Seeing Vet Med Through the Eyes of a Child (Chris Carpenter)

• 65% of veterinarians decided before the age of 13 that vet med was the career path they wanted to pursue. (1)
• 93% of veterinarians say that shadowing was important in helping them in their decision to become a veterinarian and get into vet school. 

About the Guest:
Dr. Chris Carpenter knew he wanted to be a veterinarian from a young age and graduated from veterinary school at Auburn University in 1989. Starting his career in the military, he also got his MBA and later went to work for Pfizer (later became Zoetis) in 1998 leading marketing initiatives. In 2001, he entered human pharma including working for Johnson & Johnson. Missing his daughter and his colleagues in veterinary medicine, he became the CEO of the non-profit, Companion Animal Parasite Council (CAPC) and also founded Vet Set Go, a series of programs and resources for middle school students to explore their interest in animal science.

Resources:
Vet Set Go website
Vet Set Go book
Vet Set Go anatomy book
Companion Animal Parasite Council (CAPC)
Episode on YouTube
(1) https://iloveveterinary.com/blog/interview-with-dr-chris-carpenter/ 

Transcript

Megan Sprinkle: [00:00:00] Welcome to Vet Life Reimagined. I'm your host, Dr. Megan Sprinkle. I hope you listened to our last episode with Dr. Phil Richmond. It beautifully flows into this episode. At the end, Phil shared a powerful story of his dad's cardiologist who saw his interest at a very young age and gave him the key to the medical library at the hospital.

Megan Sprinkle: It demonstrates this impactful opportunity we have in veterinary medicine to fuel the curiosity of the future generation of doctors and scientists. Our guest this week has taken this belief to a whole new level and created it as part of his own veterinary story. Dr. Chris Carpenter says life throws some curve balls, including some really good ones.

Megan Sprinkle: Chris struggled as a child to find opportunities to explore Animal Careers, but he made it to vet school and has an amazing career to where he is today as the founder of Vets Set Go, a series of programs and resources for middle school kids to grow their enthusiasm for a career in science, and he is the [00:01:00] executive director for the non profit Companion Animal Parasite Council.

Megan Sprinkle: And there's a great story to how he got there and why he made the decision to leave a very lucrative job. This is the start of a very special series through this month to one share in the celebration of a new journey in my life and having my first baby and celebrating the importance of family and being parents. So let's get to the conversation with Dr. Chris Carpenter.

Megan Sprinkle: You are a fellow multi passionate veterinarian. And so I love , your very interesting career path and all the different things that you are currently doing. I always like to start with the question. When did you know you wanted to get into veterinary medicine?

Chris Carpenter: Oh, I still remember the day. I was 11 years old. I was in California and I remember being in the dining room and saying to my mom that I'm going to become a veterinarian. I knew it. That was it. And I kind of made that declaration and started driving forward. Yeah. And so what did you do as a kid to start [00:02:00] surrounding yourself with those different activities?

Chris Carpenter: Well, it's kind of funny. It's, kind of going to be a lot of the conversation we had today is that I really wanted to get that animal experience. And to be honest, I had a lot of barriers. I have to be honest. It was kind of a tough time because I had pets at home, but trying to get out and get experience.

Chris Carpenter: It was a real challenge for me. And it took me a while, maybe a couple of years to break through. I did eventually, and we'll talk about that, but Those first two years, I remember going, gosh, like, how do I get this animal experience? It was so hard. 

Megan Sprinkle: So are you able to kind of find this?

Chris Carpenter: Yeah. you know, it's kind of what I, now say with Vet Set Go! Is that once you get that first experience, it kind of leads to others. And it kind of makes a statement to others that you're, you know, dedicated, you're going to stay with it. and I think my first one, was pet sitting.

Chris Carpenter: I don't even know if they called it that then is taking care of one of the neighbor's dogs. And he actually ran a business. we're in Southern California where he [00:03:00] went to the Beverly Hills dog shows. And so I started working for his company, which didn't involve a lot of pet things, but led to a lot of contacts in animal health.

Chris Carpenter: Well, especially in the dog community in Southern California. And that's how my experience started. I'm a military brat. So I moved a lot and wasn't long after that I was moving to different locations. But again, once I had that experience and could share with people that I had done other things and volunteered, it's a powerful message to any other facility that , you're really serious about this and, you want to do, you will do what it takes to become a vet.

Megan Sprinkle: Yeah. as you were getting ready to go into vet school, What were you thinking going into vet school? Did you have an idea of what your career might look like or any memories from back then? 

Chris Carpenter: Wow, you know I think for me I probably at one point in my Journey from that 11 years old to high school to undergrad I’m certain I entertained exotics and such like most of us did.

