Around DC

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So long, farewell, until we meet again

Monday, April 22nd, 2013

Even though my externship officially ended on Friday at 5 pm, I decided to stay in the city a bit longer since I have an off block for the next two weeks. Lucky me! Or unlucky, depending on how you look at it. My four weeks here were technically the start of my fourth year [...]

Federal budgeting

Friday, April 19th, 2013

Earlier this week I attended an Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies House Appropriations subcommittee hearing, led by Chairman Robert Aderholt, R-AL 4th District with primary witness Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture. I don’t consider myself particularly economically inclined. Reading about the rise and fall of the stock market leaves me with more [...]

GRD Externship by the Numbers

Thursday, April 18th, 2013

Tomorrow is my last day.  Naturally I started reviewing the last 4 weeks with the AVMA-GRD externship, and I always like the exercise of looking at the numbers: 20 – weekdays of service 24 – veterinarians I met who were in federal agencies, interest organizations, fellowships, universities, and/or think tanks 2 – giant pandas seen [...]

Alphabet Soup

Thursday, April 11th, 2013

In one week, I visited the following organizations: USAID, USDA, EFSA, APHIS-VS, APHIS-CA, VMRCVM, AVMA, AAVMC, FSIS, DSH, CRS, and FDA-CVM to discuss the following topics: VMMA, VMLRPEA, MUMS, PAMTA, DATA, PUPS and pups (who doesn’t talk about their dogs?!).  And despite the alphabet soup, each place I went, there were vets.  And looking back [...]

Valuable Skills

Monday, April 8th, 2013

Everyone I’ve met with so far has asked me why I applied for the externship, and each time I haven’t been able to appropriately vocalize my reasoning. However, after Zach and I met with a previous GRD extern last week who’s currently participating in the AVMA Fellowship, I was able to take a step back [...]

A Day in the Life of a GRD Extern

Friday, April 5th, 2013

The title is a slight misnomer, given that no two days at GRD are the same, but for students interested in the program, I thought this was a good example of a day showing the breadth of opportunities doing this externship can afford you. 6:30 AM – Woke up.   Hit snooze. 6:38 AM – Woke [...]

Making Yourself Heard

Wednesday, March 27th, 2013

Hello, and thanks for joining me on my journey through the AVMA-GRD extern program! I’m excited for the opportunity to share my experiences with other students who may be interested in veterinary affairs in government. My first two days have been a crash course of the U.S. legislative branch.  I will be up front and [...]

Goodbye to DC

Thursday, August 2nd, 2012

Let me start out by saying that this experience has been outstanding. It absolutely has been more than I expected. I have had the chance to interact with so many different people and I now have a much better appreciation for the opportunities that veterinarians have in “non-traditional” careers. At the end of the day, [...]

Wait, I only have 20 days left?!

Monday, July 16th, 2012

In setting up meetings last week and planning my ‘to-do’ list for the next few weeks I came to a startling realization last night; I only have 20 days left in town! That seems outrageous considering the amount I want to accomplish, and how busy I have been.  This weekend I had the opportunity to [...]

Tick Tock, Crazy Clocks

Thursday, June 21st, 2012

So picture this: I’m walking down the halls of Ford House Office Building to attend a meeting at the Committee on Homeland Security when all of a sudden I hear the loudest, most obnoxious fog horn sound throughout the entire building (so I may be exaggerating a little, but it was loud!). My elementary school [...]

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