AVMA spotlights advocacy pathway through Dr. Jacey Cerda

The American Veterinary Medical Association is putting a spotlight on advocacy as a veterinary career pathway through its latest My Veterinary Life podcast episode, “AVMA Government Relations Externship and Beyond with Dr. Jacey Cerda.” The episode centers on Cerda’s unconventional career arc, from wildlife biology to law to veterinary medicine, and on how an AVMA Government Relations Division externship helped shape her professional direction. Public episode listings describe Cerda as a Colorado State University postdoctoral fellow in biodiversity conservation and emergency response who has also served as a Fulbright Scholar, researcher, attorney, and AVMA government relations extern. (podcasts.apple.com)

The timing fits a broader AVMA content push around organized veterinary medicine. Recent My Veterinary Life episodes have highlighted early-career veterinarians involved with AVMA committees, state VMAs, and allied associations, framing volunteer leadership and advocacy as practical entry points for professional engagement. In a three-part series hosted by Dr. Annie Chavent, AVMA explicitly presented volunteering as a way to expand professional networks, help shape the future of the profession, and make organized veterinary medicine easier to navigate for people unsure where to begin or how to fit it into busy careers. The guests reflected that range: Dr. Karen Cross, a 2021 Texas A&M graduate and member of AVMA’s Early Career Development Committee; Dr. Brennan Pittard, a 2016 LSU graduate, small-animal practice owner, and president of the Arkansas Veterinary Medical Association; and Dr. Sara Verghis, a 2022 Virginia-Maryland graduate and equine practitioner serving on the American Association of Equine Practitioners’ Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee. In that context, Cerda’s episode extends the message beyond committee service and into federal policy exposure, showing students and recent graduates how advocacy experience can translate into a wider set of veterinary careers. (podcasts.apple.com)

Cerda’s background helps explain why AVMA chose her as a case study. Colorado State identifies her role in clinical sciences as focused on biodiversity conservation and emergency response. A public profile from her Fort Collins practice says she first came to Colorado State for a degree in wildlife biology, worked as a wildlife biologist in the western U.S. and South Africa, then became a trial attorney before returning for her DVM. Fulbright materials add that her 2024-2025 research in Australia examines lessons from the 2019-2020 Black Summer fires to build deployable frameworks and training for wildlife and ecosystem disaster response. (vetmedbiosci.colostate.edu)

That makes the government relations angle more than a résumé detail. The AVMA externship itself is designed as a four-week placement introducing veterinary students to federal public policy issues, the legislative process, and direct lobbying with Capitol Hill offices. A University of Nebraska listing for the program says externs work with AVMA’s Government Relations Division to understand how policy affects the profession and to gain hands-on experience with legislators and staff. Historical AVMA coverage shows the program has long been intended to build advocacy capacity within the profession, with formal criteria emphasizing SAVMA membership, communication skills, interest in policymaking, and willingness to advance the AVMA legislative agenda. (vetmed.unl.edu)

The broader podcast lineup suggests AVMA is not treating that externship as a stand-alone opportunity. Across recent episodes, the association has been building a more coherent narrative about engagement: that organized veterinary medicine includes state and national association work, committee service, DEI efforts, and policy advocacy, and that these are accessible on-ramps rather than niche leadership tracks. That framing also aligns with another recent My Veterinary Life conversation, “Advancing Belonging & Engagement at AVMA with Dr. LaTonia Craig,” in which AVMA’s chief of veterinary engagement and belonging argued that the profession needs to invest as intentionally in human connection as it does in animal care. In that discussion, Craig linked belonging and engagement to retention, listening, and post-COVID reconnection, suggesting AVMA sees participation in professional communities as part of how veterinarians stay and thrive in the field. (podcasts.apple.com)

While no outside expert reaction specific to this episode was readily available, the broader industry signal is clear: AVMA continues to position advocacy as a strategic workforce and policy tool. In March 2025, for example, the association said its advocacy work helped drive reintroduction of the Rural Veterinary Workforce Act, legislation aimed at easing veterinarian shortages by ending federal taxation on Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program awards. That kind of issue set, workforce access, student debt, public health, and federal regulation, is exactly the policy terrain externs are being exposed to. It suggests AVMA sees student-facing advocacy programs as part of a longer pipeline for profession-wide influence. (avma.org)

Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, Cerda’s story is a reminder that regulation and advocacy shape daily practice even for clinicians who never set foot on Capitol Hill. Federal and state policy influence telemedicine rules, workforce programs, loan repayment, animal health regulation, disaster response, and public health infrastructure. By elevating a veterinarian whose work spans clinical care, law, wildlife conservation, and emergency response, AVMA is making a broader point: policy literacy is increasingly relevant across practice types, not just in association leadership or government service. Cerda’s trajectory may be especially resonant for veterinarians interested in One Health, conservation medicine, or nontraditional careers, where regulatory fluency can be as important as clinical credentials. Just as importantly, the surrounding podcast series shows AVMA trying to lower the barrier to participation by presenting volunteering and advocacy as practical, career-building steps that can expand networks, develop leadership skills, and help early-career veterinarians find their place in the profession. (portal.wfoh.org)

There’s also a pipeline story here. Organized veterinary medicine often struggles to feel accessible to students and early-career veterinarians, especially those outside traditional leadership tracks. AVMA’s recent podcast programming suggests the association is trying to lower that barrier by showing concrete, personal examples of how volunteering, externships, and advocacy work can open doors. In Cerda’s case, the message is that early exposure to government relations can inform careers well beyond association work, including research, biodiversity policy, and disaster preparedness. In the broader series around organized veterinary medicine and belonging, AVMA is also signaling that engagement is not only about influencing legislation or serving on committees, but about strengthening professional connection in a field concerned with burnout, retention, and whether veterinarians feel heard. (podcasts.apple.com)

What to watch: Watch for AVMA to continue linking student advocacy programs to bigger profession-wide priorities, especially workforce policy, public health, emergency preparedness, and professional belonging, and for more visibility around externship recruitment as the association builds its future advocacy bench. (avma.org)