Chris Carpenter: Oh boy being a zoo veterinarian and such [00:04:00] such. But my experience was totally, the veterinary side in small animal. I got jobs at small animal facilities, especially through high school. And they always, as we were talking about, they just led to something else. I started way in the back, like I think most people did in the kennel.

Chris Carpenter: And then they let me come in and work up from there. in the back rooms in the treatment areas as a veterinary assistant. and it just kept growing from there. I got more and more responsibility. so I think I always knew it was going to be small animal, but, I don't know if I went specific later in my career.

Chris Carpenter: I think I started wanting to specialize and things like that, but it's the thing I love about this profession. There's so many paths. I think I'm a great example of you don't always end up. where you, you think you're going, but there's so many cool options and I've loved the journey. It's been awesome.

Megan Sprinkle: I think that's part of the fun of veterinary medicine is that there are so many different things that you can do within it. And I think if I remember from a previous conversation, you [00:05:00] as a vet student may not be. What people normally think of a vet student, if I can say it that way. Um, how did you, how did you enjoy your vets, school days?

Chris Carpenter: Yeah, I, how do I say it? you know, the joke I always tell people, cause I do a lot of work with companion and parasite council now is that I was. easily. I on my board was Byron Blackburn, who has been a professor there for decades, and I can tell you he easily would not have picked me in that classroom and say, boy, man, that's gonna be a guy who's gonna make changes in and so, veterinary school, was work for me. I love the, culture at Auburn. It was awesome. It was perfect. but yeah, it was a different journey for sure. 

Megan Sprinkle: Yeah, thank you. That was I liked that point because I think it's good to know that especially if you're in vet school and and vet school was a lot of work for me too. I was studying all the time and I don't encourage the studyaholic, approach, but I [00:06:00] mean, I had to work pretty hard. And so if you are, uh, feeling like, Oh, my goodness, how am I ever gonna be a veterinarian? I'm really struggling with this you can absolutely do anything you want to do.

Chris Carpenter: Man, That is the and I see where you're going with it. And I it's the message. I tell my, you know, I'm what did they say? You could be an example or a warning to other people. And I try to use this as an example for my daughter, who's now in her second year. in mechanical engineering and, you know, she's facing what I would consider a vet school curriculum.

Chris Carpenter: I mean, it's an incredibly intense curriculum. And I say to her, I go, use me as an example. you may not get a's every time, just, no matter what. Get through those classes, learn what you can, and remember once you have your first job, no one will ever ask you your GPA again.

Chris Carpenter: Ever, ever, ever, ever. And I have to say, I'm the best example of that. I don't know that I was ever the most brilliant person in a class, but I was at the most kind of tenacious and stick to it as this. And I, [00:07:00] I kept working and, and that kept going after vet school. You know, I went and got an MBA.

Chris Carpenter: I thought I was done with school forever. And within six months I was getting an MBA. So I think, your career journey, Okay. Especially now that we stay healthy for so long in our life, just keeps going and turning and meandering and back to your original point, what I love about vet medicine, and we'll probably touch on this, but I have gone so many different places with this degree, probably more so than most people and every place the veterinary degree is respected and valued.

Chris Carpenter: And, I have definitely leveraged it. 

Megan Sprinkle: Yeah. you brought it up. So you said within six months, you are already in an MBA program. you're finishing vet school. what's going through your mind on, okay, what do I do now? And then how did that MBA come into it?

Chris Carpenter: Yeah. And so the way we started this, it's really interesting. Cause you were asking, what did you think you wanted to be? What did you become? And. Mine has just been constant changing through my career, and I would guess that most people like that.

Chris Carpenter: So back to [00:08:00] vet school, when I was about to get out, I thought I wanted to become a radiologist in veterinary medicine specialty. and at that time, we had a doctor, Dr. Rocky Bigby, who was an equine surgical specialist sent to his residency by the U. S. Army totally paid for. So, you know, he kind of joked with me.

Chris Carpenter: Of course, they were going to accept me because it was free for them. And so he caught on as a surgeon. And he told me that the army did specialties and, you know, It wasn't just me, it's me and a few other of my classmates who did join the army with me. And so I went in to the veterinary corps, at the time they didn't have scholarships.

Chris Carpenter: They do now, which I think is awesome. But I joined that and I, again, with the thoughts, I'll go two years. They had something where you went, stayed two years in the U. S., went one year in Europe, and then you came back and they paid for a specialty. and I wanted again to be a radiologist cause they take care of all those military working dogs and.

Chris Carpenter: radiology is a big part of that. So that was my, master plan. And once I was in [00:09:00] veterinary basic camp, I still remember, there was a, fellow, a veterinary officer. He was sitting, he was reading a pamphlet. And I remember this, we were like a month away from graduating and he's reading this pamphlet.

