On today’s show I’m joined by the woman with potentially the new Blunt Dissection record (Sorry Sheilah) for the number of letters after a name, Dr. Robin Downing, DVM, DAAPM, DACVSMR, CVPP, CCRP, CVA, MS in Clinical Bioethics. Robin, who will be familiar to many of you, graduated from Loyola University of Chicago, (where she obtained a degree in English) in 1981 and later from the University of Illinois: College of Veterinary Medicine in 1986. Growing up, Dr. Robin had a natural rapport with an...
Aug 25, 2021•1 hr 31 min
On today’s show, I’m joining by Dr. Marty Becker. Also known to the public as “America’s Veterinarian,” Marty is a genuine titan of vet medicine with an incredibly successful career spanning not just the decades, but also the categories. He was born and raised in potato country on a small family farm in Southern Idaho. Where his family had dairy and beef cattle, horses, sheep, pigs, chickens, and, of course, dogs and cats. Back then the cats were mostly feral and lived in the shadows of the hays...
Jul 28, 2021•1 hr 35 min
On today’s show I’m joined by Dr Sharon Grossman. Dr. Grossman is a Psychologist, Life Coach, and Speaker, who is an expert in Emotional Intelligence (EQ) and managing burnout in high achieving professionals. She graduated more than two decades ago with a Bachelors in Psychology and since has completed a double Masters and a Doctorate in Counselling Psychology from Fordham University. For the past two decades, Dr Grossman has worked with lawyers, doctors and other high-achieving professionals to...
Jul 01, 2021•1 hr 23 min
On today’s show, I’m joined by Megan Brashear. Megan initially went to college as a History major, with the objective of teaching high school students. But quickly realising that, for her, such a career was potentially an act of gross masochism she quickly pivoted. Instead, she found biology, and shortly after, veterinary technology. Fast forward several years and Megan gained a BS in animal science from Brigham Young University, her CVT at Oregon in 2000, and became a VTS in ECC in 2004. During...
May 28, 2021•1 hr 27 min
On today’s show I’m joined by Dr Fabian Rivers. Fabian is an exotics vet, TV personality, social activist, and philosopher. Hailing from Birmingham in the United Kingdom, Fabian, also known as Dready Vet, took a path less travelled to becoming a vet by undertaking his training in the Czech Republic. So why did he go overseas to study? The answer perhaps sheds some light on why there is such a glaring mismatch between the ethnic diversity of our general population and the ethnic diversity of our ...
Apr 29, 2021•1 hr 23 min
On today’s show, I’m joined by Dr Pete Dommett. Pete graduated from the Onderstepoort school of veterinary medicine in South Africa. A born adventurer with a lust for life, he now lives in Scotland managing an organic farm, literally ploughing a new furrow for ethical food production, and a move away from unsustainable monoculture farm practice. Something he firmly believes is detrimental to animal welfare, the planet and even the survival of the human race. Peter’s convictions derive in no smal...
Mar 26, 2021•1 hr 15 min
On today’s show, I’m joined by the socially savvy Dr Lisa Lippman. Lisa is one of the most followed and socially influential veterinarians in the United States. She is a regular fixture on media outlets such as Dr Oz, Inside Edition, and People Magazine as a go-to source for expertise in pet health and safety. Whilst growing up in New Jersey Lisa developed a passion for animal care. After initially majoring in Public Relations, she was accepted into vet school and graduated from Western Universi...
Feb 26, 2021•1 hr 10 min
On today’s show, I’m joined by one of the most senior vets in the United States, Dr. Molly McAllister. Molly graduated from Oregon State Vet School in 2004, holds a BA in biology, and a Masters in Public health. After a brief stint in equine practice, she worked as a GP vet in Portland before life got tough and circumstances took her in an entirely different, but retrospectively serendipitous, direction. It was 2009 when she began work within the Mars Petcare family, joining as Scientific Servic...
Jan 28, 2021•1 hr 26 min
Today’s show is the 2020 end of year review. Normally it is my job to interview and tease apart the life of interesting people from around the world of veterinary medicine. But in our traditional end of year review episode, I take the time to reflect on some of my favourite clips from my 2020 interviews and consolidate the wisdom. In this year, it was very poignant to reflect on how easy it was to meet our friends and families, and to a certain extent how for-granted we all took many elements of...
Dec 23, 2020•52 min
On today’s show, I’m joined by Dr Caroline Murray aka the Wilderness Vet. Caroline graduated from Liverpool University Vet School in 1997 and, in addition to her veterinary degree, holds a bachelor's degree in Zoology and a Master's in Conservation & Wildlife Medicine. After spending the first few years of her career working in the UK, she took the opportunity to spread her wings and taste the combination of remoteness, veterinary medicine, and conservation (that became the hallmarks of her ...
