In one of my recent messages, I dropped a hint about the JSHAP Spotlight series for 2024.1 By now I hope you have seen some of these JSHAP Spotlights featuring our student members. For those of you not familiar with the JSHAP Spotlight you can find the piece directly below the table of contents and one page-turn from the front cover. We started this piece to highlight the contributions from our editorial board members and reviewers. Our student membership is healthy and active in the association, so we also wanted to highlight the meaningful contributions that our veterinary students are making.
My message this issue also comes at a time when veterinary students at my university are looking for mentorship and summer employment opportunities. I am pleased to say that many new local and national veterinary mentorship opportunities, with strong funding support, have become available for swine-focused students. Not only are these opportunities for students who have an interest in swine medicine, but also for those who wish to explore if it is a potential career path.
This also reminded me of the call to action put forward by Patterson et al2 at the 2020 AASV Annual Meeting in Atlanta.2 The call for action put forward important considerations that have made progress as highlighted by the opportunities in my region. But there are still issues that remain relevant today. These career-building opportunities, mentor-student relationships, and funding opportunities are important to continue fostering as the shortage of veterinarians continues to be a worldwide issue.
I hope you are enjoying the JSHAP Spotlight featuring some of our student members.
Terri O’Sullivan, DVM, PhD
Executive Editor
References
*1. O’Sullivan T. Terri’s favorites [editorial]. J Swine Health Prod. 2023;31:277.
*2. Patterson G, Karriker L, Almond G, Althouse G, Bowman A, Pieters M, Ramirez A, Zhitnitskiy P. Challenges and opportunities in modern swine veterinary education. In: Proc of the 51st AASV Annual Meeting. American Association of Swine Veterinarians; 2020:344-346.
* Non-refereed references.