Chris Carpenter: And I go, what are you reading? And he goes, yeah, it's an MBA. I didn't even know what that was. Like, what's an MBA? He goes, it's a business degree. And he goes, it can really help you. You know, we don't get taught business in school. And he goes, I think I'm going to take it out. I still remember making fun of him.

Chris Carpenter: I go, I'm done with school. I'm never going to do that. and I got out. And probably within, six months, I was in a, what they call a remote station in Maine. So I was able to practice a full range of vet medicine where I was in Brunswick, Maine, and all the way up at Lord, there was a base called boring.

Chris Carpenter: That was way up in, the Tupper Arista County at the top of the state. And it was so isolated. I mean, it was a sack Air Force base. The point of it is I was going around and I go, wow, I wonder if I should go and get this MBA, you know, this degree because they had a program. I heard the ads. I go, this is what Ty talked about.

Chris Carpenter: And I [00:10:00] started taking it. And the short end of the story is when I got in there, I found what I wanted to be. I thought the military, but when I started interacting with all those students who are all from Portland, there were big companies. There was a Unum, which was a big company there. There were a lot of.

Chris Carpenter: Big major corporations and those, employees were in my classes and if you know MBA, you do a lot of partnerships and stuff and, learned about all these products, all these things that I said, this is what I want to do. And then the last thing I have to say, if I was being honest with you and telling the truth, a little thing called the Gulf War came about and I was like, whoa, I'm in the military.

Chris Carpenter: And I remember I was on. what they call PROFIS where I might have had to go overseas. And of course I would have. it didn't end up that way. I ended up being stationed around the state to help with food supply, but it, kind of woke me up and I said, do I want to do this for the rest of my time?

Chris Carpenter: And so I said, no, what I want to be, I want to work in business. I see a lot. I just love the strategy behind the [00:11:00] MBA. And I said, wow, combined with medicine, this could be awesome. So That's the first example of just a whole total, I don't know if you call it 180, but a whole turn in a career, but it really, really set me on so many cool paths.

Megan Sprinkle: you started to talk a little bit more about, you liked the strategy that you were learning in the MBA and we're starting to imagine combining it with the medicine background. Was there other things that were kind of sparking that inspiration 

Chris Carpenter: It's the partnership. So what I love and people have often said, you know, why aren't you a veterinarian anymore? And I'm like, I am a veterinarian. I went to a different path, but what I loved about it. this is what's so amazing about veterinary medicine. Our education on the whole diagnostic workup, first get a history, then go and do some diagnostic testing, then that is exactly how you analyze a market.

Chris Carpenter: for business. You get market [00:12:00] research, you get that data, and then you come in and you go and take your own history and go to your own probing. And then you make, do you do some tests, with your, brand? I remember this euphoria where I'm like, God, it all works.

Chris Carpenter: The logical thinking. That Auburn taught me for veterinary medicine degree. And I remember my favorite courses where, gosh, I still remember Dr Pidgett in medicine and he, it was just my favorite is that, well, you took all this knowledge and you were using it as a clue to detect and figure out things that is what you're doing in marketing.

Chris Carpenter: A lot of people don't understand that, but marketing is a lot figuring out what is the ultimate cause or reason for this to go. What's the insight as we say, that's the same thing as what's the diagnosis. That's when I fell in love with it. I go, man, I want to do it. And it's different from practice and that you do that with each animal.

Chris Carpenter: But what I learned since then through all my journeys is that when you're able to use this, type of marketing, you're able to affect big strategies for big organizations and that I [00:13:00] loved it. And, you know, my first ones were in veterinary medicine, but eventually I jumped to human health.

Chris Carpenter: And, it was just as easy to do. human medicine as it was veterinary medicine. And it just, anyway, veterinary degree, besides being respected by other doctors, is just the best training for so many other degrees. 

Megan Sprinkle: Yeah. Oh, there you go. Literally can do anything. So you said you started on the business side in more of the veterinary industry. So where did you go and what were some of the things? 

Chris Carpenter: Yeah, this is like a little bit of history and people all have forgotten this because they think consolidators are a thing of the past five years and such. And they forget that the first ones and the most You know, at the time it caused such an uproar is when PetSmart came into the market with stores and started, having vet clinics within the stores, which really created so much turmoil. And this is the early nineties. And, then later on, they owned a lot of them.

Chris Carpenter: People forget that too. They had PetSmart veterinary services where they owned them. Throughout [00:14:00] Texas, throughout Georgia, in the Southeast, and then, later Banfield came in. It wasn't even that Banfield. It's called Vetsmart. but I share all this because there was this move in corporations. And that's what I did.

