September 2021
WIKIVET NEWS
Vol 1 Issue 1
Monthly Newsletter
Inside the Issue
A DAY IN THE LIFE Silvia Janska gives a run down on what her day-to-day life in the veterinary profession entails!
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE MICROBIOTA Content provided by our partner Protexin Veterinary.
FEATURE OF THE MONTH We're showing you our WikiVet website fetaure of the month, and how it can help you!
INTRODUCTION FROM WIKIVET We are excited to launch the first Wikivet newsletter! We will be sending you a monthly newsletter with lots of useful articles, as well as top tips on how you can get the most out of Wikivet. This month we’ll be including information from our first partner; Protexin Veterinary. We are delighted to be partnering with Protexin Veterinary to provide you with the latest research in gastroenterology. We have a number of exciting initiatives in progress for Wikivet and look forward to sharing them with you over the next few months! As always we want to ensure that Wikivet is a useful tool for you, whether you’re just starting your veterinary journey or if you’re a seasoned professional! If you’re interested in being a part of this we are keen to work with ambassadors who can help us achieve this. For more information, please contact info@wikivet.net. We hope you enjoy reading the newsletter and look forward to hearing your feedback. The Wikivet Team
September 2021
Issue 01
FREE EVENT
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Empowering and Supporting Women in the Veterinary Profession 7:00pm - 9:00pm BST
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With Kathryn Bell, Katie Ford, Daniella Dos Santos,
Natalie Scroggie, Tshidi Gardiner & Marissa Robson
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AN INTRODUCTION TO THE MICROBIOTA The collection of living microorganisms (bacteria, fungi, protozoa and viruses) that inhabit a specific environment are referred as the microbiota or microbiome, (the latter referring to the microorganisms and their genes) and are terms which now supersede the outdated ‘microflora’. The microbes occupying habitats such as gut, skin and the urogenital tract differ remarkably between and within species. Even within the same habitat variations can occur, with different bacterial populations existing at different skin sites on the same animal.1 However despite these variations, there does appear to be a core bacterial community, demonstrated by the canine intestinal microbiota which is dominated by three main phyla (Fusobacterium, Bacteroidetes, and Firmicutes)5. However, the relative abundance of each taxa can be extremely variable and reflects the microenvironment of the gastrointestinal tract location which is dictated by factors such as pH, oxygen, motility, lumen patency and presence of bile acids.4 Other external factors such as diet, environment, season, host genetics and even early microbial exposure have all been implicated in the development of the microbiota. These microbes form complex and dynamic associations with humans, animals and plants that range from mutually beneficial to commensal or pathogenic. Mutually beneficial organisms are organisms from two different species that exist together and each provides the other with some benefit from their individual activity. An example of this would be Ruminococcus, a cellulosedigesting bacteria present in herbivores: the host provides these bacteria with a constant supply of nutrients (from fibre), and in return the bacterial products of digestion (primarily glucose) supply the host with energy and nutrition from a food source they would otherwise be unable to utilise. Commensal organisms are those that benefit from the host without affecting the host in any way (positively or negatively). This term is, however, controversial amongst many biologists who do not truly believe that an organism can ‘take’ from another organism without exerting any change at all; this theory promotes the idea that all commensal organisms must have some mutualistic or parasitic effect on the host, no matter how subtle or small that effect may be
SUPPORTING AND EMPOWERING WOMEN IN THE VETERINARY PROFESSION Free Event
Gender balance in the veterinary profession has changed significantly over the last 40 years globally. According to the RCVS, women now account for almost 60% of registered practicing veterinarians and almost 80% of students enrolling in veterinary medicine are women. However, despite the number of women in the sector, females still encounter a gender pay gap and are underrepresented in certain key and senior roles within the profession, including Directors and Partners. Additionally, a BVA survey conducted in 2017 found that women experience more explicit gender discrimination and are recognised and appreciated less frequently than male colleagues. The continuity of male-led practices, combined with the nature of work, does not allow for a sustainable shift towards more flexible working practices. In addition to this, levels of stress and burnout are generally higher among women than men in the veterinary profession. The above facts suggest that relying on the female heavy pipeline will not be sufficient to address gender inequality, so what can we do to help? Click here to watch on-demand.
