Third annual essay competition provides veterinary students an opportunity to offer insight into practice consolidation and its impact on the profession
Davis, CA: The VIN Foundation is excited to announce the results of its third annual Solutions for the Profession Competition. Three winners were awarded cash prizes to help with educational expenses.
This year’s competition offered veterinary students an opportunity to share their thoughts on the current state of practice consolidation in the profession. The guidelines asked applicants to review positive and negative impacts of consolidation, along with how they see this change affecting the profession now and in the future. Nearly one hundred entries were submitted from around the world.
VIN Foundation’s Board Chairman, Dr. Richard Headley, stated “This essay competition provided an opportunity for veterinary students to provide insight into the increase of practice consolidations. Understanding how this impacts our colleagues and the profession as a whole helps the VIN Foundation to better support each individual as they navigate throughout their veterinary career.”
Judges found it difficult to select only three winners from the entries. The VIN Foundation Solutions for the Profession Committee selected the top twenty entries in the first round of judging. These essays were assessed by an additional round of judges, who passed the top three to well-known leaders in the veterinary profession. The final judges, after much discussion, selected the winners:
- First place was awarded to Joanne Yi for her big fish little fish perspective on corporations versus the independent practices. Joanne is a second year student at the University of Calgary Veterinary Medicine.
- Second place went to Joseph Marchell for his financial viewpoint on the impact of consolidation on the profession. Joseph is set to graduate this year from Washington State University, College of Veterinary Medicine.
- Annie Showers won third place with her in-depth approach to polling hundreds of practicing veterinarians for their responses on the pros and cons of corporate ownership. Annie is a second year student at Ohio State University, College of Veterinary Medicine.
The VIN Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit providing tools and resources to support veterinary students and veterinarians throughout their careers, was created by members of the Veterinary Information Network in 2005. Learn more about the VIN Foundation and its programs. The VIN Foundation is made possible through generous gifts by individual donors and grants. All gifts made to the VIN Foundation are tax deductible.
VIN Foundation
The VIN Foundation was founded by members of the Veterinary Information Network (VIN) in 2005. VIN is an online community of veterinarians and veterinary students with over 100,000 members worldwide. The VIN Foundation’s charitable efforts are centered around the belief that a healthy veterinary profession is essential for healthy animal and human communities.