Chris Carpenter: I left the military. went to work for PetSmart in the southeast region and managed as a regional director. We started in Georgia, went to South Carolina, North Carolina, We went into Florida eventually and I managed that and then moved into the corporate office after that, I left and I went to Pfizer animal health because my ultimate dream was to market a product and they were launching a product called revolution, which was 1 of the early broad spectrum parasiticide.

Chris Carpenter: So, Just loved it again. I think I would say, I mean, yeah, you do miss things from practice. I mean, you know, who doesn't like puppies in the morning and seeing things like that? But you just love that you were impacting the industry and changing the industry and launching big products that were making big changes.

Chris Carpenter: found my place. I really loved it. 

Megan Sprinkle: I [00:15:00] also can identify with that desire to see the impact like a really big impact that you're contributing to You also mentioned you went from the veterinary industry and actually went into the human side of marketing and things. Why the leap? Because I'm sure people are like, what are you doing? 

Chris Carpenter: Yeah, because you know, everyone wants to kind of be the best in their thing. And when you're in animal health, and I'm not trying to make fun of animal health, but human medicine is a different league. And I just I always joke because once you've been there, you understand the difference in volume and that, so I was at Pfizer animal health and we worshiped what they call Pfizer PPG, which was the pharmaceutical group and they had Viagra at the time and they had Lipitor and their, their products were making 2 billion and that's the irony in this is we talk about the numbers, you know, people look at some of the mega corporations in animal health, Oh, look, they make 2 billion.

Chris Carpenter: 2 billion. The company, the last human health company I worked for was J and [00:16:00] J was 60 billion and my product that I managed was 2 billion. And it's just the numbers are staggering. but so I wanted to perform in that. And also, since you have, when you have money, you get to do more marketing techniques.

Chris Carpenter: The market research is even more involved. I got to do consumer insights testing that I don't even think is that much done in, veterinary medicine, even today. Um, It just is a different league, at least I thought. And it was awesome. And so I wanted to do it. I did it for 10 years. So I jumped and I was actually, I should, if I was honest with you, I didn't jump.

Chris Carpenter: I was kind of nudged. I got married and my wife and I were both in Pfizer animal health and we got home to a message on the machine and saying, Katie and Chris, Pfizer animal health is moving to New York. you can move up with us or you're, we're going to have to lay you off in three months. And so I was like, wow, welcome home.

Chris Carpenter: What does that say in the honeymoons over? And that was it. and here's the funny part to live in New York was like 50 percent more. Um, they had those cost analysis, but they were only [00:17:00] offering us, I think, like a 10 percent raise. And I was like, man, we can't make this work. And so we jumped to human health for both of those reasons.

Chris Carpenter: We wanted to stay in the community of Westchester, Pennsylvania, and we wanted to, try out human health. And I did that. Then for about 10 years, I went to AstraZeneca, worked in oncology and then went to J and J for like eight, nine years and did all kinds of pain products, oncology products. And it's just a different world.

Chris Carpenter: I've learned so many things and I, hear people talk about it and it's obviously they don't have the experience. And one of them, the classic ones is the benefits of insurance to the pet health industry, which I'm certain there are some. But they haven't seen what it's done to the human health industry, where the decision has left the doctor and gone over to the insurance companies.

Chris Carpenter: And that's the path you follow. And so I hear those things a lot. I'm glad I did it. But what brought me home, was I missed my profession. I did it for a reason. And I hit this point [00:18:00] with J and J, and people, when I told them I was leaving, thought like I was walking off a spaceship with no oxygen.

Chris Carpenter: I just wanted to be back where I started and what my, people were, so to speak. 

Megan Sprinkle: Yeah. It's not always about the money. 

Chris Carpenter: No, no, it wasn't. And that was it. And so I, I had done it and that's exactly it. It's it. So lucrative and such, and the other thing I would tell you is that, everything has its culture, but, you know, as you bring in smarter and smarter people in it, the competition and the intensity, and I'm not saying it doesn't exist in veterinary corporations, but man, It was a new level. And to your point, I realized that the fit wasn't me. And so what I ended up taking, and I also then had a three year old daughter and I still remember this moment. I was talking to her on the phone. I did a lot of international travel. I was in Hong Kong and she's like, daddy, where are you?

Chris Carpenter: And I'm on the other side of the world. And I said, you know what? I have this daughter. She's awesome. And I want to be around her. And I ended up taking the job I'm still doing [00:19:00] is CAPC because it was virtual back then. This is 2011. It virtual didn't exist. I could stay home. I've since then.

Chris Carpenter: She's now in college. I've seen every event and you're right. everyone says it is cliche, but man, it is. It was the smartest move in my life. I took a lot big hit money wise, but man, I came back to my profession. I joined this little organization, which, has meant so much to me.