To continue reading visit WikiVet here
September 2021
Issue 01
A Day In The Life
A DAY IN THE LIFE WITH SILVIA JANSKA BY SILVIA JANSKA
Can you give us a brief outline of your job? I have a portfolio career, which means that I have a variety of jobs, where some are more permanent and secure and some are ‘ad-hoc’. I work as an equine ambulatory vet in the UK, currently as a locum. I also work as a consultant for animal health startups (www.innoveting.com), for example consulting on the current UK market, and managing clinical trials. I am also a co-founder and a CEO of two startups within the UK vet space, one looking at pet health and wellbeing, and the other looking at flexible working for permanent vet employees (www.flexee.vet). Where did your interest in working in this sector come from? I think like many, I wanted to be a vet since I was 5 years old. I remember telling my dad that I want to ride horses, which was the start of my journey into vet school. I wasn’t immediately accepted to vet school and so ended up doing a research degree first, then a Masters, and then an accelerated vet degree at the RVC.
During my time in practice, I started developing passion for innovation and turning ideas into practical solutions that would help improve the vet profession. While I was still in practice, I completed a certificate in Veterinary Business Management (CertVBM) and consulted for a compounding company during my studies. I really enjoyed this and was keen to continue this kind of work, which lead me to where I am now.
How did you get into it? I had a very squiggly but beautiful career path. Already as a student, I have worked at the eMedia department at the RVC on various projects – such as Wikivet, OVAM, and predominantly setting up the Echo360 lecture recording system for the university. So from this, I knew I enjoyed having a variety in my life and having small passion projects and side hustles during my full time roles was fulfilling for me. I also tried to find a way for how I can combine experience and knowledge from my four degrees – biological sciences, veterinary medicine, and business development – and apply it to innovative initiatives within veterinary profession and the wider animal health industry. What sort of different roles did you do to get to where you are today? After I graduated as a vet, I did an equine internship, thinking I will specialize in equine soft tissue surgery. However, I enjoyed doing the ambulatory work and so I stayed in full time practice for 7 years. September 2021
Did you have a plan to get to a certain point/level in your career Or did you just keep picking moves that looked interesting to you? At the beginning I had a clear goal of wanting to be an equine vet. Once I achieved that, while it was a nice life, I felt like something was missing. I no longer had a concrete career goal. This is when I did some reflecting and realized that a purely clinical work was not for me, which lead me to start Flexee and obtain a certificate in VBM. The VBM provided me with fundamentals in entrepreneurship, marketing, HR, accounting, and strategy, and gave me credibility when I was looking for opportunities in business development in the veterinary and animal health space. The other thing that I did was network and talk to a large variety of professionals – vets in clinics, vets who left clinics, people in industry, people in start-ups, people in large and small companies, etc. Not only did I meet some amazing people and made new friends, I also saw which topics energized me and which drained me. This helped me narrow down what specific projects/work I want to do and gain further experience in. Issue 01
What does a typical day look like for you?
FEATURE OF THE MONTH WikiVet
If you are looking to test yourself on different topics, we will bring you one of our favourite WikiVet tools, flashcards! It is always a good time to use WikiVet flashcards, whether it is before exams, to review material after class, for a presentation or for studying. The learning tool lets you test yourself depending on topic, species or systems. You will be asked questions about the topic or a clinical case to solve, and with the knowledge you have you must answer before clicking "reveal the correct answer" to the question. This tool not only allows you to check our answer, but also provides you with different links to specific WikiVet articles, where you can read more about the topic. It's the beginning of a new semester and we want you to be aware of this fascinating tool on WikiVet, which we hope will be useful to you throughout your years as a veterinary student. Do not waste more time and click here to see the FLASHCARDS!
