Meeting Dr. Big Shot!

I've just come back from the CanWest Veterinary Conference in Banff. This was the first year they had a student symposium and the vets were a little confused at my presence. At the meet and greet on the first night I was asked (on several occasions) who I was and upon recieving the answers I got a confused look and a "and why are you...?"

"Here?" I would reply. "There is a student symposium tomorrow"

"Oh." Accompanied by a  "I'm just going to go get some more food" and a hasty retreat.

I did feel a little as though I had a visible communicable disease on the first night but perseverance and more than a little wine got me through almost two hours of standing alone at a table staring wistfully at all the other vets chatting happily with their collegues. When I recognized my own vet (singing and playing guitar in effort to gain interest in the jam part of the evening), I was overcome with relief. I did know ONE person. And as it turns out, I knew quite a few people. Eventually I spotted a professor from U of A that I've worked with at Spay and Neuter clinics, she was kind enough to introduce me to a few others. The next day I saw the lady who started Spay and Neuter as well as her cheif vet, who told me they would love to come speak to the pre-vet club at U of A. And in the end I got some great advice from a few of the speakers and AHTs (Animal Health Technologists) at the conference. Not bad at all, although I paid the high price of extreme awkwardness, embarrassment and general lack of self confidence in the process. (I'm pretty sure my legs/butt were constantly shaking for hours because I was so nervous.)

The next day was much better. We had lecture in the morning from 8 to 1 with four speakers. One was the Cheif Veterinarian for CFIA (Canadian Food Inspection Agency) and had an impressive list of other credentials. The three others all worked for AB Agriculture and Rural development which was helpful to understand what kind of roles vets can play outside of private practice. Also, I noticed that although there are way more female students applying and getting into vet school than men, the majority of the bigwigs at the conference were all male. Is this simply a generational trend that will dissolve in coming years or is this a product of the very annoying but unavoidable fact that many women choose to somewhat sacrifice their careers in order to spend time with their children?

The topics of the lectures were all Biosecurity but with a different emphasis for each. The first explained the One Health concept and how it is impossible to treat ecosystem, human health and animal health in isolation. From a biology background, this is quite inuitive to me, after all, the divisions humans have made between animal, domestic, wildlife and homosapian are somewhat arbitrary, no? We do love to classify things... But the lecture was very interesting and well put on. The second described the Foot and Mouth situation in the UK in detail as well as the challenges in biosecurity in dealing with developing countries. Those two were my favorite. After the break, an epidemeologist taked about anti-microbial resistance and then two vets from the biosecurity division of AB ag and rural development demonstrated how to be biosecure in a crisis (hint: a mask, gloves, three layers of coveralls and a heck of a lot of ducktape!)

Then there was a trade fair during which various vendors would try to sell me surgical equiment until I jumped in with a hurried "I'm just an undergrad" at which point they would avoid all contact. (I might note that I was the only undergrad who was not in a vet college or AHT program at the whole conference. Also, there were one two students that were actually in vet school yet a lot of the lecturers kept saying things like, "when you are vets...".) And then, the best part of the weekend...

I was just about to leave when the manager of the ABVMA (Alberta Veterinary Medical Association) recognized me from the night before and asked, "Did you meet Dr. Big Shot?" Dr. Alastair Cribb is the dean of Veterinary Medicine at the U of C. The night before I had been asking about him because I knew he was in attendance. I said no and so she dragged me to him and promptly introduced me. While she was asking him about some logistical matter I started to panic. She had told him I had a question for him. My mind was blank, I had absolutely nothing to say to this man! I really wanted to meet him but it was going to be a poor impression if I said hello and just stared arkwardly. Before I knew it he said "Walk with me" and we were walking, him looking at me expectantly. And then I was mysteriously telling him about my back injury and how it had affected my acedemic performance and on and on and did he have any advice for me? WELL. Not only did he give me his full attention for a whole 10 minutes, he give me personal advice on my grades (yes, I verbatum told The Dean about my abysmal 3rd year marks. Oh god, I said I'd tell you didn't I? Ok, it's no secret, 2.8 (Thank you again to Dr. Bergens)) as well as the interview (read the paper everyone!). It was exhilerating. I left the conference happy and full of hope. Thank you Dr. Big shot! (And I'm not being facetious here, I honestly do think he is a big deal and a very kind man from my first impression)

I know that makes me a total geek and a suck up but honestly it was just so nice to see all these people for whom my dream is a reality. Women that have done it all, they have a successful career, kids and a loving husband (I don't know why this is such a surprize to me as my mum is one of these, she is an MD and has 2 children). And real vets talking about pertinent subjects that I had no trouble understanding and was interested in. It was also really cool to see all the different places having a DVM can take you. Its not all small animal practice. It was a real boost in motivation and I would highly encourage other pre-vet students to go next year. I think having a group of us would take away some of the tougher parts of the weekend. I definitely think I did the right thing by going, I just hope my midterm marks for this week won't suffer too badly!

Oh and the best part? My dad and I listened to James Harriot tapes on the way home. <3