Chris Carpenter: We've made so much change in the vet industry and my daughter and I are like this because I could adjust my schedule to be at everything, and man, that is what it's about, right? And so, it was a huge lesson for me. And of all the career moves I've made, That was the brilliant one is to kind of check my ego at the door, come back to a little nonprofit and, spend time with my family. It was awesome.

Megan Sprinkle: Yeah. And I know you have been with companion animal parasite council for a long time. Although when I was looking at the dates, I think, did you start vets at go while you were working at Johnson and Johnson? 

Chris Carpenter: [00:20:00] Yeah, That's exactly right. I started it. we had just made the move.  J and J transferred me down to Florida and that's when I started it. And so I always had this in my head and it was always there. if you believe in this stuff, I believe everything happens for a purpose. And, I now had the two things I needed because I, said to myself, I'd go, I'd love to do something. So no one ever experiences what I do where you raise your hand. And you want to be a vet and you want to get animal experience and everyone's saying, oh, you're too young or they say things like study science. Get out. I said, I want to help someone. I want to show them.

Chris Carpenter: I don't want anyone to have that kind of awkward feeling that I had, and kind of not, you know, feeling. And so you're exactly right. That's wow. You did your work ahead of time. That is exactly right. I started this, evening Saturdays while I was still at J and J and I was transferred down here. I was working for what they, they're Vistacon.

Chris Carpenter: my brand was Acuvue lenses and again, 2 billion brand. but I took [00:21:00] time in the evenings and started doing that. And it became just so rewarding. So enjoyable for me. And I kept thinking, how can I make this change? And all of those things collided. I had the vets Echo thing.

Chris Carpenter: That was really a little hobby business. I had this. Pull of J and J sended me all kinds of places. And then I had my daughter and I said, where do I want to be in 10 years? what kind of father do I want to be that, that unknown corporate father who kind of never got to know my high school graduate daughter, do I want to know her?

Chris Carpenter: I'm, do I want to do this thing that I believe in Vet Set Go. And it was tough. the financial hit was gigantic, but have never regretted it. Never. 

Megan Sprinkle: Yeah. this vision that you had for VET SET GO is really amazing because I think it was, you started it in 2006, so 2006, and This was really one of the first attempts to focus on younger students who have this [00:22:00] desire.

Megan Sprinkle: And I pulled some stats because, and you and I have talked about this, think, and this, this has changed. This is from 2022 that I found this, but 65 percent of today's veterinarians decide before the age of 13 that vet med is a career path that they want to pursue. So, I mean, that's pretty amazing.

Chris Carpenter: Before 13, 65 percent of us. Isn't it funny? And that's one of the biggest insights I had, because at the time, even when I was starting Vet Set Go back in 2006, and, there's a lot of stumbles and a lot of lessons learned from it, but one of the ones that kept proving true is, at the time, I thought I was unique.

Chris Carpenter: Oh, I wanted to be a vet when I was 11. I started as I went, you go between 2006 and 2010, I started filming veterinarians for the website and getting to interact. I was just kind of amazed at how many said I was 11. I was 6. My favorite one is when I could talk. I knew I wanted to be a vet.

Chris Carpenter: Vets we're passionate about it. And what I [00:23:00] realized the majority and I could go on stats. Now I've looked at a million surveys on this. I just did one with the vet profession. And again, the majority made their decision at 12 or younger. And that is to me, 2 things I would say from it. And this is where you can put up the banner.

Chris Carpenter: where Chris is like standing on his pedal still shouting to the profession is Two things. Most of us make our decision before we're 12 years old. and you still see places where people don't get that. I've seen where veterinary colleges are saying when you're in high school and want to pursue a career.

Chris Carpenter: No, you missed them. They already had decided when they were in junior high. Most of them. I'm not saying all of them, but the other one is that's when they need to be encouraged and we can talk about that. But if you miss it, it's also, sadly enough, where most of them start dropping out is in that mid high school.

Chris Carpenter: Jason Johnson did some work at LMU and started showing that if they don't get that belief, that mentorship or that animal experience, would they start fading away? And [00:24:00] that is kind of the essence of what my message from Vet Set Go has been. And I think people are more and more starting to hear it, but I'm so impressed that you caught that data because that is the essence of our profession.

Chris Carpenter: We are a calling, and I love talking about that. We're a calling that attracts people who love animals when they're young compared to these other careers. And I'm not diminishing them, but no one says I want to be a lawyer when they're 10. No one says I want to be an accountant or a marketing guy when they're like nine or in middle school.

Chris Carpenter: I mean, it is just a profession drawn by love of animals. And man, you just have to love that about our profession. I just love it. 

Megan Sprinkle: And I think I shared this with you. It was more of a confession because I do remember a period probably soon after vet school, maybe around vet school, where, you know, it's usually little girls, probably cause I'm a girl too, but you know, that they're like, Oh, I want to be a veterinarian.

