Remastered! "A Real Doctor" with Dr. Cherice Roth

Buckle up for this mic drop episode with Dr. Cherice Roth!

Dr. Cherice Roth is the Chief Veterinary Officer (CVO) of Digital Pet Health for Mars Veterinary Health. She is also a Mom & author.  She is well-known in the veterinary industry as a strategic leader and a Telemedicine innovator.

Dr. Roth works daily with telemedicine and believes in strong community and social services professionals to advance the veterinary field. She is highly skilled in Veterinary Medicine, mentorship, change management, Surgery, Communication, Telehealth implementation, Exotic Animals, and Team Building.

Dr. Roth is an author of children’s books focusing on veterinary medicine, diversity, and representation (see links below). She has also served as an advisory board member for the Multicultural Veterinary Medical Association.

Cherice's children's books:
1. What's A Real Doctor?
2. What Does A Real Doctor Look Like?

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Transcript

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Dr Megan Sprinkle: [00:00:00] Welcome to Vet Life Reimagined. We are wrapping up our month focusing on parenting children and family. If you haven't already registered for our children's book giveaway, please check out VetLifeReimagined. com or find the direct link in the description below. The books that are in that giveaway are all written by veterinarians.

Dr Megan Sprinkle: Adults may appreciate them equally, but I wanted to bring out an episode from the archive because this guest is the author of two of those books. The episode was titled, Dr. Cherice Roth was published in September of 2022. I remastered it and did a little extra editing, but it is very, very relevant even today.

Dr Megan Sprinkle: Cherice also gives a little bit of a challenge to vet med, and I would love to hear if you think almost two years later, what changes have you seen in the profession? Also in this time, as an update, Cherice is now the chief veterinary officer of digital pet health for Mars Veterinary Health. Throughout the episode, you will see constant reminders of our May theme, [00:01:00] including at the very end, this day for the full episode, even if you've heard it before.

Dr Megan Sprinkle: This is an episode I don't get tired of hearing. So remastered is the conversation with Dr. Cherice Roth.

Dr Cherice Roth: The thing that keeps me going is this is the perfect time to be a veterinarian. For somebody that doesn't fit in a box very well, for somebody that didn't grow up veterinary medicine, this is the perfect time to be a vet. I live and breathe our oath. It is the oath, honestly, that keeps me going. It is this crazy, harebrained idea of mine that we really can.

Dr Cherice Roth: Keep every pet from suffering. 

Dr Megan Sprinkle: If you don't leave this episode excited about being a veterinarian, I don't know what. Dr. Cherice Roth is currently the chief veterinary officer of Fuzzy Pet Health, as well as an advisory board member for Multicultural Veterinary Medical Association. She is also the author of two children's books [00:02:00] that focus on veterinary medicine, Diversity and representation.

Dr Megan Sprinkle: She believes that veterinary virtual care is the answer for health disparities in pets. She received her doctorate from the Texas A& M College of Veterinary Medicine and a master's in biochemistry. Before we start. Please make sure you click to follow the podcast on your favorite podcast platform. And please do me a favor and find me on YouTube and subscribe to the show there, too.

Dr Megan Sprinkle: My goal is to reach a thousand subscribers and I need your help in sharing. Thank you. And here is Cherice.

Dr Megan Sprinkle: How did you find your way into veterinary medicine? 

Dr Cherice Roth: I always loved animals, like I kept little critters under my bed and those sorts of things, but I actually didn't meet my first veterinarian until my third year of undergrad, which is vastly different than the majority of my colleagues. and even then, honestly, it just wasn't on my radar.

Dr Cherice Roth: What I [00:03:00] knew about vet med is that it was hard to get into and expensive to get into. And so. I just, okay, and kept going. I was actually working on my PhD in biochemistry and I started working with the Institutional Care and Use of Animal Committee at the UNT Health Science Center in Fort Worth, and it was at that time I was married and I was working with all of these really small critters and my research projects, and they were doing really well.

Dr Cherice Roth: They were recovering from their procedures far better than the other colleagues. And my husband was finally like, have you thought about being a vet? Because like this whole surgery thing, you're, you're good. And so I was like, Oh, I wonder if it's how hard it actually is turned out, when I started looking at the prerequisites, , my position as a graduate teaching assistant, I was teaching a lot of the courses that were prerequisites.

Dr Cherice Roth: And so I was like, Oh, I can do this. And so I, as much as it pains me to say, cause it's such a different story, I applied to three and [00:04:00] got into three. And then it made me start to question like, Number one, why did I think it was so hard? What barriers did I perceive? What barriers were actually there to get in?

Dr Cherice Roth: And, you know, it turns out that I had gotten super lucky, especially around the animal experience portion, strictly because I was in research. had I not been in research, I would have had no access at all to getting the hours that I needed working hands on with, with animals. 

Dr Megan Sprinkle: I'm really curious, you overcame the misconception that, that this isn't for me, like, because it was hard in quotes.

Dr Megan Sprinkle: What was your veterinary school like once you got in? 