Nov 26, 2020•1 hr 31 min
On today’s show, I’m joined by double European record holder, gold medalist, and Olympic athlete, Laura Muir. Laura made her debut in senior athletics representing Great Britain at the 2013 World Championships and is the current British record holder over 1500m. In 2017 she had an incredible year becoming the fastest woman in the world over this distance, taking her first diamond league world title and winning two gold medals at the European Indoor Athletics Championships, breaking a 32-year old...
Oct 22, 2020•1 hr 11 min
On today’s show, I’m joined by Dr BJ Miller. BJ is a practising hospice and palliative medicine physician in San Fransico, an author and speaker, best known for his TED Talk, "What Really Matters at the End of Life”. He has been on the teaching faculty at UCSF School of Medicine since 2007 and sees patients and caregivers through his online palliative care service, Mettle Health. He is the subject of Netflix's Academy Award-nominated short documentary, End Game and his book for approaching the e...
Sep 23, 2020•1 hr 13 min
On today’s show I’m joined by not one, but two awesome guests as we take on the towering elephant in the room of veterinary medicine - MONEY! More specifically, DEBT! To dissect this huge issue we have a two for one deal where I’m joined by vets and financial experts Dr. Meredith Jones and Dr. Phil Zeltzman. Meredith is an ER doctor from Virginia, host of the Debt Free Vets Facebook group, and was able to pay off her entire student debt in less than five years post-graduation. She now uses the k...
Aug 27, 2020•1 hr 32 min
On today’s show, we go on a dive into the dark side of humanity as I am joined by veterinary forensics expert, Dr Melinda Merck. Dr Merck is the owner of Veterinary Forensics Consulting in Austin, which supports law enforcement by tackling crime scene investigation as well as the examination of live and deceased victims. She helps with large scale operations including exhumations of burial sites and examination of skeletal animal remains. She frequently testifies as a veterinary forensic expert ...
Jul 23, 2020•1 hr 8 min
On today’s show, I’m joined by Dr Lisa Radosta. Dr Radosta graduated in 2000 from the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine. After completing an internship in small animal medicine and surgery at Coral Springs Animal Hospital, she worked as a primary care veterinarian for 2 1/2 years. She then completed a 3-year residency in Behavioral Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. During her residency, she was awarded the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists Resident research...
Jun 25, 2020•1 hr 17 min
On today’s show, I’m joined by Dr Sara Pizano. Sara is a Cornell Graduate and leading light in shelter medicine who has brought about enormous positive change to shelters across America. After university, she completed an internship at the Animal Medical Center in New York in 1995 and was subsequently hired by North Shore Animal League in Port Washington, New York where her shelter medicine adventure began. In 1998 Sarah was recruited as director of the Humane Society of Broward County in Fort L...
May 22, 2020•1 hr 47 min
On today’s show, I’m joined by Dr Saye Clement. Saye graduated from Ontario Veterinary College, Guelph in 1993. During her career she has worked in emergency medicine and since 2003 has been a co-owner of Carling Animal Hospital in Ottawa, where, on top of her clinical caseload, she leads the team and manages the hospital standards of care in her hospital. Away from her practice, Saye is extremely active within the veterinary community serving on multiple advisory boards including the Lecture Ad...
Apr 23, 2020•1 hr 28 min
My guest today is a genuine global superstar in the world of animal health, Dr Temple Grandin. The word ‘legend’ is often overused, but when you’re talking about one of the most respected animal behaviourists in the world – and the most famous person with autism – the word feels pretty accurate. Labelled unfairly as mentally 'retarded' because she didn’t talk until she was three and a half years old, Dr Grandin rose to become a prominent author, speaker and consultant on autism, animal behaviour...
Mar 26, 2020•43 min
On today’s show, I’m joined by one of the most respected thought leaders on the planet when it comes to veterinary economics, Dr Karen Felsted. Karen graduated from the University of Texas with a degree in marketing and spent 12 years in accounting and business management, six of those with Ernst & Young. She then made a radical career change to studying Veterinary Medicine at Texas A & M University graduating in 1996. Returning to Dallas, she practiced both small animal and emergency me...
Feb 20, 2020•1 hr 12 min
On today’s show, which was performed and recorded in front of a live audience at Fetch Kansas City 2019, I am joined by an incredible woman, who is genuinely making a difference in veterinary medicine, Dr Betsy Charles. Betsy is the executive director of the Veterinary Leadership Institute (VLI), which allows her to combine her passion for veterinary medicine, leadership development, teaching, and communication. After graduating from Washington State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine i...
