Mentorship, Networking, and the Creation of Latinx Veterinary Medical Association with Current Fourth-Year Student Juan Orjuela

Juan, otherwise known as “Juancho” was born in Bogota, Colombia, but his family immigrated to Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA when he was 10 years old. Juan attended the University of Milwaukee-Wisconsin, where he graduated with a bachelor’s in biology and environmental conservation. 

Juan is currently a fourth-year veterinary student at the Ontario Veterinary College in Canada. He is passionate about promoting diversity and inclusion in the veterinary profession. His veterinary interests include ophthalmology, emergency medicine, practice ownership, and taking on other leadership roles. 

Juan considers himself a student entrepreneur and prides himself on being the co-founder of the Latinx Veterinary Medical Association, a non-profit organization representing the Latinx community in the veterinary profession.

Our conversation with Juan covers many topics including:

• Juan's origin story getting into veterinary medicine
• The student journey and how interests may change throughout veterinary college
• The financial ramifications of getting a professional designation
• Mentorship: what it means and why it's important 
• Benefits of developing networking skills
• Launching a non-profit, Latinx Veterinary Medical Association as a veterinary student
• Developing a community of Latin veterinary professionals
• Juan's impact round!

If you'd like to find out more about Juan, he's very active on social media, Instagram in particular at:

@juancho.the.student.vet

For more information on the Latinx VMA you can check them out online and on Instagram at:

https://latinxvma.org/

@latinxvet

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Want to join our community of like-minded Veterinary Professionals? Send us an email at theveterinaryprojectpodcast@gmail.com and we'll get you connected to our private Veterinary Project Facebook group.

Any questions, comments, feedback, or requests for guests can also be sent to theveterinaryprojectpodcast@gmail.com. Thank you for listening and we look forward to seeing you next Wednesday for another episode of The Veterinary Project Podcast!

- Jonathan Leicht, DVM and Michael Bugg, DVM