Dr Cherice Roth: I mean, I went to Texas A& M, so it was perfect. Class of 2013. During vet school, honestly, I felt like, I mean, I still had friends. I was, you know, it was fine. I loved my time there. I learned a ton. I also felt like, because I had such a strong science background, those first couple of years that were harder for a lot of [00:05:00] the, colleagues were actually rather easier for me because it was, Very science based and physiology based.

Dr Cherice Roth: And that is, my love is the biochemistry aspects of it. But then the tables turned a bit because I had basically no practical hands on experience because I didn't grow up with horses or even around horses or cows or any of that. I had one dog in my entire life. And so even the most basics of animal handling that seems second nature to all of my colleagues, you know, I didn't, I never had access to any of that.

Dr Cherice Roth: And so I had to very much. So we'll learn day one. How do I do this? And so it was definitely a different type of experience, but I felt like I came out better for it. My fourth year, I wrote my clinical fourth year. , so I actually presented a curriculum to the curriculum committee. Because I just didn't feel like the traditional small animal versus large animal track really got me what I was seeking from veterinary medicine.[00:06:00] 

Dr Cherice Roth: So part of the year I was in Australia learning advanced surgeries on exotics. And the other parts of the year, honestly, I was in ERs, being baby doctor in ERs. overnight facilities, exotics clinics, where it was extremely hands on and really got to push those boundaries of making those clinical decisions.

Dr Cherice Roth: So when I came out of that school, I was ready to practice. 

Dr Megan Sprinkle: Wow, I'm so glad you shared that because I don't know how many people realize that they can do that, I always say it never hurts to ask right. The worst 

Dr Cherice Roth: they could say is no. Exactly. Like I taught, um, all through vet school because it was really expensive.

Dr Cherice Roth: I did take out student loans, but that was for the tuition expenses. And so for the living expenses, you know, my husband he was veterinary assistant at a clinic in Bryan and I was teaching. And so I was really experienced in putting together, um, Clear curriculum with objectives and goals and [00:07:00] all of those sorts of things.

Dr Cherice Roth: and there's a layer of support there, you know, back in the day it was Kenita Rogers and Dan Posey that were the associate deans at that time. And, you know, I would sit down with them and go through my plans and they really did a great job of working with me to take care of them.

Dr Megan Sprinkle: Now you mentioned your husband was a veterinary technician. Is that how you met? Or is that how he kind of gave you the push of you can do veterinary work? Megan, his dad was 

Dr Cherice Roth: my undergrad advisor. 

Dr Megan Sprinkle: Oh, I knew 

Dr Cherice Roth: his dad and his sister. Years before I met him. And so they were actually like, you should really meet Jeremy.

Dr Cherice Roth: And I was like, okay, yeah. And then one day we randomly met, in the halls of, or in his dad's office, actually, and I didn't know who he was and obviously he didn't know who I was. And so we met and then a few hours later, his dad. Introduces us [00:08:00] and I was like, Oh, Hey. And he was like, we literally just met.

Dr Cherice Roth: And I did not remember that. Oh, but we've been married now for 16 years together for 18. So 

Dr Megan Sprinkle: that is so cool. Well, and it sounds like just reading some of your story. That, you have had some lucky relationships and, and meaning just the people that you end up being around and working with have really made a huge impact in, your trajectory, your decisions.

Dr Megan Sprinkle: so like going back to, you didn't even meet a veterinarian until college. Can you share a little bit more about that? Sounds like. Just who they were also helped you realize what you could do as well. 

Dr Cherice Roth: Yeah. And I mean, like I said, when I, when I met him, it wasn't, gosh, this is so embarrassing. Tell the story.

Dr Cherice Roth: so I was in , a vertebrate zoology class, . And so [00:09:00] part of the class was we would tag or trap animals, or we could get roadkill and identify roadkill. Just basically, it was a way of surveying the populations of animals that were in the area. And so I had gotten this critter, I won't name what the critter was, and I didn't want to take the entire critter in with me.

Dr Cherice Roth: And so I called, now my father in law has passed, but I called him and said, Hey! I need to take this skull off. how do I do that? And he was like, Oh, you should go. He sent me to the vet clinic. , and that's how I met Dr. Gowdy and we'll take it off the head off. you know, we met and he was just a nice guy.

Dr Cherice Roth: He's Aggie veterinarian too. And so it was at least my first experiences were, you know, it's just a very typical veterinarian, right? We're all willing to help, especially students. He was a student of my father in law as well. So he knew what I was, what I was trying to [00:10:00] do. And I ended up doing like a two week rotation with them, just trying to figure out what are the things I want to do in my life.

Dr Cherice Roth: And like I said, I had gleaned from veterinary medicine that it was hard and expensive, and I already had, um, So many student loans and all of those things that it didn't still register, as a viable career path for me. But that's, that's how that went down. 

Dr Megan Sprinkle: That's funny. You are giving me flashbacks to undergrad and those animal science courses of learning how to.

Dr Megan Sprinkle: Clean skulls and 

Dr Cherice Roth: the domestic beetles, all of that. That was, that was my jam. Absolutely. There you go. Exactly. 

Dr Megan Sprinkle: So after vet school, you made it. , and by the way, I'm a 2014 grad. So, right there with you. And so how was the transition? It sounds like you set yourself up really well. Like you said, you kind of created your fourth year.

