Diversity in veterinary medicine has traditionally been viewed as the inclusion of more women in the profession. The first woman, graduated from McKillip Veterinary College in Chicago in 1903. Very slowly more women entered this field of medicine. 1970-89% of veterinary college enrollment was held by men. 2007, only 37 years later was dubbed ‘the year of the female veterinarian’ with 75 percent of that year’s graduates being women. 2009 was the tipping point for the profession with 55% of the licensed DVMs being female. As of 2017, 80% of all veterinary students were women, and currently 64% of the practicing veterinarians you’ll encounter will be women and 90% of the veterinary nurses are also women.
Improving inclusivity is a major focus of veterinary medicine recruitment and advancement. But the question remains as to how we got to our current status, what is being done to have the profession more closely mirror the general population and why it is important.
My guest is Dr. Tierra Price. She is part of a very elite cadre of veterinarians. Dr. Price is also is one of the 2.1% veterinarians in the United States who are African American. We are going to discuss the challenges in becoming a veterinarian when no one looks like you, how she and the profession are attempting to remedy this disparity and the organization she founded, the Black DVM Network.
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