#12: Career diversity with the 2018 WSAVA Vet Of The Year. Dr Guy Weerasinghe.

One of our criteria for selecting guests here at the vet vault is to find people from across varied and interesting parts of our profession to showcase all doors that can open to you with your veterinary degree. Well, today’s guest is the poster boy for veterinary career diversity! Dr Guy Weerasinghe has covered more ground in the veterinary profession than many of us will do in a lifetime. He’s been in diary vet in New Zealand, a small animal shelter vet for the RSPCA - Australia’s largest veterinary charity, he’s worked in government doing field surveillance and policy, and has spent time in general small animal practice. During this time he gained a masters degree in Veterinary Public Health, and then became a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Preventative Medicine: in other words - he’s a certified Veterinary Public Health specialist. While he was doing all of this he co-founded an online employment agency, served as the President of Australian Veterinarians in Public Health, was a branch president for the Australian Veterinary Association, co-authored the AVA’s official position statement on climate change, and became a regular speaker at a range of global conferences on the subjects of zoonoses and preventative medicine. A career like this does not go unnoticed, and Guy was elected as the World Small Animal Veterinary Associations’ young veterinarian of the year for 2018. He is currently a veterinary officer with the Northern Australia Quarantine Strategy under the Department of Agriculture - in other words: he’s a Veterinary Public heath government vet, and, to top off a big decade, he became a dad 18 months ago. All of this in less than 10 years! As you can imagine - we had a lot to talk about. Join us to hear about how to take off your blinkers to be able to see all the opportunities that are out there for vets, about how to recognise your limitations and identify your skills, and about the joy of dealing with clients, even when they don’t like you! Guy also tells us about the pathway into a career in veterinary public health, and of course what life as a government vet is like, and much much more. Please enjoy - Dr Guy Weerasinghe.