Black History Spotlight: Diversity in Veterinary Medicine

Many people know that I am in vet school.  Other than Tuskegee, which is about 50% Black, there isn't a lot of diversity in the veterinary world.  This is a problem, and the American Veterinary Medical Association has recognized that and wants to change it.  I thought this article was very interesting.  It is about two vets, one white, one black, who started working together in the late 60s and are both big proponents of diversity.  Before I had my interview at Tuskegee's vet school, I'd never actually seen a Black veterinarian.  There is one in a neighboring city to my hometown, but I had never met him.  Other minorities are also very underrepresented, and hopefully one day this will change

Check out the article on the website of the AVMA: Diversity in Practice

Debbye Turner: Former Miss America, Veterinarian, Journalist

I actually stumbled upon Debbye Turner. I'd never heard of her. She was crowned Miss America in 1990 but let's face it, I was 7. I probably didn't care at that time, and surely wouldn't remember it. So how did I find out about Debbye? I was looking for information about Black veterinarians. I found some statistics from the American Veterinary Medical Association that said that if you look at the total number of veterinarians that graduated in 2009, less than 2.5 percent of them were black. So finding a Black female veterinarian, who was also Miss America is AWESOME to me. She received her DVM from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1991. Starting in 2001 she has worked for the Early Show on CBS, often doing a segment called Pet Planet.

Read more about her at her website:  Debbye Turner