Megan Sprinkle: And during that period, I'm like, sure. let's see in, [00:25:00] a decade if you're really there, but that's such a really sad mindset because. I am one of those as well that also knew at their age that I wanted to do this and I went and I got experience to try to continue to build that.

Megan Sprinkle: Cause I was just so excited by it. And I think that's it. It's like, it is drawn from a love of animals, but there's a genuine enthusiasm behind it, which is just really inspiring. 

Chris Carpenter: That's what's amazing. and listen, a lot, as I mentioned, can get can really get disgruntled and walk away. Or I should say disenchanted because they can't like I didn't find that, but there's a lot who are just relentlessly determined.

Chris Carpenter: And, you know, it's 1 of the messages I say to parents is that, don't take it. Lightly your middle school child and sometimes as early as 9 or such, if they're saying they want to be a vet, it's for real. they're going to follow that path. They're going to explore it. They want to go work in the stables.

Chris Carpenter: They want to get that animal experience. encourage that. and because I do agree with you. I [00:26:00] mean, it's hard to describe to someone who didn't have that when they were younger. But, I remember how I felt. I'm like, I'm going to become one. There was this conversation too, when I was younger, everyone was saying, I remember even when I was in high school working for a vet, he goes, Oh, veterinarians, you know, they don't make much money.

Chris Carpenter: I know we're overcrowded. We have too many of them. And I was like, I remember thinking in my mind, I don't care. I'm going to be this cause I want this role. And the passion is off the charts. 

Megan Sprinkle: like you said, you've done a lot of surveys and research on this. What have you found is one of the best ways to make sure that we are supporting kids at that age to continue to fuel that inspiration and keep them interested to stay on the path?

Chris Carpenter: Yeah, that's the question, right? And that's, this is the thing we just, and you'll probably be the first one to reveal a lot of the work we did, but we went out and surveyed veterinarians.

Chris Carpenter: And, you know, the really good news is there are a lot who are out shadowing and mentoring. the bad part is most of it's in undergraduate students. I mean, I think 90 percent of the [00:27:00] veterinarians we surveyed, We're definitely mentoring the undergrad college students about 70 percent in high school, and then a really paltry 14 percent at middle school.

Chris Carpenter: And so if I said anything to my colleagues, I'm giggling because I have said it and I say it over and over. We have to start younger. And I've said it to college Deans is just as much This critical time is when most of us, again, before we're 12 years and on younger is when most of us raise our hand.

Chris Carpenter: And that is that critical moment. And by the way, we didn't talk about this, but we're usually the most, if we're, we're not number one, we're number two, we're a very popular profession. So our profession was given this gift. We have all these kids. From what I call tweens, nine to 12 to 13 who want to be us.

Chris Carpenter: And that's our moment. And if we can just bring them in and mentor them or acknowledge them and show them that we want them to our profession will have so many applicants, [00:28:00] but a lot of them aren't right now. The practices are focusing again. Only 14 percent are bringing middle school in and I, and I share this.

Chris Carpenter: And yes, it might be a different shadowing opportunity. You might do it with your clinic closed and just give them a tour, or maybe bring in one of the staff's dogs, you know, very friendly, golden or something that, and do a physical. But that, I don't know what to call it, encouragement, acknowledgement. if someone would have brought me in for a tour of that vet clinic, it would change my life.

Chris Carpenter: and that's what I would say to them. It doesn't matter how small. I work a lot with a few shadowing doctors. One of them, Dr. Stephanie Jones in Fort Lauderdale, her, favorite saying is they just want to be there and that's it. They just want to be next to you don't have to plan a curriculum.

Chris Carpenter: And so that would be it. It's that middle school is the time if I could write it on every Vet Set Go, you know, Page middle school is when we need to talk to them. because we could really and rapidly change. The, the situation with our profession and we could have a [00:29:00] lot of vet students, coming through.

Chris Carpenter: so that's it. I'm off my pedestal now. I won't shout that out anymore. 

Megan Sprinkle: No, I think this is great because this isn't a place where anybody can contribute. I know when I was at Royal Canin, we actually worked now. This was high school. So we're still a little late, but we found a high school and we worked with them on.

Megan Sprinkle: They had a career day and the whole day these, and it was a girl's school. So these girls would go to different businesses around St. Louis and we volunteered to be one of those businesses. So they came into the office. There were like a lot of them, like 30 something girls that would come into the office and we'd take them in and we had the whole thing set up where we'd talk about.

Megan Sprinkle: this was my passion. Cause I love all the different types of careers you can do in veterinary medicine. So we'd have a little session on that. we'd bring in one of the office dogs and do a physical exam and we do all those things. And they just absolutely loved it, especially when they could get around an animal that was like, when we surveyed and they're like, what [00:30:00] was your favorite part?

