Student veterinary technicians explore zoo medicine and other career options
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During the panel discussion, veterinary technicians represented a variety of different career paths such as entrepreneurship, academia and roles outside traditional veterinary practices such as zoo medicine. Panelists included Alyssa Mages, BS, CVT, FVTE, an owner and educator with Empowering Veterinary Teams LLC, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Bailey Donovan, BS, CVT, a specialist in teaching and veterinary learning technology at the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine in Madison; and Kourtney Conti, CVT, a veterinary team member at EPZ.
“Traditional roles within a general practice or within an ER and specialty practice, are not the only things we can do. Once you get your credentials as a CVT, LVT, LVMT or RVT, you can do anything—literally anything,”
Jodi Koch, VMD, a managing professional services veterinarian with Zoetis, gave the presentation on monoclonal antibodies. In an interview with dvm360, she said one key takeaway from the lecture is that veterinary medicine is a “team sport” that relies on technicians. “They are just as important as the veterinarian and especially as innovation continues within the veterinary space, they’re going to be so much more heavily involved in the diagnosis. They’re becoming even more of an integral part of patient management,” Koch said.
That sentiment was echoed by Marks. “Veterinary technicians are absolutely critical to the entire veterinary health profession. We, veterinarians, cannot do our job without them. It’s impossible. They are our eyes and ears on a lot of what’s happening as we are working with clients or in surgery or something else. They are absolutely critical for the most efficient functionality of the practice,” Marks said.
Laura P Clark, DVM, PhD, who works in academic global medical affairs with Zoetis and serves as an EPZ board member, said that another goal of the summit is to ensure that veterinary technician students know that they matter and their voice matters. “I want them to know that there are so many things that these talented young students and future veterinary technicians can do if they can do. If they can think it, they can be it,” Clark said in a dvm360 interview.
Summit organizers said they are planning to annually hold the event. Clark noted that her goal is to keep increasing the number of participating schools to reach more students. “This year, we have the privilege of working on 3 programs. I’d like to advance that to 6 programs next year [and] maybe 9 programs in the third year. [I’d like to] continue this because this is such a unique but wonderful opportunity to offer something different and novel,” Clark said.
Reference
Exploring career options for veterinary technicians. dvm360. October 17, 2025. Accessed October 23, 2025.
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