From Dinner Tables to Conference Halls: A Peek into Virginia Veterinary Community

written for PVMA by Jody Kull, DVM, Assistant Teaching Professor at Penn State University and prior PVMA Trustee

Virginia Veterinary Conference was held February 23-24 in Roanoke, VA.  On February 22, PVMA President Tom Munkittrick reported to the VA Veterinary Medical Association at their board meeting.  That evening, Dr Tom and Dr Jody Kull, former PVMA board member, went to dinner with a group of Pennsylvania residents currently enrolled in the Virginia Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine.

Ten sophomore and junior students attended the dinner at The Farmhouse, Christiansburg.  The freshmen had a big exam the next day and were unable to attend.  Students were tasked with bringing questions to help stimulate the conversation.  After a brief introduction, the conversation flowed easily into talking about everyone’s PA hometown (and its quirks!) and future goals upon graduation.  All ten students aspire to return to Pennsylvania to practice!  There were students interested in small animal, mixed animal, and large animal private practice.  Three students were mixed/food animal trackers at VMCVM.  All of the students had questions about how to learn to talk to owners compared to talking to veterinary colleagues.  Discussion was also had about providing multiple medical options for owners and spectrum of care.  Students were also interested in learning about practice ownership, financial stability, organized veterinary medicine, and colleague support in the workplace.  In between the serious conversations, there were a lot of laughs, some jokes, and a great comradery felt with all who were there!

This was a great opportunity to build future PVMA members and leaders!  Let’s welcome our future colleagues to our group and support their veterinary education.

Dr Kull spoke at the Virginia Veterinary Conference during the Food Animal NewsHour, giving an update on the rural veterinary workforce.  As a veterinary ambassador for the Farm Journal Foundation, she shared information from their Rural Veterinary Workforce Development plan, including their new undergraduate, veterinary, and early career toolkits.  Other ongoing rural veterinary updates include the AVMA Rural Veterinary Workforce Act to change the taxation of the VMLRP, Veterinary Services Grant Program (VSGP),

AABP recent graduate conference, Texas Tech University School fo Veterinary medicine Professional Skills Bootcamp for the Recent Graduate Rural Practitioner program, AABP Excellence in Rural Veterinary Practice Workshops, and several other individual state programs modeled after the very successful Kansas Veterinary Training Program for Rural Kansas.  Talk to your legislators about this issue and see what PA can do to help support the rural veterinary workforce.

Dr Kull also helped give the Virginia Distinguished Veterinarian of the Year Award to her classmate, Dr Melinda McCall, owner of Louisa Veterinary Services.  Dr McCall completed one of her senior year rotations in PA many moons ago with Dr Darcie Stolz, former PVMA board member.  Melinda also just published a memoir, Driving Home Naked and Other Misadventures of a Country Veterinarian and a children’s book, The Million Dollar Goat, both available on Amazon.

A heartfelt thank you to Dr. Munkittrick and Dr. Kull for their dedicated representation of Pennsylvania at the Virginia Veterinary Conference. We also extend our gratitude to all those who attended, contributing to the enriching dialogue and fostering connections within our veterinary community.