AVMA spotlights policy pathway through Dr. Jacey Cerda profile

AVMA is spotlighting nontraditional veterinary career paths through a new My Veterinary Life podcast episode featuring Dr. Jacey Cerda, a veterinarian, attorney, and postdoctoral researcher whose career includes the AVMA Government Relations Externship, legal work, wildlife biology, and current biodiversity conservation research at Colorado State University. Publicly available background on Cerda shows she is a 2024-2025 Fulbright U.S. Scholar conducting research in Australia from February through May 2025, focused on wildlife and biodiversity response during major fire events. Her work builds on an interdisciplinary career that connects veterinary medicine, law, policy, and disaster response. (fulbrightscholars.org)

Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, the episode underscores a message AVMA has been pushing more broadly: advocacy, policy, and organized veterinary medicine are viable career-building lanes, not side projects. AVMA’s student-facing externship resources describe these placements as opportunities to learn parts of the profession “you won't find in school,” and Cerda’s path offers a concrete example of how policy exposure can translate into work spanning government relations, conservation, and emergency preparedness. That’s especially relevant as the profession weighs workforce shortages, public policy engagement, and the expanding role of veterinarians in One Health and disaster planning. (myvetlife.avma.org)

What to watch: Watch for whether AVMA continues to use this podcast series to steer students and early-career veterinarians toward advocacy, externships, and organized medicine roles. (myvetlife.avma.org)