Grit, grace, and growth

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On this week episode of The Vet Blast Podcast presented by dvm360, our host Adam Christman, DVM, MBA, welcomes special guest Jennifer Quammen, DVM, MPH, to discuss her careers in the veterinary industry, from technicians, to veterinarian, coaching, and now to running for president-elect of the American Veterinary Medical Association. Throughout the epsiode, the duo will also tackle the need for more inclusivity, sustainability, and diverse perspectives in the veterinary industry, and more.

Below is a partial transcript, edited lightly for clarity

Adam Christman, DVM, MBA: We all view success a little differently. And how has your view of success changed throughout your career?

Jennifer Quammen, DVM, MPH: another really valuable thing to think about. I mean, I guess I'm sort of at this point of approaching mid career, I guess, which is strange to think about. And, you know, it gives you enough time and distance to think back on. You know, what did I think about 5, 8, or 10 years ago? And what do I think about now or moving into the future? I think success can be defined in so many ways, right? Some people will see that as I have found this perfect practice in this hometown that I'm going to stay at and make this career out of here and put roots down in this community forever and build a family, right? Wonderful. Some of us, myself, at least included in this loves my family and my friends. There's no doubt I'm connected to them, but I don't tie that as much to a location.

So it's about like, how do I feel good about the impact that I've made at the end of the day? And honestly, in doing the work with coaching, you know, there are moments where I think I'm not touching as many day to day patients and doing that, but I'm touching the people that touch the patients. And so my impact on the profession and on the animal outcome, I hope it's still great, but it's very different than just day to day, grinding with appointments. And so for me, success is, Have I done a good job? Do I feel good about it at the end of the day? Have I made an impact? And I've had to reframe that some for myself over time. I don't know. Do you have a thought on like, what looks like success for you?

Christman: I love that you just said 'I love that I'm touching the people that touched the patients,' because that took me, a hard thing to understand when I was here at dvm360 because I removed myself from that angle, and I was like, What did I do? And there were actually, I literally had pet owners that said, you took an oath, you took an oath to help save my pet, and now you left us. And it was a gut punch Dr Quammen, right? It's like it hits.