We are now into Day 3 of the Seavet program and I’m learning heaps of interesting stuff. One common question the students ask of their teachers is,”How do I get to work in the field of aquatic veterinary medicine?” and a related question,”How do you get experience, without experience?”
One of my co-students this week expressed that when he was applying at several places to work as their aquatic veterinarian, the various establishments often asked him whether he had the AquaVet or SeaVet certificate. This is one way of getting your foot in the door. You’ll learn heaps and create a great network of colleagues.
These questions were also asked of the teachers. Many have side-stepped their way into the aquatic field. Dr Tom Waltzek got into it by being into virology (study of viruses), Dr Don Samuelson got into it by being into ophthalmology (study of eyes), myself and Dr Ruth Francis-Floyd got into it by being into pathology (study of diseases)… and the list goes on. Some volunteered heavily earlier in their careers and gained a lot of experience and earned trust such as Dr Mike Walsh and some had shown such commitment and perseverance that he earned a recommendation for a job by his colleague/mentor (Dr Gregory Lewbart), and this is how Dr Roy Yanong got his gig at the University of Florida! I’m sure that there’ll be many more such stories from the other teachers who have yet to present at this year’s SeaVet.
The veterinary degree really opens up many possibilities beyond the more common small animal (dog and cat) work often portrayed on TV like Dr Harry Cooper, Dr Chris Brown and Dr Katrina Warren.
For those veterinarians or veterinary students who can’t get to such courses, I strongly recommend you get into the two critical networks to find out more – register in the on-line Directory and subscribe to e-News at www.AquaVetMed.info, and consider joining the World Aquatic Veterinary Medical Association (WAVMA) at http://www.wavma.org/Become-a-member.
For those of you who are not veterinarians, no need to fear. There are many, many ways of getting in on the action too. I’d like to draw your attention to the information that can be found at the following link –
http://www.iaaam.org/getting-into-aquatic-animal-medicine/
Good luck to you and I hope to meet with you in this field in the future, and to exchange notes.
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Yours sincerely,
Dr Richmond Loh
DipProjMgt, BSc, BVMS, MPhil (Pathology) Murdoch, MANZCVS (Aquatics& Pathobiology).
The Fish Vet, Perth, Western Australia.
Veterinary Medicine for fish.
W: http://www.thefishvet.com.au
E: thefishvet
P: +61 (0)421 822 383
