’s GRD. Veterinarians and veterinary students, like the members of Congress, are multi-talented, and they can use their skillsets to have a positive influence in so many ways. 

In only two weeks, I have met with veterinarians across the U.S. government who work on international wildlife conservation, wildlife disease health, livestock health, and on international development at the USAID. Some work for members of Congress and many have direct influence on public health policy and practice. Some veterinarians practiced for several years prior to transitioning to their government roles, others came straight through from veterinary school, and many have other degrees and skillsets that are perfect complements to the DVM and the work they do. All of these veterinarians, like the members of Congress, use skillsets unrelated to veterinary medicine to do important work. 

I’ve personally had a windy path into veterinary medicine from wildlife biologist to trial attorney to working on zoonotic parasites, and finally to veterinary school. It’s refreshing and encouraging to hear about the myriad ways you can use all of your skillsets to do crucial work, including even running for and being a member of Congress. This externship is a daily reminder to bring all of myself into veterinary medicine because sometimes playing the guitar, or the piano, or the drums, helps you to do the essential work you do in the world. So, let’s remember to bring our whole selves to this wonderful profession of veterinary medicine because we are all, multi-talented people.

AVMA Government Relations Student Externship Blog

Check out this blog post from Michael Dupor, University of Wisconsin, sharing his experience completing the AVMA Government Relations Student Externship Program!

If you’re like most Americans, you probably think of Washington D.C. with some mixture of frustration, disgust, exasperation, worry and resentment. For this bright-eyed veterinary student/policy nerd, however, Washington D.C. represented a one-of-a-kind opportunity. An externship where I could understand the process and meet the people that shape policy in our country, and to help give veterinarians a voice on Capitol Hill.

I am in my fourth year at the University of Wisconsin, on a food animal track. I plan to enter food animal practice after graduation. Given that, it may seem odd that I decided to take a break from my busy schedule of palpating and cutting DAs in rural Wisconsin to spend a month in a suit and tie in Washington DC. My interest in this externship was piqued by a lifelong passion for public affairs and policy, and specifically a desire to learn more about agricultural policy.

I learned a ton about policy during this externship. Specifically, I spent time taking notes in Congressional hearings, reading proposed legislation and appropriations requests, meeting with members of Congress and their staffs, and attending policy seminars and panel discussions. I also had the chance to sit in on several AVMA committee meetings. There, practicing veterinarians from across the country and a variety of fields debated what positions the AVMA should take on upcoming legislation, with topics ranging from pesticide use to lab animal welfare to student loan debt. 

I spent a lot of time discussing the shortage of rural veterinarians and encouraging support for programs to strengthen the Veterinary Medical Loan Repayment Program. The program helps food animal veterinarians working in underserved rural areas pay down debt, and, incidentally, is a program I am hoping to take advantage of. I enjoyed the opportunity to meet with several of my state’s legislators and other farm-state representatives to discuss the importance of veterinarians to a robust rural economy.

I also had the chance to meet veterinarians in a wide variety of careers. Members of Congress, colonels, lobbyists, researchers, administrators, policy analysts, public health workers, disease investigators and trade experts are just a few of the roles that veterinarians working in public practice can fill. It was fascinating to see the doors that a veterinary degree can open for you. Most of the people I met loved what they did and were thrilled to be able to share their stories with a curious student. One of the qualities that impressed me most about the politicians, scientists, policymakers and veterinarians that I met over the course of my externship was their commitment to service (yes, even the politicians). Most shared a desire to be a part of something bigger than themselves, to ensure that policy is based on good science, and to ensure that government is directed in a way that benefits all Americans.  

The other thing that stuck out to me was the different paths that they had followed to get to where they were. Some entered government right out of school, others transitioned after decades in practice, and some never left practice, preferring to work on policy as a volunteer. Nonetheless, all these veterinarians have realized the value of their experience and education in policymaking and the importance of our profession having a strong voice on Capitol Hill. What it really showed to me was that there are so many ways to be involved in shaping the decisions that affect the future of our profession and country, and that it is never too late to get started.

