Established by the American Association of Swine Veterinarians Board of Directors in 2019, the AASV Early Career Swine Veterinarian Committee’s mission is to strengthen the value of AASV membership for early career veterinarians (less than 10 years post veterinary graduation) by assessing their needs, identifying resources, and guiding AASV leadership and staff to develop and provide those resources that will assist AASV members early in their careers.
The Committee started strong with their inaugural meeting during the 2020 AASV Annual Meeting. In a full room, new and enthusiastic early career members were joined by a few more experienced veterinarians eager to offer support. Discussions during their meeting centered around identifying resources needed by early career veterinarians and how AASV can help fill those gaps.
The committee’s initial goals included a more expedited and informal way for early career veterinarian peer communication, a podcast series highlighting topics for early career veterinarians beginning with financial literacy, an early career conference in conjunction with another swine conference, a mentorship program, and a directory of members willing to serve as a resource on specific topics.
The Early Career Committee is actively delivering on those goals.
Early Career Swine Veterinarian Conference
The AASV Early Career Swine Veterinarian Conference (aasv.org/earlycareer), to be held November 5, 2021 in conjunction with the Iowa State University James D. McKean Swine Disease Conference, is designed for AASV member swine veterinarians within 10 years of graduation. The conference presents early career swine veterinarians with the perfect opportunity to meet with other veterinarians and learn how to strengthen their skills. This welcoming and interactive conference will give early career veterinarians the chance to socialize, collaborate, and communicate with others working in swine veterinary medicine.
This year’s conference will focus on the fundamentals of swine health and production. Through presentations, panel discussions, one-on-one networking, and small group discussions, the attendees will learn how to confront career development challenges with a focus on the pearls, possibilities, and opportunities of the swine industry.
Listserv
The Early Career Committee created a forum (early.aasv.org) for swine veterinarians to exchange dialogue unique to those early in their careers. The forum is intended to offer peer-to-peer support as veterinarians navigate through the first several years in swine medicine, no matter what their careers looks like!
COMING SOON
Mentor Directory
The Early Career Committee is creating a mentor directory program to better connect early career AASV members with established members to serve in a mentorship role. Early career mentees will be AASV members less than 10 years post graduation or those new to swine medicine. Mentors should be AASV members at least 3 years post graduation. Tips for success in developing a lasting mentor-mentee relationship will be provided on the committee webpage.
Resource Directory
The Early Career Committee is compiling a list of veterinarians who may be able to offer expertise, knowledge, or serve as a resource for early career veterinarians should they have questions about a specific topic. Example topics include diseases, diagnostics, finances, and leadership. This resource directory will be housed in the members-only section of the AASV website.
Podcasts
The committee has been developing a podcast series highlighting topics for early career swine veterinarians. The first three podcasts are expected to be released before the end of 2021.
Early Career Committee leaders, subcommittee volunteers, and committee members have accomplished many of their goals generated during their very first committee meeting in 2020.
I interacted with many of these committee volunteers when they were students, and I am so proud to see them emerge as leaders in the organization. The future looks bright with these amazing swine veterinarians early in their careers!
Abbey Canon, DVM, MPH, DACVPM
Director of Public Health and Communications