How children can help inspire a more diverse future for veterinary medicine

According to Mariana A. Pardo, BVSc, MV, DACVECC, one way to combat the lack of diversity in veterinary medicine is by educating and introducing the profession to younger children. During a recent video interview at the Fetch dvm360^® Kansas City conference, Pardo highlighted a few strategies to help inspire a more inclusive future within the industry.

"I think that one of the things that we know is to try to target potential [veterinary students] really early on and try to have younger children become more interested in veterinary medicine that are more diverse," Pardo told dvm360^®staff. "And I think part of that comes from [children] seeing more diverse veterinarians."

Pardo believes that through education, a more diverse future is possible and that one way to achieve that is by increasing the volume of outreach at a school level.

"[We need] more outreach to happen at a school level, to schools that are more diverse, and to have diverse veterinarians visit those places," advised Pardo.

"Make sure that when we are promoting veterinary schools, we are [including] more diverse veterinarians on the pamphlets. That's when we have these commercials that [show] there are diverse veterinarians...I think that's where we need to start showcasing diverse vets so that children can start seeing this," she continued.

To learn more, watch the full video below.