Dr. Jacey Cerda highlights AVMA advocacy career pathways

Veterinary advocacy is the focus of a recent My Veterinary Life podcast episode featuring Dr. Jacey Cerda, a veterinarian, attorney, Fulbright scholar, and Colorado State University postdoctoral researcher whose career spans clinical practice, law, biodiversity conservation, and disaster response. In the episode, Cerda discusses her experience with the AVMA Government Relations Externship and how that exposure helped shape a broader career in policy and organized veterinary medicine. The episode fits into AVMA’s wider effort to show students and early-career veterinarians how advocacy, externships, and volunteer roles can open nontraditional career pathways. (fulbright.org.au)

Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, the story is less about one career profile and more about workforce development in advocacy and regulation. AVMA is actively encouraging members to engage in policy through externships, volunteer leadership, and advocacy networks, while also pressing federal lawmakers on issues such as rural workforce shortages and loan repayment. Cerda’s background illustrates how policy fluency can strengthen veterinary influence in areas ranging from access to care to wildlife emergency response, giving practitioners and students a clearer example of where advocacy experience can lead. (avma.org)

What to watch: Expect AVMA to keep using career storytelling and advocacy programming to recruit more students and early-career veterinarians into organized medicine and public policy roles. (myvetlife.avma.org)