Megan Sprinkle: It was like the dog, of course. but I mean, so even in industry, you can do a big, step there then I think this is something we talked about, too, when it comes to shadowing, even if it's part of a, an open house where you're, you're technically not taking patients at the time, right, but you have an open house with your clinic, the parents can come in, they can drink, some coffee and, eat some cookies while the kids are, playing, and it is such a wonderful thing, not only to give back to potential the future generation, but I mean, it's a, it's a Business opportunity too, because you get to know the community and you build those relationships and I could not find the study.

Megan Sprinkle: So I have to keep looking, but there is research that shows. When you do something for someone's child, it really reflects on the parents. Like they really appreciate it when they see someone really going out of their way to do something special, like, give them attention and show them what it's like to be a [00:31:00] veterinarian.

Megan Sprinkle: And so I just think there's so many good things that could come with kind of thinking about different ways of. supporting the tweens or even, even younger, I think, would just love coming in and, playing with the stethoscope and stuff like that. 

Chris Carpenter: There's, it's, you know, it's really about is just showing encouragement and showing a welcoming, and you're right. There's so many different levels of it. And that kind of, you've kind of. I've been dancing into another topic that I've discovered now for 15 years because people like, wow, you've been doing this because this has been a moonlighting thing for me, Vet Set Go, but I've had some of the most rewarding moments of my career in it and because of the impact you have and what I realized and what I've said to people is I've never been involved with something that has such a circle of good and what I mean is everyone who touches it wins and you just started hitting on it.

Chris Carpenter: I mean, obviously it's great for the future, vet it's amazing. You know, we talk so much about the mental health of veterinarians and such, and this is, I, this is one of the other things I want to say is [00:32:00] I've discovered, and again, a lot of the doctors I work with who do a lot of shadowing say this, as Dr.

Chris Carpenter: Jones would say, she goes, it's my self-care, and it's what Vet Set Go has become to me, it is my reason for being because it gives me such a good feeling, and here's why, I'm not a psychologist, but what I can say obviously there's the good you do for someone else. But here's the thing about working with future veterinarians.

Chris Carpenter: The first thing I would tell you is you see yourself, you're like, Oh my God, that is me. When I was 11, when I hear them say things, I go, that is a little Chris Carpenter talking to me. And it, it's so. creates I don't know how to describe it. and it's so sincere and true is you just you see yourself and you remember how you felt and you remember why you started this journey and you remember why veterinary medicine was so important.

Chris Carpenter: And it's a giant reminder. But the other part that's so healthy for you is then you. Realize that to them veterinarians are superheroes like when I would go to auburn's We've been doing camps with them for eight [00:33:00] years when I would go to the camps and they found out I was a veterinarian they would just surround me like I was some kind of rock star and they would just ask so many questions and It makes you realize or see your profession through someone else's eyes.

Chris Carpenter: And those two things are so amazing. But you just touched on another one. Is that for the veterinary team, listen, what we do for animals is great and makes you a part of the community, but not as much. And I'm positive of this now, not as much as helping the children in a community explore their career dreams.

Chris Carpenter: And when you're a vet clinic, you're going Brings in kids and goes beyond to help these kids explore dreams. You gain the goodwill of the community. And so back to where I'm going, and I could do a few more, but I won't bore everyone, but it's the circle of good. You have, everyone's winning in it. The vet team wins, the veterinarian wins, the hospital wins.

Chris Carpenter: Cause they gained almost a free marketing program in the community. But most importantly, these kids now, instead of being told [00:34:00] like I was study science, get animal experience. Swear to God. I heard that from a couple of vets when I was that sixth grade, Chris, trying to get a job. and I think it's them bringing them in and, you know, I'll go even further.

Chris Carpenter: Even an open house is great, but even if I always tell them, give them something, show them one thing beyond, you know, I always say, give them a book, a book that's your favorite can be the Vet Set Go book, or it can be. An anatomy book or something and say, look, I want you to see this. It was important to me as a kid.

Chris Carpenter: It will be important to you. That itself is so much more than saying, , go study science, get animal experience and that that's what we need to do. And, I do recognize practice is busy. I do recognize it takes a lot of time, but I will say this will benefit you and your team and your business as much.

Chris Carpenter: It will benefit them and it's worth it. It's totally worth it. 

Megan Sprinkle: Yeah, I'm glad you brought up your book. So I want to make sure to do that. I actually have it on. I can't point to it backwards, but [00:35:00] I think that is a great tool is there are books there. I've had someone on who's written children's books, like really little children's books about what, what does a veterinarian look like and all of those things.

Megan Sprinkle: And I think that is great. If you're, if you're trying to find resources, I think these books that allow them to kind of explore it in their minds. And it's just a constant reminder that, Oh, wow. You know, it's real. I'm seeing this in a book. These are some steps to help me get there.

