Young veterinarian-founder highlights AI’s expanding role in vet med

CURRENT FULL VERSION: A Vet Life Reimagined interview featuring Jason Szumski, DVM, puts a sharper point on two trends reshaping veterinary medicine: the rise of nontraditional career paths for young veterinarians, and the rapid normalization of AI tools in everyday practice. Szumski graduated from the University of Illinois in 2023 and went on to co-found VetSOAP, an AI platform designed to generate veterinary medical records from audio, while continuing clinical work in the Chicago suburbs. His profile has since appeared through AAHA, the University of Illinois, and state association materials, underscoring how quickly a recent graduate can now move from exam room to startup leadership. (aaha.org)

That trajectory fits the broader editorial lane of Vet Life Reimagined, which focuses on career reinvention in veterinary medicine. It also lands at a moment when AI has shifted from abstract future talk to operational reality. The podcast’s recent episodes have explored AI from multiple angles, including whether it can make veterinary medicine “more human,” while other veterinary media have focused specifically on AI scribes and documentation tools. In that sense, Szumski’s story works as both a career narrative and a case study in how frontline pain points, especially recordkeeping and time pressure, are feeding entrepreneurship inside the profession. (podcasts.apple.com)

The background on VetSOAP helps explain the appeal. University of Illinois coverage from April 4, 2024, said Szumski and co-founder Aaron Smiley, DVM, launched the software to create patient records from audio recordings, with the goal of saving veterinarians time and improving care. That report also noted that Szumski’s experience as a new veterinarian informed product features, including guidance drawn from a curated dataset. AAHA contributor information and ISVMA convention materials likewise identify him as a co-founder and speaker on AI in veterinary medicine, suggesting he has become part of the profession’s emerging educator-builder cohort, not just a startup founder. (vetmed.illinois.edu)

The market context is moving in his direction. AAHA and Digitail reported in 2024 that nearly 40% of veterinary professionals were already using AI tools. More recent industry reporting has suggested adoption is accelerating, particularly around scribes and workflow support. Instinct Science said in a March 11, 2026 survey release that AI scribes showed the biggest jump in adoption since 2024, while dvm360 reported that UC Davis’s veterinary school adopted an AI scribe platform and created a task force to evaluate its use in the teaching hospital. Those developments suggest veterinary AI is no longer confined to startups pitching innovation; it’s being tested in educational and clinical institutions that influence how future veterinarians work. (aaha.org)

Expert and industry commentary remains mixed, which is important. Supporters frame AI scribes as a practical response to burnout, after-hours charting, and staffing strain. That case has been made especially clearly in recent veterinary podcast discussions drawing on human-health literature: Dr. Andy Roark said the technology made his days in practice “more enjoyable” by taking away administrative work he disliked most, while a companion discussion with technology ethicist Aaron Massacar focused on what human medicine’s earlier adoption can teach veterinary teams about both benefits and failure modes. At the same time, skepticism remains visible among veterinary professionals, especially around hallucinations, overreach, privacy, and the risk that teams may trust draft outputs too much. That tension matters because the most credible voices in veterinary AI are increasingly emphasizing augmentation, not replacement, with the veterinarian still responsible for review and clinical judgment. (latimes.com)

There is also a broader practice-design context around efficiency. In another recent Cone of Shame episode, AAVMC Spectrum of Care Initiative leaders argued that veterinary training should prepare clinicians to pursue “golden outcomes, not a gold standard” in every case, meeting clients where they are rather than reflexively escalating to referral or idealized plans that may be unrealistic. That framing is not specifically about AI, but it overlaps with the same operational pressures driving interest in tools like scribes: practices are trying to reduce unnecessary friction, preserve clinician capacity, and help veterinarians deliver care more effectively in the real-world constraints clients face. (coneofshame.com)

Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, this story is really about who gets to build the future of practice. A veterinarian-founder who is only a few years out of school brings unusually fresh knowledge of workflow friction, onboarding gaps, and what new grads actually need. If more clinicians follow that path, the profession could see tools that better reflect exam-room reality rather than software imposed from outside. But that upside depends on governance: careful validation, transparent limitations, strong data handling, and training teams to treat AI as a draft assistant rather than a diagnostic authority. (vetmed.illinois.edu)

There’s also a workforce angle. Stories like Szumski’s may resonate with students and associates who want broader career options than the clinic-or-specialty binary. Veterinary medicine has long struggled with retention, overload, and questions about sustainability. At the same time, educators are pushing for graduates who can do more with the resources in front of them, collaborate across general practice and specialty care, and stay effective in less-than-ideal conditions. Highlighting clinicians who build companies, teach, consult, or shape digital tools may widen the profession’s definition of impact, and that could matter for recruitment as much as software adoption. The message is less that everyone should found a startup, and more that veterinary training can translate into product design, systems thinking, and leadership beyond direct practice. (podcasts.apple.com)

What to watch: The next phase will be less about whether AI enters veterinary medicine and more about which tools earn trust, how schools and hospitals evaluate them, and whether veterinarian-led companies can prove measurable gains in documentation time, team wellbeing, record quality, and day-to-day clinical usability without encouraging overdependence. (dvm360.com)