Dr Megan Sprinkle: So you had all this great experience, but as we kind of see the transition from vet school into clinical practice can often be very challenging. So what was that transition for [00:11:00] you? 

Dr Cherice Roth: I don't think the transition was hard for me because of my fourth year. Awesome. I was mostly focused on being super broke and knowing that I had to get out and start making money because I had all these student loans that I needed to pay off.

Dr Cherice Roth: And so I came out and I worked for Banfield. I chose Banfield because I was actually working for them as a student ambassador. And so I already had a number of years under my belt as far as experience with the company, even though I had not actually worked in clinic, I did some rotations and things like that there.

Dr Cherice Roth: But I came out, you know, as an associate veterinarian and as we all are, we're energetic and we want to learn all the things. And so I was doing Banfield during the day and ER overnights and I, yeah, so let me tell you like Cherice , right when I graduated was like, I had some questions. I have some questions for her.

Dr Cherice Roth: , but what I will say is that it grew me as a clinician so quickly, like I had to be able to make decisions. [00:12:00] I had to be able to be the one to lean on my surgical skills. That was something I had to really assess. Is this something I can do or do I need to send it to the ER down the street. All of those sorts of things were so important.

Dr Cherice Roth: It honestly gave me a great insights into what happens to those cases that are referred out of general practice. Because what would happen sometimes is that I would see a pet, at, The Banfield that I was working at, and then I would be their overnight doctor. And so I got this really great aspect of continuing care.

Dr Cherice Roth: And some of it's just, you have different tools available at Banfield. We weren't able to keep pets overnight and I knew that that wouldn't need an overnight care. So I had this two sides of the coin as far as being an ER doctor and being a general practitioner. And it was crazy fun. It was so much fun and I learned a ton.

Dr Cherice Roth: It made me a stronger doctor, made me a better communicator. And it was great right up until I was about eight months pregnant. It immediately became not fun at all. , but during that [00:13:00] time, Banfield invested a ton in me. I was willing to learn and I was willing to stretch the things that I knew.

Dr Cherice Roth: And so they sent me to learn or ultrasound, they sent me to learn orthopedic surgery. Once I was done doing kind of the GP ER type of thing, I was doing major soft tissue and orthopedic surgeries for Banfield. That 

Dr Megan Sprinkle: is incredible. I'm really curious by this, you're their GP doctor and then you may end up being their ER doctor later that day.

Dr Megan Sprinkle: I also know you have a big heart around access to care. Did you see any of that also, seeing that both sides, the, the GP doctor and emergency doctor, when did really your passion for trying to increase access to care really blossom? 

Dr Cherice Roth: Yeah, so that was definitely part of it, is seeing this, this huge dichotomy between the haves and the have nots, like just the difference between when I was working ER in Santa Fe versus downtown [00:14:00] Albuquerque.

Dr Cherice Roth: it was just such a vast difference. So that, Sort of did it. And then what I started to do is I started to think about the one pet that I had in my life who was black. We'll call her a lab. She wasn't really a lab. She was, I don't remember how we got her. We didn't care. She was a dog and we wanted a dog.

Dr Cherice Roth: And it was me and my four other siblings. I'm the oldest of five. And her name was Ebony, and I really just started thinking through like the cases that I'm seeing and how it matched up with what my experience was, with having this pet in my household and then really started to focus in on how she died.

Dr Cherice Roth: She got sick, we were trying to make a decision as to whether or not we took her to the doctor. When it came down to it, we agreed that we were going to try and get her to the weekend. Literally, she had five kids looking after her. We were making her chicken soup, Megan. We were doing all of the things, , to try and get this dog to the weekend so that we could get her to a doctor.

Dr Cherice Roth: But in reality, you [00:15:00] know, my mom had me when she was 17. She's married to my stepdad. They're both hourly wage workers and they have five kids. if somebody takes off work, that means there's less money in the household. That means there's less food to eat. And there were already times that we would flick a light switch and nothing would happen because we wouldn't have electricity.

Dr Cherice Roth: Right. And so it really started to open my eyes to this idea that my life was better because I had her. Even knowing how she passed away. , this was, you know, before we really started to pay really close attention to human animal bond and what that means. Yeah. For us emotionally and physically. , but as I started seeing just case after case of some of these, of, you know what, I can fix that.

Dr Cherice Roth: I can fix that. Oh, I can fix that. And then not being able to fix it. And then honestly, it was really putting that together with some of the pets that, , you know, we have the reservations. They're really close to Albuquerque, New Mexico as well. And so even those [00:16:00] pets that were not even actually able to get out, To come to the E.

Dr Cherice Roth: R. , you know, I was seeing pets with distemper and all of these sorts of things, and it was new to the family of, you know, like. Well, let me talk to you about what I'm seeing and, or we could have prevented this with a vaccine. And they're just being this aha moment because they didn't know. And so for me, that meant there was this clear disparity, but honestly, I had not, I didn't know about, because I thought, I thought I was special.

