Hybrid Veterinary Careers with Dr. Sarah Bater

Why not have your cake and eat it too?

That’s exactly what Dr. Sarah Bater has done with her veterinary career! Combining her love of clinical practice and her desire for continual learning and a deeper understanding, Sarah splits her time between clinical practice and teaching veterinary students.

Sarah was born and raised in Saskatoon, SK, and is one of four children (and a real group of over-achievers). After completing an honours degree in Biochemistry at the U of S, Sarah moved to Toronto, ON to pursue a Ph.D. in Neuroscience (specifically understanding and researching treatments for spinal cord injuries). After 5.5 years in the big city, Sarah decided it was time to move home.

She did a brief post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Saskatchewan, before she was accept to the Western College of Veterinary Medicine and graduated in 2017. Sarah works part-time in small animal clinical practice, and part-time at WCVM teaching in the first year curriculum.

Sarah sees companion animals and exotic pets in clinical practice; however, her true love in veterinary medicine is surgery. She does not love managing cats with endocrine diseases.

Sarah is married to her husband, Daniel, and has 2 step-children. Daniel and Sarah are expecting their first child together in February 2021. Whenever Sarah is not working, she can be found spending time with her kids outside, baking, training for a triathlon, or at the lake!

The multi-faceted Veterinarian, Professor, and Mother has certainly carved out a unique path in Veterinary Medicine, and among many interesting places our conversation dives into:

• Sarah's path to becoming a veterinarian
• The Job Juggle of hybrid careers (teaching as a professor and practicing in clinics)
• Euthanasia and the soft skills required to be sharp in this area

Thank you to Dr. Sarah Bater for taking the time to share her insights on the show!

To connect with Sarah you can do so via e-mail to sarah.bater@usask.ca

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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