Pre-Veterinary to DVM Profiles

Jennifer Thompson

The field in veterinary medicine that I would like to work in is wildlife or exotic animal medicine. While at NCSU for my undergraduate degree, I had many influential experiences that have aided my pre-veterinary journey, including my work with the Turtle Rescue Team, a study abroad at a wildlife sanctuary in Costa Rica, and my time as a VetPAC Intern. At Turtle Rescue Team, I practiced medical treatments on wild turtles, fostering my love for both medicine and wildlife care. During my study abroad, I got to learn about proper husbandry for wild animals and types of enrichment for them in captivity. As a VetPAC Intern, I was able to practice my communication and leadership skills, network with veterinary professionals, and work to organize events to help other pre-veterinary students.

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Emma Hailey

I plan to pursue a career in small animal medicine, with interests in surgery and emergency medicine. While at NC State, I served as both a VetPAC intern and ANS 281 TA and discovered how much I enjoy mentoring students and supporting their academic and career goals. Most of my clinical hours were spent in a small animal private practice, where I was fortunate to learn from passionate mentors who were dedicated to teaching and encouraging me to approach cases with a clinical mindset. NC State also introduced me to equine medicine, which diversified my clinical exposure and provided hands-on experience with species I had never worked with before. NC State offered me invaluable opportunities to gain confidence working across a variety of species, participate in clinical pathology research, and serve as a mentor to students who share my passion for veterinary medicine.

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Kaelyn Dausch

I am pursuing a career in Small and Exotic Animal Medicine as well as Marine Mammal Medicine. My love for small and exotic animal medicine started at my first job as a veterinary assistant in junior year of high school and continued throughout undergrad. I developed my skills and grew to enjoy surgery, client education, and developing long term patient relationships. I also gained a lot of incredibly valuable experience during an Introduction to Marine Mammal Course in Key Largo, Florida. This introduced me to physical exams and ultrasonography on a pod of 8 dolphins, which solidified my passion for exotics and piqued my intrigue as to working with marine mammals in the future. Another important experience from undergrad was being a research partner with Turtle Rescue Team at the NCSU CVM. My research partner was a fourth year in vet school, which allowed me to gain a lot of valuable hands-on experience in maintaining a research project. I also got to see CT scans of turtles and help with shell repairs, which emphasized my passion for Exotic Animal Medicine.

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Connor Thonen-Fleck

I hope to work in laboratory animal medicine and clinical research. As an NCSUrnundergraduate, I worked as a research assistant in a clinical and basic science research lab focused on the origin and progression of osteoarthritis at the CVM. I also participated in a study abroad program in the Czech Republic where I conducted interdisciplinary research focused on harm reduction and drug addiction. Through these experiences, I discovered a passion for research, particularly concerning the welfare and use of animal subjects. Outside of research, I worked extensively at the VetPAC office, developing my leadership skills, connecting with a wide variety of veterinary professionals, and giving back to fellow students through peer advising and teaching. After graduating with my DVM, I hope to pursue a PhD and eventual career in research and teaching.

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Felix Oliver

I am pursuing a career in lab animal medicine and anatomic pathology. I was a transfer student, and when I began classes at NCSU, I was working in lab animal medicine outside of school. This position introduced me to the field and pushed me to return to school to finish my undergraduate degree and apply to veterinary school. As an undergraduate student I was heavily involved in the academic success center, both as a peer tutor and an SI leader. Iu2019ve always enjoyed teaching others, so I was glad to find a position where I could continue to improve my communication skills and work with students from different majors. Outside of tutoring, I volunteered at the small ruminant education unit. I had minimal experience with ruminants before coming to NC State, so this was a great experience to become more comfortable with different animals and learn from students who have different interests than me.

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Kylie Deuser

Iu2019m pursuing Mixed Animal Medicine because my goal is to develop a mixed animal veterinary practice with a global outreach program to ensure the health of animals for the well-being of their owners and communities. My first mission trip to the Dominican Republic solidified my desire to help underserved communities around the world that depend on animals not just for companionship, but also as sources of food.

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Anusha Chandra

I am so grateful that NC State had so many experiences that I could choose from that all guided me towards vet school. My junior and senior year, I got hired as a research assistant for the Kim Lab of Monogastric Nutrition and Digestive Physiology. I was able to conduct independent research and learned so much about animal nutrition, which was great because it was one of my minors!

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Beatrice Eddy

I plan to pursue a career in small animal/exotics, with specific interests in shelter and emergency medicine. As an undergraduate, I actively pursued diverse opportunities at NCSU, which included study abroad experiences in South Africa and Thailand, engaging in impactful research, and leadership roles as a TA, camp counselor, and VetPAC intern. These experiences allowed me to explore shelter medicine globally, understand different cultures, contribute to research, and connect with various professionals and students.