Dr Cherice Roth: Right. I thought that maybe that story of Ebony dying in the backyard was a one off. Maybe it was something different. And in reality, it's the majority. It is the majority of pets that don't have day to day care. And so that's what started to spark this access to care fire for me. , when I started doing orthopedic surgeries for Banfield, I was doing them in different locations and, , I needed a really good way to follow up with my cases.

Dr Cherice Roth: I was still learning what case follow up should be, because I was only a couple years out of school at that point. [00:17:00] And honestly, the progression of the cases, how are they healing? So that I learned more about myself as a surgeon and clinician, I started connecting with people via FaceTime or back in the day, Skype to say, Hey, you know, or can you text me a video of Fifi on her walk so that I can see whether or not she's putting her leg down the way I want her to and really started connecting with these pet parents.

Dr Cherice Roth: On a remote basis, and so it became, you know, I would spend face to face time with them pre op. And of course, the surgery drop off and then my follow ups were all remote. And I was like, okay, there's something to this . By that time. I was a mom of 2 and I still still very active. I was leading hospitals at that point.

Dr Cherice Roth: And knew that I could do more. And so I started looking into, yeah, everybody does all of the same Google searches, right. Of veterinary medicine from home, all of those sorts of things and ran into Just Answer and a whole bunch of others. And you just did some soul searching of like, okay, what is it that I'm seeking from [00:18:00] this?

Dr Cherice Roth: And is it, is it possible? Is it there? And I realized that it really wasn't, but I got close. , I found a company called Ask Vet. I think I was like, doctor number 15 or something like that. They were still pretty new at the time. None of the doctors on the team knew each other. Nobody talked to one another.

Dr Cherice Roth: And so I really just started asking really annoying questions, , to the CEO, , and his wife at that point, but they didn't have answers to. And so they were finally like, you keep asking us these questions, just bring us solutions. And I was like, hot dog. So I started coming up with these things.

Dr Cherice Roth: quality of care, like continuity of care, continuity of messaging throughout a telehealth team and was able to grow and scale that team to a really large team. At one point it was 150 doctors and they were, you know, all contractors and working schedules and the experience for the pet parent was great.

Dr Cherice Roth: They became Banfield's vet chat and since then I had parted ways with them. But then, you know, I still, I value my time in clinic. And so I went [00:19:00] to working in clinics and trying to figure out how to get this message out that our oath is so important to us. It's why most of us are here, right? And that there are regulatory and legislative things, frankly, that impair us from being able to perform our oath to our full capabilities.

Dr Cherice Roth: And so how do we do that? And it's really, it's that access to care piece of it. It is that the way that we can move out of our way to get as many animals as possible, the care that they need is that we have to have real impactful changes within veterinary medicine. That's how that came about.

Dr Cherice Roth: And so since then, I've been a squeaky wheel, presenting cases, , telemedicine cases of start to finish. Yeah. I never ever put hands on this pet, but here is, here's how they came in. Here's what they did, what they were with us. Here is the outcome. And really talking through these somewhat can be seen as heretical ideas as to how we can really [00:20:00] start to expand, , our reach as, as veterinarians.

Dr Cherice Roth: And it's not just for pets that we're talking about here, right? We're talking about for, for food animals, for equine, it's for research animals as well. You know, there's, there's all sorts of these aspects of our oath. It's the relieving animal suffering. It's the, , promoting public health and sharing our knowledge.

Dr Cherice Roth: that I think that we should be allowed to focus on. And I think that if we kind of get back to the basics of what our oath actually means to us, we'll start to see some relief as far as the access to care issues. And honestly, some of the veterinary shortage issues too. 

Dr Megan Sprinkle: Yeah. Oh, that's a good point too. I think there's been a lot of changes in the world in general, like technology is vastly different today than it was even when we were in vet school.

Dr Megan Sprinkle: I agree with you that there is a call for, all right, so what does this oath really look like in our today [00:21:00] age? And going to your other point that since you brought it up, not only can we better serve our pets, we can also better serve ourselves or our colleagues as having this as a tool. So you built. A, a team from 15 to 150, what have you seen in the lives of these veterinary professionals?

Dr Cherice Roth: They're able to balance, they're able to maintain boundaries. I actually celebrate boundaries. Those are the things that I love because it is so important for us as clinicians to model for newer doctors that are coming out, for our technicians, our nurses, our receptionists, what responsibility with boundaries looks like.

Dr Cherice Roth: Because we are who they're watching, , we are de facto leaders, , we are the leader of every case that we see, and, and they're watching. I will say this. I don't hurt for doctors. I don't hurt for technicians. I [00:22:00] don't advertise my roles. And the reason is, is super clear, you know, that there's this level of freedom with being able to help people that are seeking veterinary knowledge.

Dr Cherice Roth: They're not coming in because they have to, they are trying to figure out what is the best next step. There are No physical characteristics that keep a person from providing telehealth to a pet. And we know that practicing in hospital breaks you down after a while. It's the 80 pound dog that tries to jump off the table.

Dr Cherice Roth: It's the cat that tries to climb your leg. It's those sorts of things that physically break you down. And so what we are left with are clinicians with the heart, mind, and soul of I want to do everything to help this animal, but physically can no longer do it. Back injuries, hip injuries, knee injuries, you name it.