Given some of today’s heated partisan bickering, it is so easy to become jaded or just tune politics out. It is important to remember the countless clever, passionate, hard-working people who ignore politics and work tirelessly behind the scenes that make up our government. But it is also important to remember that our system of government places an incredible amount of faith and responsibility in its citizens. None of this works if people like you and me don’t step up and make our voices heard. We need more leaders with flexibility, animal and public health knowledge, and the ability to think independently and critically. As veterinarians, we are uniquely suited to fill that need, in non-profits, in community and professional organizations, and in government at all levels. I encourage everyone reading this to consider ways in which you could put your passion, interests and skills to use helping strengthen our profession, communities and nation. And if you are a student reading this, there’s a pretty cool externship out in DC that is a great way to get started.

Externs on the Hill

By Haillie Crockett, Tufts University

When I applied to a four-week externship with the AVMA Government Relations Division in Washington D.C., I knew that as a dual degree DVM/MPH student who has always had an interest in non-traditional veterinary career paths, it would be a valuable means to gain public policy experience. I also knew that I would have the chance to meet many veterinarians doing interesting work in federal agencies,congressional offices, and independent organizations. I did not realize that I would walk away with a completely different outlook on my career and the roles I can play within the veterinary profession. While I could write a short book about everything I learned during my time with the AVMA, I have donemy best to boil it down to my three main takeaways:

1. If you do not love what you are doing, change it.
For some, a long career in clinical practice is deeply fulfilling. For others, our lives and interests
pull us in surprising new directions, and for still others the reality of clinical practice is more of a
mixed bag when long hours, difficult clients, or toxic work environments are an everyday
reality. We might feel we should “tough it out”; after all, we toughed it out through college, vet
school, and possibly an internship and residency. These experiences tend not to teach us to
prioritize our own mental health, happiness or evolving interests. We know that these factors
contribute to the high rates of mental illness and suicide in our profession, and it pains me to
know that veterinarians stay in situations that push them there. But keep in mind that we live in
a complex, interdisciplinary world where the average American changes professions five to
seven times in their adult life. An incredible variety of opportunities and paths exist for
veterinarians from regulatory work to policy making to military service to industry and more.
While some of these paths may be very different from the image we had of ourselves in school,
it is critical to empower veterinarians that are struggling in their current role to make a change
that fulfills them while also supporting their mental health. Trading a career in clinical practice
for a desk job may feel like quitting when, in reality, it can be the beginning of an equally
fulfilling career that serves both humans and animals while allowing for prioritization of one’s
happiness and mental health. And if you are thinking of making a change but are not sure where
to begin, it’s also important to know that…

2. Almost every veterinarian is happy to talk to you about what they do; you just have to ask.
As I started reaching out to veterinarians in the DC area, I expected a fair number to not respond
or not have time for me. After all, these are busy, specialized professionals. I was blown away by
how responsive and excited to meet almost every person was. It demonstrated the strength of
the veterinary community. I met with veterinarians who were Colonels, CEOs, and Congressmen
during my time in DC; every person was incredibly generous with their time, and for that I am
deeply grateful. This is an aspect of our profession and the people it attracts that should not be
taken for granted. A long resume or list of credentials can be intimidating, but we all have the
shared experience of veterinary school and a shared passion for animal health. I now feel so
much more comfortable reaching out to those doing work I find interesting, even if it is just to
chat about what they do and how they got there, and I hope that veterinarians in all stages of
their careers feel the same.

3. No matter how you use your veterinary degree, you have a role to play in policy.
During my time with the AVMA I saw veterinarians influencing policy in many ways. Some had
dedicated their careers to policy, but many others were clinicians who made policy a priority in
other ways. They did this by writing op-eds, calling their representatives, building relationships
with their state governments, and serving with their state VMAs. Especially at the federal level,
it can feel like our voices do not make a difference, but I can attest that many representatives
are excited to hear from veterinarians on issues of animal health and veterinary business, where
we are subject experts. The only way to make sure that elected officials are receiving accurate
information about legislation that affects our community is for them to hear it from us. We hear
about the importance of advocacy often, and it is hard to find the time, but I have seen firsthand
the difference that it makes and the sense of empowerment it can give us. I encourage every
member of the veterinarian community to find some way, even if it feels small, to advocate for
our profession.