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Ly Le

I’m pursuing Laboratory Animal Medicine because it would allow me to practice medicine while still being involved in both research and teaching. My summer internship at the National Institutes of Environmental Health Science really solidified this choice for me because I was able to meet so many veterinarians with different paths into research.

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Je’Juan Bryant

During my time at NC State, I was able to be involved in many influential experiences such as being a teaching assistant for the ANS 151 Lab and being a VetPAC intern during the 2019-2020 school year. These experiences allowed me the opportunity to help other students interested in veterinary medicine, while also gaining valuable advice from professors and upperclassmen

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Bryson Jacobs

During my undergraduate studies at NC State, I discovered my passion for animal agriculture by working at the NCSU Animal Education Units and showing livestock with the Animal Science Club. These experiences allowed me to gain more hands-on skills with animal husbandry and management in addition to herd medicine

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Hannah Wubbenhorst

I hope to be a veterinarian in production animal and equine medicine, with interests in public health, teaching, and international work. Much of this passion was shaped by my hands-on animal experience during Animal Science classes at NCSU. I grew immensely through the many leadership/teaching opportunities I had as well – from dance and after-school programming to TA-ing and college ambassadorship. I also loved my UK pre-vet study abroad experience – this cemented my passion for veterinary medicine on an international scale as well as gave me great confidence through direct experience.

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Mallory Flanagan

While I have not yet narrowed down which focus area of veterinary medicine I want to pursue, most of my experience is in small animal private practice, and I am interested in further investigating the business aspect of owning a small animal clinic so that I can combine my veterinary degree with my minor in Agricultural Business Management.

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Christian Williams

I have personally witnessed the impact that private practice veterinarians can have in the health and wellbeing of their patients and their clients through clinical practice as well as education of clients, and I hope to contribute to this facet of veterinary medicine as a mixed animal private practitioner.

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Sarah Swartout

Majoring in Animal Science gave me the hands-on experience with food/large animals that influenced my desire to work with them as a career, and I have been lucky to be offered so many teaching experiences that have groomed my love for teaching.

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Clay Tuttle

I hope to go into wildlife medicine and conservation related work in Central America focusing on issues like human-wildlife conflict, wildlife trafficking, and endangered species conservation. I was first exposed to these concepts while studying abroad in Tanzania…

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Victoria Newberry

VetPAC contributed a lot on my journey to becoming a veterinarian by providing plenty of exceptional opportunities to gain experience and passion for the field of veterinary medicine.

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Christian Capobianco

During my undergraduate career, I worked as a veterinary nurse and was able to put my passion for education to use by working as a camp coordinator and teaching assistant.

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Katy Browne

My experiences helped me decide that I do not want to work with large animals or in a research facility. I hope to work in the emergency medicine field after vet school, focusing on small and exotic animals.

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Kristen Hasegawa

NCSU offers many different unique opportunities that not many other institutions have; and if there was something I was interested in that the college did not offer, the faculty directed me to specific people who could help me.

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Alex Grobman

The incredible resources available to undergrads at NCSU (the animal units, research opportunities, etc.) helped me to gain experience hours in various fields.

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Stephanie Thi

I had originally intended to graduate in 3 years with just my major. However, I found the extra year to gain experience, as well as the extra classes I took for my minor, helped me tremendously in asserting my interests and improving my vet school application.

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Carole Roman

Traveling abroad not only allowed me to practice new veterinary skills, but also helped me expand my cultural knowledge and explore various methods of and attitudes toward animal care.

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Valerie Nelson

“During my time at NC State, I joined several clubs including the PVMA, Companion Animal Club, and an a cappella group. During these few years, I felt as though I couldnu2019t quite figure out what I wanted to do within veterinary medicine, so I focused on diversifying myself to determine my interests.”

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Catherine Bartholf

“I did my best to diversify my experiences in veterinary medicine while pursuing opportunities that I was passionate about participating in.”

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Danielle Mzyk

Danielle has published peer reviewed articles pertaining to pharmacology and drug residues and has research interest in dairy calf health and welfare.

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Dustin Orr

I have gained experience in small animal medicine, large/mixed animal medicine, equine medicine, exotic/avian/wildlife medicine, and food safety research.

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Kyle Maddox

While at NC State, I focused on gaining a broader understanding of the roles that veterinarians play in the community by volunteering with the NC State CVM Department of Shelter Medicine.

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