Dr Cherice Roth: And so what we've done is we've started to, we've removed those doctors from the workforce. , because you know, if they can't work in clinic, then they're not working as a doctor [00:23:00] anymore. Right. the air quotes for that, for sure. And so what we know is that it's, the mind and the heart of the clinician that matters the most.

Dr Cherice Roth: So by utilizing that. I don't have a veterinary shortage on my team. I don't have a veterinary shortage on any telehealth team that I've seen at this point because of that. And I think that there's real lessons there. The doctors on my team get to be moms, they get to take vacation, they get to care for their family members, even if they're not the one that's sick.

Dr Cherice Roth: You know, there are all of these sorts of things that are honestly, that really don't happen every day in clinical practice, especially without guilt. Right. But even if you are able to take time off, there is that, that secondary guilt of, well, what pets aren't going to get seen? Are my technicians still going to get paid, even though I'm not there to give them hours?

Dr Cherice Roth: There's so much of that built into being an in practice clinician, and it's important that we have in practice clinicians. [00:24:00] But I think that we can support them differently. Like, for example, do all four days of the week have to be in clinic? Or can one of those days, or one of the weeks out of the month, be an at home day where you're seeing telemedicine cases and are able to recharge?

Dr Cherice Roth: People that we see by telehealth, these pet parents, are so Grateful if they do get cranky. It's not with us. It's about more often than not things like not being able to get pain medication because their state regulations say that we can't prescribe it. And even with those, it's such a different feeling.

Dr Cherice Roth: There's a more of a feeling of helplessness rather than anger. Versus in clinic, there's a lot of kind of the, the financial pieces of it, all of those aspects that that can complicate things and can complicate the communication. 

Dr Megan Sprinkle: Yes, I remember you telling the story of was a video conference and the pet owner got on and asked if you were the doctor and you said, yes, I'm, I'm the [00:25:00] doctor and they just.

Dr Megan Sprinkle: Broke out in this huge grin, you know, that they actually could speak to the veterinarian. Like they, they realized, Oh, I have help now. Yeah. And 

Dr Cherice Roth: it was actually, it was more than that. Um, this was a black family. They had never met a black doctor before. No. I had never seen a black doctor. I have an even better one.

Dr Cherice Roth: This was when I was in practice. I walk into an exam room and there's this little black girl and her mom and I walk in and I'm not wearing a coat but I'm wearing scrubs and I'm wearing a stethoscope and the little girl stops and she goes, Mom, you said Doc McStuffins. It's not real. And so for the people that don't have kids, Dr.

Dr Cherice Roth: McStuffins is a veterinarian for, for stuffed animals. Right. And it happens to be a black female veterinarian and this little girl's world shifted when she saw me, her whole world shifted. And so it was one of those things of [00:26:00] like, I still like sometimes actually get emotional about it because I, I know those moments.

Dr Cherice Roth: It's why I created the children's books, because those moments are so pivotal. It can be something so small. I was coming in to vaccinate her dog. I wasn't saving its life. It was just knowing that she could be, because I am. It was just that simple. And so, and even that, that is access, right? Maybe we created a veterinarian that day as somebody that's going to grind day in and day out for nothing more than for pets to be happy and healthy or for animals in general, to be happy and healthy.

Dr Megan Sprinkle: Yeah. And now I can talk about your books, which I was already going to try to get to. I love the idea. The title even hits, I think, and hit all a lot of us in veterinary medicine is what is a doctor? Because I still have a. moment that was traumatic for me. It may have [00:27:00] made me just even more defiant. I don't know, but I had a set of grandparents.

Dr Megan Sprinkle: I had a set of grandparents. I think this is while I was going through vet school who basically said to me, , we're just waiting for you to decide to be a real doctor. And it's, that is, So hurtful. We go through so much and I think more than anything, we care so much about what we do and we know what we do is important.

Dr Megan Sprinkle: to layer that on to making sure that everybody feels like they can be a real doctor. A veterinarian is really inspiring. So I, I want you to tell more about your story behind the children's books and how they both came to pass. I do remember you said you must have been inspired because you said you wrote those books, like, What a week apart.

Dr Cherice Roth: Yeah. Yeah. it's interesting. So book one, what's a real doctor it's my two sons, Tristan and Cooper, , [00:28:00] explaining to their classmate why their mom is a real doctor. , so in book one, Clara is, um, Actually one of their childhood friends from very, very early on. and they're talking through all of the things that we do.

Dr Cherice Roth: So vaccines, doing surgery, patient recovery, writing prescriptions, all of those sorts of things that we do. The exact same, in, in human medicine. And at the end of the day, we're real doctors. We're just a little bit cooler because we get to work on animals. Totally. And book two, what does a real doctor look like?

Dr Cherice Roth: This one is actually my favorite. I love them both, but if I had to pick a favorite one, it's book two. Because I saw myself in this book. So Caitlin and Kylie are my two nieces. And it's about basically the conversation that we had when they found out I was a doctor. It's this idea that doctors look like all of us.