I am very grateful to the people who took time out of their busy days to discuss their careers and their impact on the world and to the AVMA GRD staff for providing such an eye-opening experience. I walked away from each of these meetings with a little more knowledge and wisdom about the profession in general and my career specifically. I encourage any veterinary student that wants to expand their knowledge of our diverse profession, learn about the policy making process, and build a bigger network to look into this externship. And if you have more questions, remember, all you have to do is ask.

What is a veterinarian's role in DC?

Personal introduction

Hi! My name is Liliya Veliko and I am a rising third year student at North Carolina State University. I was grateful to be given the opportunity to be an extern for the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) for the month of June 2019. My interests include small and exotic animal practice, as well as policy.

As the only extern, I took a lot of sheepish selfies. But DC is too beautiful not to photograph! This was at a PAC event.

Background

The AVMA Government Relations Division (GRD) Externship is a program where aHome away from home! veterinary student spends one month working with the AVMA office in Washington DC. As an extern, I spent the month attending congressional hearings, networking with veterinarians in government, attending political events such as receptions, and seeing the city! I really appreciated how the schedule can largely be personalized to suit the student; you can attend hearings related to your interests such as agriculture, One Health, business, or technology. By the end, I felt comfortable discussing important legislation for veterinary medicine, like VMLRPEA (Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program Enhancement Act) and the deceivingly named Fairness to Pet Owners Act. Before this experience, I was pretty comfortable with my mental bubble of veterinary school, textbooks, and science.  The experience has given me a more well-rounded understanding of how the issues people care about become law.

Aw you’re going to be a veterinarian! …  so why are you in DC?

Veterinarians have many potential career options! When meeting other young professionals at congressional hearings, they were often surprised that a representative from the AVMA would be engaged with the topics of the hearing. While the public may think we only treat cats and dogs, we have interests in many fields – including agriculture, biological sciences, small business, One Health, drug regulations, food production, aquaculture, animal welfare, research, and laboratory animals. Though my personal goals include small animal and exotic animal private practice, I was able to learn about the variety of veterinary positions in policy, from working for the USDA to being a congressperson!

Valuable experiences and lessons learned

Veterinarians have so many more useful skills than you might think!

We focus so heavily on building our diagnostic skills in school, we do not realize we are also concurrently developing many other skills. Veterinarians are uniquely trained to consider animal health (of course), human health, nutrition, food safety, biosecurity, and effective communication. We are a group of highly driven people that tend to garner respect from others and are natural leaders. Imposter syndrome can make us feel like we are not qualified to be doctors, but I was able to see veterinarians confidently and competently apply their skills to all sorts of careers. Some of the positions I saw veterinarians fill while in DC are:

• Congressmen (no DVM congresswomen – yet!)

Representative, and Dr. Ted Yoho! (Fl-R)Representative, and Dr. Kurt Schrader! (OR-D)

•  Environmental activists and conservationists
• Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) staff regulating import/export of animal products
• Scientific consultants for governmental bodies
• Legislative assistants for a congressperson or senator
• Food and Drug Administration (FDA) employees working to ensure drug and product compliance 
• Meat product quality assurance with Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS)
• Officers of the Public Health Service Corp – a uniformed branch of the US Public Health Service

You can easily learn about matters relevant to you

One of the biggest surprises upon arriving to DC was witnessing how much of our government is based on conversations. Before the externship, the legislative process seemed somewhat grandiose and mysterious to me. After simply listening to congressional hearings and briefs, I realized the legislative process is more straightforward and accessible than I realized. Beyond the many news outlets, you can form your opinions directly from the conversations in the House and Senate, because many hearings are livestreamed and saved indefinitely on YouTube.

Congressional hearings are a great way to be exposed to a diversity of important issues. I attended hearings regarding agriculture, farmer resilience, the Ebola outbreak, federal funding levels, appropriate line speeds in swine processing plants, and the impact of student loans on small businesses.

Email services are an easy way to stay up to date on legislation relevant to veterinary medicine. The AVMA Advocate is a monthly informational email newsletter. The AVMA Congressional Advocacy Network (avmacan.avma.org) is our grassroots network that emails you when taking action, like contacting your representative, would be especially powerful in your state or area. Both are an easy way to become a policy savvy veterinarian!

