Vetnews | Augustus 2025 24 « BACK TO CONTENTS Q. Do you have any advice for young women interested in veterinary medicine? Or is there anything you wish you knew before pursuing the career? A: When I look back on my career, there are very few things that I would change. The biggest thing is that I wish I learned some of my lessons a little faster. I also wish I had looked into some of the leadership training opportunities earlier to understand how much control I had. Looking at my attitude and how I could influence the (practice) culture every day, and how I can influence our delivery of care, you know, just with my attitude. In my mentorship, I’m hoping to impart some of that knowledge a little earlier. My advice is, if you’re passionate about veterinary medicine, it’s an amazing career. I don’t know where else you get to go to work every day and truly love what you do. v Dr. Joya Griffin, veterinary dermatologist and star of National Geographic Wild’s “Pop Goes the Vet With Dr. Joya” responds: Q. Tell me about your job. A: I am a boarded veterinary dermatologist in Louisville, Kentucky, and I’ve been practicing with Animal Dermatology Clinic since 2010. I really enjoy my job. I’ve been fortunate to only have one job, which I think is somewhat rare among veterinarians. Q. When did you want to become a veterinarian? A: I mean, really forever. I think I was probably about 6 or 7 and, as a little girl, would take in strays, so we had a bunch of cats. I also had a snapping turtle. My dad found it on the side of the road and it ended up living in our bathtub upstairs. I felt like I had a special connection with animals. I wanted to be like Dr. Dolittle where you speak to them, so that was my idea as a kid and I just kind of stuck with it. Q. Who has inspired you? A: My parents supported me with whatever I wanted to do. They pushed me academically and gave me experiences that they thought would help me get to where I needed to be. I was extra fortunate because I lived across the street from a veterinarian, Dr. Walter Belue, who worked out of his house. He worked as an eighth-grade science teacher during the day. Then, on the evenings and weekends, he worked as a veterinarian in his own clinic. He was inspirational to me because it was my first look at a veterinarian. He ended up being my science teacher and gave me a little extra time and perspective when he was teaching me, because he knew I was interested in being a veterinarian. There was another veterinarian in the city, Dr. Bell. He was a Black veterinarian, and he gave me old textbooks to learn from that I took with me all the way to veterinary school. Q. Who were your mentors? A: As I went further on in my career, I spent a lot of time with the two dermatology chiefs at Cornell: Drs. Bill Miller and Danny Scott. They were great and gave me extra work to do. So, I ended up doing some dermatology research while I was in veterinary school that I went on to present as my senior seminar and published as a paper. They helped me pad my resume in my application when I was going to go forward with applying for residency, which was really helpful. My mentors never put any limitations on me, and I never felt like I was in an ‘old boys club.’ Q. What was your exposure to women veterinarians when you were growing up? A: I didn’t see women veterinarians when I was young. In veterinary school, I ended up working at a multi-doctor general practice as a veterinary technician, and it was about 50% female doctors. They were great. They were all young, willing to teach me things, and take me under their wing. I felt really supported in that clinic. Q. What are your strengths and challenges at this time in your career? A: You have to be able to communicate and build a rapport with humans to be able to best treat pets. I have learned these soft skills over the years. Working with different types of people and learning those kinds of social skills helps in an examination room quite a bit. I think one of the challenges that I faced early on as the newest person in the practice was trying to fit in with more senior doctors. That can be an intimidating spot when you’re young and trying to establish yourself. It’s a bit more challenging if you have a counterpart that may not be as accepting or supportive of you as they should be. When I first started in this practice, I worked with a male veterinarian who didn’t seem supportive of women in general. It made me feel awful and self-conscious. Is he acting this way because I’m a woman or I’m not doing something right? Is it because I’m African American? It turned out his behavior had nothing to do with me. All the women in the clinic had this shared experience. It was challenging in the beginning, and I think when you’re young it can be hard to navigate when and how to speak up. Sometimes as women, we’ve been taught not to speak up as much. Article Dr. Joya Griffin (courtesy of Joya Griffin)
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