Dr Cherice Roth: So the story of these two sisters that, you know, weird conversations you have with your siblings, [00:29:00] but you know, she's asking, you know, do I look like a doctor? And, and her sister doesn't know because they've never seen a doctor that looks like them. So we get to go over the fact that doctors have all sorts of physical characteristics from skin color, tall, short, fat, skinny, different ethnicities, differing abilities, I think is another really huge one that, that has stuck out.

Dr Cherice Roth: And people have, have noticed and talk about with me that there are doctors of differing abilities in the book. So there are doctors with prosthetics or doctors in wheelchairs. And using various walking devices to depict that because it really is the things that we have in common are that we are, we're hard workers, we care and we do all of those things.

Dr Cherice Roth: And so the fact is that doctors can actually look like all of us, I think people always ask, like, what inspired you to write this? But I don't, I don't know. What I can tell you is that it became super clear to me that I've been writing these books my whole life. [00:30:00] It just so happened to come out really quick all at the same time, because that's kind of how I do things these days.

Dr Cherice Roth: I mean, much like the decision to go to vet school, right? It's like, yeah, I think I'll do that. And then within nine months I was sitting in an orientation for vet school. I'm very much so I decide to do things and then boom, you just get it done. And so that's how it happened. I woke up at three o'clock in the morning.

Dr Cherice Roth: I wrote myself a post it note. What's a real doctor? put it on my nightstand and went back to sleep and woke up and wrote them in pretty rapid succession. And I do think that it's the books that I wish were around when I was at the age to read them. 

Dr Megan Sprinkle: Yes, you've had a lot of people embrace them and get them to hand out.

Dr Megan Sprinkle: So what stories have come from this adventure since writing and publishing them? 

Dr Cherice Roth: Oh, man. I had one that was, this is a male veterinarian and he had gotten a copy of what does a real doctor look like? And, I guess it was his [00:31:00] wife that showed the book to the daughter and she was like, I already know what he looks like.

Dr Cherice Roth: I don't have to read this book. And, and he told me, the, the dad, the veterinarian was like, I didn't even realize how much she really needed this book because her response was when they asked, what does a real doctor look like? Since you know, and you don't need this book, she described an older white male.

Dr Cherice Roth: Wow. Yeah. And so there was that, there was another mom, this was in LA, , she came up to me and her son was in a wheelchair. She said, you know, I just wanted to thank you because he really does want to be a veterinarian and there are no books that depict differently abled veterinarians. And she was like, and now he has one.

Dr Cherice Roth: and his name is in it, right? And so I wrote his name on it and. Let out you put a message that doctors look like all of us, you know, there's some of it's just kind of wild. Like I very much. So have this mean girl in my head. [00:32:00] Sometimes it's like, why are you doing this? Nobody's going to read these.

Dr Cherice Roth: Maybe you're going to sell five of them and it's just, it's not from logic. Right. It's totally the mean girl in my head. But it's been honestly overwhelming. I am always shocked at the numbers of people that show up at the book signing, either with their own copy already or ready to purchase and want to hear it and want to hear from me about my story.

Dr Cherice Roth: And it's wild. It's, it's really wild. It's not every, anything I ever imagined that I would be doing, but 

Dr Cherice Roth: here 

Dr Cherice Roth: we 

Dr Megan Sprinkle: are. Yeah. Well, and I think it is so good to start young because even if the book doesn't turn that child into a veterinarian, it just opened up the world to them. And what are some recommendations, pieces of advice, wisdom for people going through veterinary [00:33:00] life that may have a similar experience to you being the less than two percent in veterinary medicine?

Dr Cherice Roth: So I'm going to answer this with a bit of a story. So when the Capitol riots and all of that happened, I found myself, it was right along the time of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, all of those murders. And I'm a mom of biracial children. And so I. I was really battling with this feeling of helplessness, anger, frightened, and guilt, right?

Dr Cherice Roth: So I was angry that, you know, I see these people that look like me that are dying and being murdered. I was angry that people that didn't look like me would could get away with something that I could never because of the color of my skin. And I felt guilty because I was so glad that my kids could pass as white.

Dr Cherice Roth: , because then maybe they didn't have to deal with some of the things that I've had to deal with. And maybe they'll be afforded different liberties than what I have. And I've written this [00:34:00] open letter to my colleagues, , about how that feels. Cause I was like, God, I can't be the only one that feels this way.

Dr Cherice Roth: And I knew that I wasn't the only one that felt that way. And what happened is that I, , had somebody messaged me, it's Marie Soto Quixel, and she at the time was the president of the Multicultural Veterinary Medical Association. That group of doctors and technicians and veterinary professionals has been life changing.

Dr Cherice Roth: And so the message to people of color, honestly it doesn't have to be people of color, right? The people that want to see all parts of veterinary medicine is, is join the Multicultural Veterinary Medical Association. I have learned so much about just, not just the fact that I'm a BIPOC woman, that is a C level in veterinary medicine.

Dr Cherice Roth: That's a whole lesson, life lesson in and of itself. But it's more along the lines of I'm not alone. It's more along the lines [00:35:00] of my own journey of cultural humility. it's learning to do land acknowledgements in these places that I'm invited to speak on access to care and diversity, equity and inclusion, because it gives me a moment to sit and think about who lived here.

