AVMA podcast spotlights curiosity-driven career path of Dr. Keshe Chow
Bottom line
AVMA’s My Veterinary Life podcast this week spotlights Dr. Keshe Chow, a specialist feline veterinarian and bestselling fantasy author, in an episode centered on curiosity, career development, and building a professional life that stretches beyond a traditional clinical lane. The episode, hosted by Dr. Annie Chavent, adds to AVMA’s ongoing career and wellbeing programming for students and early-career veterinarians. Outside the podcast, Chow is also an established author whose recent books and author materials explicitly tie her creative work to her veterinary background, including a 2026 adult fantasy novel set in a magical veterinary school. (myvetlife.avma.org)
Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, the conversation reinforces a message that’s gaining traction across workforce and wellbeing discussions: a sustainable career may include multiple identities, not just one job title. Chow’s path, from small animal practice to advanced feline specialization and parallel work as an author, offers a visible example of portfolio-style careers in veterinary medicine, especially for clinicians thinking about burnout prevention, professional reinvention, or ways to stay engaged in the field over time. Chow’s credentials in feline medicine are well established, including fellowship-level recognition through the Australian and New Zealand College of Veterinary Scientists. (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
What to watch: Expect continued interest in stories that frame veterinary careers as flexible, curiosity-driven, and compatible with creative or nontraditional professional paths. (myvetlife.avma.org)
AVMA’s My Veterinary Life podcast is turning the spotlight to career curiosity with a new episode featuring Dr. Keshe Chow, a specialist feline veterinarian who has also built a high-profile second career as a bestselling author. The episode, hosted by Dr. Annie Chavent, positions Chow’s story as part of a broader conversation about how veterinarians shape meaningful careers inside and outside exam rooms. (myvetlife.avma.org)
That framing lands at a time when veterinary workforce conversations increasingly include retention, wellbeing, and career sustainability, not just recruitment. AVMA’s My Veterinary Life platform regularly publishes content for students and rising professionals on mental health, impostor feelings, clinical transitions, and building a durable career. In that context, a profile of a veterinarian who followed an unconventional professional interest fits neatly into a larger industry effort to show that veterinary careers don’t have to be linear to be legitimate. (myvetlife.avma.org)
Chow brings substantial clinical credibility to that message. According to a Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery news item, she passed the Australian and New Zealand College of Veterinary Scientists feline fellowship examination on her first attempt, a milestone that made her eligible to register as a specialist in feline medicine. The same profile says she graduated from the University of Melbourne in 2006, worked in small animal practice in Melbourne and the UK, then completed internship and residency training in Sydney before working in a feline-only practice in Melbourne. ANZCVS materials also list her in chapter leadership roles, underscoring that she has remained active in the profession beyond clinical work alone. (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
At the same time, Chow’s author career has become increasingly visible. Her official biography describes her as a #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of fantasy, romance, and speculative fiction, while still identifying her as a specialist feline medicine veterinarian. Her publisher pages and press materials repeatedly connect the two sides of her career, and her 2026 novel Strange Familiars is explicitly built around magical veterinary science. That overlap matters because it turns veterinary experience into public-facing storytelling, potentially broadening how the profession is seen by students, clients, and future recruits. (keshe.com.au)
Industry and reader-facing commentary suggests that connection is resonating. Promotional copy for Strange Familiars highlights the veterinary setting as a differentiator, and at least one review excerpt cited on Chow’s site praises the accuracy of the veterinary medicine scenes. In other podcast and interview appearances, Chow has also described drawing on her real-world veterinary experience in her fiction. While that isn’t formal workforce commentary, it does show a positive external reception to veterinarians translating clinical experience into adjacent careers and public narratives. (penguinrandomhouse.com)
Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, the bigger takeaway isn’t celebrity or novelty. It’s that AVMA is elevating a model of career development rooted in curiosity, specialization, and identity beyond practice alone. That may be especially relevant for students, associates, and specialists who want long careers but don’t see themselves fitting a single template forever. In workforce terms, stories like this can support retention by normalizing professional evolution, side pursuits, and creative work as compatible with veterinary medicine rather than evidence of disengagement from it. That’s an inference from the broader wellbeing and career-sustainability themes AVMA has been emphasizing, but it’s a reasonable one. (myvetlife.avma.org)
There’s also a client-facing and cultural dimension. Veterinarians who publish, teach, create, or communicate outside practice can widen public understanding of the field, including its intellectual depth and emotional complexity. For pet parents, that may subtly shift how the profession is perceived. For the profession itself, it offers another answer to a familiar workforce question: what helps people stay connected to veterinary medicine over the long term? Sometimes, it’s the freedom to keep following curiosity. (myvetlife.avma.org)
What to watch: Watch for more veterinary organizations and employers to spotlight nonlinear career paths, especially as workforce strategy continues to expand from staffing shortages to long-term retention, identity, and wellbeing. (myvetlife.avma.org)