AVMA spotlights policy pathway through Dr. Jacey Cerda

The AVMA’s My Veterinary Life podcast is spotlighting nontraditional veterinary career paths through an episode featuring Dr. Jacey Cerda, a veterinarian, attorney, Fulbright scholar, and Colorado State University postdoctoral researcher whose résumé includes time as an AVMA Government Relations Division extern in Washington, D.C. The episode fits into a broader AVMA push to show early-career veterinarians how organized veterinary medicine and policy work can shape the profession beyond clinical practice. AVMA’s government relations externship is a four-week, nonclinical program that places veterinary students in federal advocacy work, including legislative research, congressional meetings, and policy tracking on issues such as student debt, animal welfare, veterinary education funding, and tax and small business policy. (podcasts.apple.com)

Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, the episode is less about a single policy announcement and more about workforce development in advocacy. Cerda’s path, from wildlife biology to law to veterinary medicine and biodiversity disaster response, underscores how policy fluency can expand career options and give the profession stronger representation in legislative and regulatory debates. That’s particularly relevant as AVMA continues to invest in advocacy pipelines, from student externships to its congressional fellowship program, to ensure veterinary perspectives reach lawmakers on animal health, public health, education, and workforce issues. (electives.vet.osu.edu)

What to watch: Expect AVMA to keep using podcast and fellowship programming to recruit more students and early-career veterinarians into organized medicine, advocacy, and public policy roles. (podcasts.apple.com)