Dr Cherice Roth: Before we built this, who lived here, , what was this place like before we gathered? And that's where I learned , those sorts of skills. , and so I would say it's absolutely, like I said, been life changing to be a part of that group. It's helped me to not feel so alone. It's helped me to feel validated.

Dr Cherice Roth: And some of the things that I didn't, I knew felt like a microaggression, or even sometimes macroaggressions. But because the vast majority of my colleagues are white, I didn't have a safe place to go and be like, girl, you would not believe what I just had to put up with. And it provides that safe place.

Dr Cherice Roth: Outside of that, I would say to the [00:36:00] rest of my colleagues, let's open our eyes. Let's take a step back from what veterinary medicine could be. Get a lay of the land. I think our oath is right. Right. Our oath. I 100 percent like these are the things that allow me to sleep at night. I think our oath is right.

Dr Cherice Roth: I think how we're approaching it. Now in 2022 can be done better. And it's those things that we have to put our arms around so that veterinary medicine, quality medicine, quality care can be accessible. And so that we can start to preserve the professionals that are in this field. , so that would be the other kind of the other word of advice is to take that step back of your day in and day out.

Dr Cherice Roth: And talk to people that don't go to veterinary clinics. It's not because they hate veterinarians. It's not always because they don't have money. There are all sorts of reasons to not be accessible because we've said, you have [00:37:00] to come to me. And so there are lots of things like that. Those are the things that the key things that keep me up at night.

Dr Cherice Roth: , are the things that I would invite my colleagues to, to think about it's the pet that can't get. it's the pet that can no longer. Get gabapentin, because they haven't been seen in 12 months. But we know that they have disc disease. And they can't pee without an anti inflammatory and gabapentin, can't posture to do it.

Dr Cherice Roth: It's the pets that are so anxious that they pee and poop and vomit all over the car on the way to the clinic, but they can't get a prescription because nobody's put hands on them because nobody can. It's those pets, it's those interactions that keep me up at night and how we do better for those animals.

Dr Cherice Roth: There are plenty of animals that we can't put hands on that we're able to get a veterinary client patient relationship for. We eat a lot of them, right? And so how can we do better for the animals that have names [00:38:00] for the animals that are bonded to humans like us, , that keep their humans alive longer that keep their humans happier.

Dr Cherice Roth: How do we do better for them from a public health standpoint? We have pets that come in covered and fleas. But our experience in a toxicity, because they got hearts. And I can't give them for back to. Right, I can't, I can't give them something that I know is safer and it's more effective. Because of what state they live in, and the kid is holding the pet.

Dr Cherice Roth: The kid is holding the pet during the telemedicine visit, because that's their person. And there are all sorts of these stories happening every day. it's not until we start to talk about those stories. That things will change. Right. We have to talk about them. We have to be uncomfortable. before things will actually start to move.

Dr Cherice Roth: And there are some states that get it. There are some places that do this. And what that means is that those licensed professionals in those states can continue to work well beyond their physical bodies, [00:39:00] continue to care for pets, continue to care for animals. All of those sorts of things are vital to being able to protect veterinary medicine and protect these little critters that we love.

Dr Cherice Roth: So those are my words of advice. I waxed a little poetic there, but that's, but these are the things that that keep me up. And how do I do this well, how do I do this safely? To protect these animals and my colleagues, 

Dr Megan Sprinkle: and maybe that'll be the answer to this question. Because I see how much you care and I see you carry a lot of these concerns, you even use the term, keep me up at night.

Dr Megan Sprinkle: And I think a lot of our colleagues also care deeply and Struggle with some of these feelings, whether it's they feel alone, they, they don't feel like they can talk to anybody, or they're just tired of sending home a patient where they really feel like they could help what keeps you [00:40:00] going. I've heard you say how much you love being a veterinarian.

Dr Megan Sprinkle: what is it that keeps you going? 

Dr Cherice Roth: The thing that keeps me going is this is the perfect time to be a veterinarian. For somebody that doesn't fit in a box very well, for somebody that didn't grow up veterinary medicine, this is the perfect time to be a vet. I live and breathe our oath. I believe all of the same things.

Dr Cherice Roth: It is the oath, honestly, that keeps me going. It is that it is this idea, this crazy harebrained idea of mine that we really can keep every pet from suffering that we really can continue to impact public health. And it's just a matter of how we do it. There is this whole industry is just, I'm not going to use the word ripe for disruption because disruption in veterinary medicine has this very negative connotation to it because we're type A and we like routine and we like [00:41:00] safety and we like numbers and all of those things.

Dr Cherice Roth: And so I will say it is right for innovation. But when I say innovation, I mean, we have to re examine. Everything we thought we knew that's, it's the perfect time. The technology is here. The mindset of the pet parents, the mindset of the animal caregivers is right. And so it is more of a matter of how we get there versus if we get there more than anything.

Dr Cherice Roth: And so I'm super psyched to be a vet. I can't imagine doing anything else. I get to handle these amazing cases with my team of how do we make this work for this pet? How do we make this work for this family? and we get it done. If it's calling a clinic that they've seen any of those sorts of things.