Room inside of a house office building in preparation for a hearing

People care, including politicians

I now realize I had come to DC with a slightly pessimistic view of government officials. It is easy to become jaded when we hear news outlets calling our leaders corrupt, inconsiderate, and lazy, especially in this time period of political divisiveness. After witnessing how tirelessly our leaders and their staff work, I realized I had absent mindedly bought into a negative narrative. Of course, there are shortcomings in our government, but I appreciated how much work it takes to keep our country running and, generally, how much people care.  When attending a hearing about agriculture, I met other interns working in diverse fields such as transportation and need based nutritional programs. Just as others may have been surprised to see a veterinary student interested in many topics, I was excited to meet people from so many disciplines collaborating. It was refreshing to see how much we all agree on and how we can share our passions.

I loved getting to spend time with other veterinary students doing internships around DC!

An Externship Unlike Any Other

By Nikki Dowgos, SAVMA Editor in Chief

How do you describe an externship that had such a profound impact on your life and career trajectory? It’s hard to put into words the amazing experience I had during the month of April at the American Veterinary Medical Association Government Relations Division. As expected, I learned so much about legislative process as a whole and about what veterinarians can do to make an impact. What I valued most about this externship, though, is how much I learned about myself and the many veterinarians in Washington D.C.

I was very quickly immersed in the AVMA GRD agenda when I arrived. There was a sense of urgency to everything I was working on as Congress was quickly approaching Easter recess and there were many things that needed to be started before the two-week hiatus. I began working with one of the Assistant Directors, Alex Sands, on her project concerning the Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program Enhancement Act (VMLRP EA). The bill was introduced in the 115^th Congress, but it did not make it to the final stages. The goal of this project was to do research on specific states across the United States to evaluate how many designated shortages were filled in previous years and how many shortages there are for this current application cycle. By doing this, we were able to demonstrate the need to recruit and retain veterinarians in rural communities and garner support from members of Congress from many states! I found myself very passionate about this research and it was very fulfilling to work on a project that can ultimately improve the lives of rural veterinarians and their communities.

My time in Washington D.C. was a good balance of work and play. The peak cherry blossom bloom was occurring simultaneously with my first few days there, so I was able to walk around the Tidal Basin and see the beautiful Dr. Seuss-esque foliage after I completed some meetings on Capitol Hill one afternoon. I visited the United States Botanic Garden Conservatory and took a tour where I learned about medicinal plants as well as many plants endemic to different regions around the world. I explored the Library of Congress where I learned about the history of baseball and Central America through some of their temporary exhibits. One of my favorite places that I was able to go was the National Portrait Gallery and the Hall of Presidents. It was so incredible to observe such beautiful art as well as the portraits of all the presidents up to now. Many of them were so realistic that it appeared the subject could walk right out of the portrait! I really enjoyed being able to see some of the historic sites in Washington D.C. while on my externship.

One of the most exciting things about the AVMA GRD Externship is the fact that, as an extern, you have the flexibility to truly choose what you want to get out of the experience. Due to the two-week Congressional recess during my four-week externship, I decided to front load my experience with congressional hearings, meetings, and briefings. I spent the final two weeks meeting with as many veterinarians in D.C. that I possibly could. I met with veterinarians in a variety places throughout the executive branch like the FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine, Defense Health Agency, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). I also met with veterinarians from the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC), the Animal Health Institute, Merck Animal Health, and a professor from George-Washington University. They all had unique and interesting stories to share about how they came into their current position; I am looking forward to one day working in government and calling them my colleagues!

The AVMA GRD Externship was the highlight of my clinical year thus far. I thoroughly enjoyed taking a step back from the clinical side of veterinary medicine to see how decision-making and policies enacted at the governmental level can affect the everyday lives of veterinarians and pet owners. Coming into this externship, I knew that I would seek out ways to be involved in organized veterinary medicine upon graduation whether that be at the local level with my state Veterinary Medical Association or the national level like the American Veterinary Medical Association. This externship allowed me to fully explore the many different avenues I may be able to pursue to stay involved and I am truly grateful for the opportunity that the AVMA Government Relations Division provided. I highly encourage anyone with any interest in the nuances of policy and organized veterinary medicine to apply for this invaluable externship opportunity!

If you are interested in applying for this externship experience, applications are now being accepted for the 2020 AVMA Government Relations Externship Program. More information is available on the AVMA Website!