Jan 23, 2020•1 hr 21 min
Today’s show is the 2019 end of year review. Normally it is my job to interview and tease apart the life of interesting people from around the world of veterinary medicine. But in the now traditional end of year review episode, I take the time to reflect on some of my favourite clips from my 2019 interviews and consolidate the wisdom. This year a strand that really stood out was how many people have overcome their battles to find some kind of equilibrium between their work-self and their persona...
Dec 24, 2019•1 hr 15 min
On today’s show I’m delighted to welcome back (back extremely popular demand) anaesthesia, feline and end of Life care guru Dr Sheliah Robertson for our very first ever “round two” interview. Sheilah is one of the insanely qualified, brilliant yet humble people in veterinary medicine so, if you missed round one then your homework is to go back to Episode 16 and catch up! Sheilah grew up in Scotland and graduated from Glasgow University which sort of means we are twins. And her career in veterina...
Nov 28, 2019•1 hr 29 min
On today’s show I’m joined by former US Marine turned marketing guru Bill Schroeder. Bill has a fascinating career path and attended Western Illinois University where he gained his degree in Electrical, Electronic and Communications Engineering in 1991. Following graduation, he enlisted in the US Marine Corp. After surviving the legendary Marine Corp boot camp training at the USMC Depot in San Diego, he went on to serve as a helicopter mechanic, plane captain, and then as a reservist, training N...
Oct 25, 2019•1 hr 18 min
On today’s show, I am joined by Dr Steve Noonan. Steve graduated from the Ontario Veterinary College in 1983 and by 1986 (at the tender age of 27) he owned three veterinary clinics. Though business grew fast, life got tough and with interest rates exceeding 20% per annum Steve very quickly learned how little he knew about business. Thus began an almost 30-year practice management learning odyssey which culminated in the formation of a 12 hospital partnership and the directorship of an ultramoder...
Sep 26, 2019•1 hr 22 min
On today’s show, I’m joined by Dr Robert M Miller. Dr Miller is an equine behaviourist, veterinarian, and author. He was born in New York on March 4, 1927, and raised in Tucson, Arizona. After serving in the infantry in World War II, he attended and graduated from the veterinary school at Colorado State University in 1956. He established the Conejo Valley Veterinary Clinic in Thousand Oaks, California in 1959 and was the pioneer of the larger multi-doctor practice - a rarity at the time. Thirty-...
Aug 30, 2019•1 hr 26 min
On today’s show, I super-excited to be joined by the Chief Executive of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, Lizzie Lockett. Lizzie, originally from a farming background in the North of England, is an Accredited PR Practitioner with the Chartered Institute of Public Relations and holds a degree in English Language and Literature from St John’s College, Oxford, a postgraduate qualification in journalism, and diplomas in the History of Art, also from Oxford. She joined the Royal College in Fe...
Jul 31, 2019•1 hr 25 min
On today’s show, I am joined by the multi-talented Jolle Kirpensteijn. Jolle graduated from the Utrecht Veterinary School in Holland and promptly moved to the US where he completed his residency training in small animal surgery and Masters degree at Kansas State University. He followed this with a fellowship in surgical oncology at the Colorado State. In ‘93, Jolle returned to Europe as a surgical-oncology and soft tissue surgeon at Utrecht University. In February of 2005, he was appointed Profe...
Jun 20, 2019•1 hr 22 min
On today’s show I super excited to be joined by one of my writing and business idols, Chris Brogan. Chris is one of the original group of people who, in the late nineties, decided this new-fangled-interwebs thing might just be useful and went all in. A risk that has paid off handsomely as he became known as one of the leading marketing gurus of the internet age. He is also one of the most published authors on the internet and has been described as a “content production cyborg” due to the volume ...
May 23, 2019•1 hr
On today’s show, I’m joined by Veterinary Technician, campaigner and veterinary Instagram celeb Nicole LaForest. Nicole is a co-owner, manager and Licensed Veterinary Technician for Mayo Veterinary Services - a large mobile surgery practice in Seattle. She graduated with an Associate’s Degree in Veterinary Technology from Penn Foster College, is licensed in both California and Washington State and spent several years working in emergency medicine as a lead technician. Her clinical work at the ma...
Apr 20, 2019•1 hr 22 min
On today’s show, I am joined by Dr Jessica Wilson. Jessica is a veterinarian and professional athlete. In fact, as of now, she holds a new record - being the first pro-athlete to appear on Blunt Dissection. Jessica’s journey into veterinary medicine began early when she decided (age four) to become a vet. But from that moment the odds seemed stacked against her and she had to overcome many obstacles. Growing up, the daughter of a single mum who migrated to in New York from the Dominican Republic...
Mar 20, 2019•1 hr 21 min