Dr Cherice Roth: And so we're rewriting what care delivery looks like. Like, how freaking cool is that? It's just the [00:42:00] coolest thing. We're rewriting what it means to have a veterinarian in a pet's life. It's more than just 20 to 30 minutes every 18 months, which is the average. We can actually be a part of our patients everyday lives if we nail this right.

Dr Cherice Roth: And maybe, just maybe, we'll also be the voice that they listen to over their breeder, over somebody that is a Facebook, poster. If we do this access to care thing right. We can be in all aspects of an animal's life, which is where we want to be. We want to be able to prevent things before they happen.

Dr Cherice Roth: We want people to understand why they're giving medications and adhere to it so that they're compliant. We want to see that pet live longer. And oh, by the way, when it's time for them to die, we want to be there too. We want to talk about that before it's a surprise. And we can be there for all of that simply by nailing this access to care.

Dr Cherice Roth: So yeah, I'm super jazzed to be a vet. I freaking love it. Um, it's the perfect time. Like, I feel like, sometimes I'll [00:43:00] have friends will be like, oh my gosh, I should have been born in the seventies. No way. I was supposed to be an eighties baby. I am supposed to be a veterinarian in 2022 because it'll be me and my colleagues that actually make this into something that we can sustain ourselves and the animals we care for.

Dr Cherice Roth: It's perfect time. 

Dr Megan Sprinkle: Oh my goodness. I'm having a hard time sitting in my seat. You've got me so excited. It's 

Dr Cherice Roth: good. It's super exciting. I agree. 

Dr Megan Sprinkle: I love that. Well, I'm so glad to be able to share this with everyone. I want this to just revitalize our whys of why we're here , in this field. So thank you so much for coming.

Dr Megan Sprinkle: I am definitely going to share all the links to , your websites, your books, all of that. I will make sure to link below. , and so really, thank you so much for, for blessing me, for being here and letting me share this with everyone listening, I do like to wrap it up with a couple final questions. So the first [00:44:00] question is, what is something on your bucket list?

Dr Cherice Roth: Well, actually it was to write a book, um, something else that is on my bucket list. Is to go skydiving. 

Dr Megan Sprinkle: Oh, you're braver than I am . Good for you. That's it's on my bucket list. Yeah. Nice. What is a moment of simple joy? Hmm. 

Dr Cherice Roth: The first sip of a cup of hot tea. 

Dr Megan Sprinkle: Oh, nice. What kind of tea do you like? Do you have a favorite?

Dr Cherice Roth: I like, so my favorites are like the citrusy, so like the Meyer Lemon by Stash is like my, it's, I have boxes of it. . 

Dr Megan Sprinkle: Nice. That's, that's my hands 

Dr Cherice Roth: down favorite. 

Dr Megan Sprinkle: all right. Ooh, this will be an interesting question for you. If you could create one law that everyone had to follow, what would your law be?

Dr Cherice Roth: Every animal deserves pain medication. 

Dr Megan Sprinkle: My good law. All right. And [00:45:00] finally, what is something you are most grateful for? 

Dr Cherice Roth: Oh, my kids. , they honestly, they made me a better doctor. They made me a better person. Like I just, growing up the way I did, like never meeting my dad or any of those sorts of things. I just grew up really angry and kind of always trying to prove something.

Dr Cherice Roth: And they have made it super clear that I'm enough. And that I'll be like, you know, I'm trying really hard to be a good mom. And they'll be like, mom, you are. And so, yeah, hands down, it's them, which obviously they couldn't have happened without my husband. , but yeah, like the whole being a mom thing, I was not prepared for how much it would improve how I see the world.

Dr Cherice Roth: , and honestly, just make me better. It's the craziest thing. 

Dr Megan Sprinkle: Make sure you check out the show notes for links and resources that we've discussed. And also make sure you're [00:46:00] following me, Megan Sprinkle, on LinkedIn to catch information about the May campaign. And subscribing to the podcast on audio and YouTube is a huge help to the podcast and totally free for you.

Dr Megan Sprinkle: I hope you'll continue to be with me on this journey. It's going to be a huge year and I want you to be a part of it. Thank you and until next time. 

Welcome to Vet Life Reimagined. We are wrapping up our month focusing on parenting children and family. If you haven't already registered for our children's book giveaway, please check out VetLifeReimagined. com or find the direct link in the description below. The books that are in that giveaway are all written by veterinarians.

Adults may appreciate them equally, but I wanted to bring out an episode from the archive because this guest is the author of two of those books. The episode was titled, Dr. Sharice Roth was published in September of 2022. I remastered it and did a little extra editing, but it [00:47:00] is very, very relevant even today.

Sharice also gives a little bit of a challenge to vet med, and I would love to hear if you think almost two years later, what changes have you seen in the profession? Also in this time, as an update, Charisse is now the chief veterinary officer of digital pet health for Mars Veterinary Health. Throughout the episode, you will see constant reminders of our May theme, including at the very end, this day for the full episode, even if you've heard it before.

This is an episode I don't get tired of hearing. So remastered is the conversation with Dr. Charisse Roth.