My ‘typical day’ depends on which job I am doing. If I am working in clinics, it’s a day on the road as an ambulatory vet seeing patients and emergencies. If I am working on the startups, my days can be extremely varied depending on what stage the start-up is in. For example some of the very early start-ups require me to do a bit of everything - from content creation, to scouting and meeting potential strategic partners, developing and actioning the strategy, liaising with colleagues, fundraising, developing branding, and of course without customers to serve there is nothing, so communicating with prospective customers and creating client acquisition strategies is a key part. Good communication and management of time and expectations are important. What would you say are the best and worst aspects of the job? For me, being very self-motivated, the best part of my work lifestyle is the autonomy and freedom it provides. I also enjoy the relationship-building aspect of my work and constantly meeting new like-minded people. On the other hand, I have little patience with some of the more detailed tasks, as I am more of a ‘bigger-vision’ person.
What are the main skills you need to be a...? I am where I am thanks to both my technical skills, being a vet, a researcher, and having an entrepreneur mindset, but also my soft skills. These include good communication – being able to relate to people, communicating through one-to-one discussions and building relationships, team building, leading by motivating and supporting others. What are the common misconceptions that people have about the work you do? Maybe some think that being in meetings is boring, and sure it may be in some circumstances or for some people, but start-up meetings are where things more forward and I enjoy these. Also, people may have a pre-conceived idea of what ‘consulting’ means, but it can mean whatever it needs to for what you are able to deliver. What advice would you give someone wanting to break into this career? My number one advice would be to know very well what energizes you. If you do work that bring you energy, if will feel fulfilling and you will be happy. Of course, there are ups and downs in everything we do, but overall, you need to do the kind of work that brings you joy and energy. You may know this just by being self-aware, speaking to a variety of people and noticing what you are interested in and what you are not interested in, doing a personality test or a talent profile test and seeing if that matches your previous experiences, or finding the right life/career coach who can help direct you. Then it is a matter of finding short projects or volunteering in projects/work that you think would be of interest and seeing if your thoughts are confirmed or moving on and trying something different.
September 2021
Issue 01
Student Bundles
THE WEBINAR VET STUDENT BUNDLES YEAR 3 Tips and Tricks for getting the most from Cytology in practice Rabbit clinical pathology A review on equine parasitology View All >>
YEAR 1 Ethics and Welfare I think this animal has been a victim of cruelty, what next? Religious objections and futile treatments: a primer for handling euthanasia disputes View All >>
YEAR 4 Standing sedation for the equine patient Goats- practitioners survival guide to common health problems Farm animal analgesia View All >>
YEAR 2 Interpreting Endocrinology Lab results Adrenal testing dogs and cats: which test for what case? A case-based approach to endocrine treatment View All >>
YEAR 5 Small animal surgery abdominal emergencies Large animal surgery basics Sutures and knot tying. What to use, when and how View All >>
A Message From SimplyVets Hello WikiVet readers! We are Simply Vets, a sister company of WikiVet and part of the wider Alpha Vet International Group. Simply Vets primarily is a one stop stress free place for payroll and recruitment, serving vets, nurses, non-clinical staff, students, and veterinary practices, but that is not all we do! We aim to have a bank of information on our website that everyone involved with the veterinary profession can access and benefit from. This includes clinical articles, advice pieces and articles about the wider veterinary industry. We are also creating a student zone with resources such as interview techniques, how to write a CV, how to find a job and loads of other resources for students around exchanges and opportunities to enrich your veterinary education! Our goal is not just to be the best payroll and recruitment provider in the industry, but a household name for reliable, honest and unbiased information surrounding the veterinary industry and some of the challenges it faces. There is no doubt working in the veterinary industry is incredibly rewarding and many see it as a vocation rather than ‘just a job’ but it is no secret that it presents its’ own challenges as well. It’s our opinion that well educated and informed employees flourish in the industry and we think Simply Vets can be a small part of your journey to qualification and happy full-time employment! We know that people are often multitalented and writing is a popular escape from the hustle and bustle of daily life so we would love to showcase some of WikiVet’s readers’ experiences in the veterinary industry, whether it be as a student or about post-graduation life! If you would like to write a blog post or two for our new website – please get in touch! In the meantime, take a look at our website here for all our jobs, blog posts and informative pieces! September 2021
NEW STUDENT ZONE!
Issue 01