Megan Sprinkle: I know the books talks about shadowing and all sorts of different things that you can do. And then your anatomy book, you didn't quite go into that. So you actually have found that it is not weird, these kids like looking at anatomy books. So you've actually even created a book as well on that, I think, correct?

Chris Carpenter: Yeah, and so here's the thing, you know, it's funny and it's it's a good thing but one of the things I say whenever I present to classrooms and such or take Vet Set go out on the road is I always say to the parents And the kids, I say a lot of kids love animals. It's the kids who love [00:36:00] science and animals that become veterinarians.

Chris Carpenter: what i've learned is you don't need to say it to this group because when they raise Their hands the desire to learn about science and I try to share it with a lot of the companies who work with Vet Set Go is that you don't understand they Want to learn at a technician type level, their thirst for knowledge.

Chris Carpenter: And it started when I would hold contests every year for these camps, and I would get hundreds of entries. And all I asked him in marketing, we call it an open ended question. I just said, tell me your story. So what's ever important to them came up first. And I remember the 1st year read an entry from a student and she ended up winning and she goes, one of the best gifts I was ever given was the veterinary technician anatomy coloring book.

Chris Carpenter: well, I go, man, that's, that's a unique child. It wasn't over the years. And I did it 8 years. I can tell you. Almost 10 percent of my entries, they mentioned anatomy, coloring books or other similar books that they got his presents and their [00:37:00] desire to learn science is best illustrated by one time.

Chris Carpenter: Someone wrote into one of my websites in one of the articles where I was teaching them about, snakes and I was going through surgery and I think I said, Hey, snakes only have one lung. And I remember it's. The child wrote in. This is so cool. I now know more about snakes than anyone in my classroom. And I thought, man, that is the perfect comment from a future vet who wants to be within their family and their classroom, the expert on animals.

Chris Carpenter: They just have that desire. And so it's a neat insight. think about this. I'm going to take a step back now. Think about what I just said and think about all the efforts We do to educate clients about things like cats need annual checkups.

Chris Carpenter: You need to make sure you have your pet on parasiticides every year or tested every year for vector borne disease Think of all we do and then you look down and here's this group That is thirsty for science. And what I say to people, why not with this leverage, teach them basic [00:38:00] science, you know, anatomy, as you mentioned.

Chris Carpenter: So I created an anatomy book, but they want to learn everything they can. And here's the thing I'm going to throw on top of that. I've surveyed when I would go to these camps, I'd survey these parents of these middle school kids. And when you survey them, the majority of them say that their child is the primary caregiver of the pet.

Chris Carpenter: They do all the feeding, they do all the walking, if this child will love science and This is the time to teach them and I'll close this point, even if they don't become veterinarians. And as you mentioned, many may go into different areas of the veterinary career. Many may go into different areas of science.

Chris Carpenter: A lot of my contest winners have gone into like marine biology and such. It's still a win. A lot of them are female. I think it's so awesome. I believe in STEM science for anyone. I think it's the greatest opportunity, but here's the other part. We as a profession with these future vets can train. The future, while they're thirsty for science, all these important things that we [00:39:00] wait to try to teach them as adults, such as the importance of or the dangers of heartworm disease, the importance of feline health checks, this group wants to learn why not teach him.

Chris Carpenter: And so that was a long kind of dialogue to get to that point. But what I've realized is you don't lose with any outreach. Yes, they may not become vets. They may go into another STEM science. Yes, they may not go into science, but they're going Here's what I always tell everyone who works with me, they're all going to become pet owners.

Chris Carpenter: Everyone I talk to on Vet Set Go will have pets throughout their life. Because they'll never lose their love of animals. And that's why I've loved this because Man, it's just, there's just such a lot of good that it does, no matter what the outcome with the student, whether they go to vet school, whether they go in the vet profession, whether they go into STEM science, or whether they just have pets.

Chris Carpenter: and here's the last thing, I could keep going, I warned you about this, but here's the thing. Think about my memory, but think about what all these kids through Vet Set go that I've sent books. I've given out 25, [00:40:00] 000 books because of sponsors free to kids. 25, 000 think about how they feel about the profession and going back to my marketing experience.

Chris Carpenter: A brand isn't just a color code and a look. It's a feel and an emotion you feel with the brand. Think about how they feel about the veterinary brand when they think about. How they got a free book, how they got invited to a clinic, and how the veterinary profession embraced them, even if they don't become, veterinarians, if they remember that as a pet owner, our profession in 20 years will be so much better off because we did this outreach.

Chris Carpenter: I mean, the potential for this is so important. For anyone who does marketing, they know and listen, it's very early on, but the rewards will continue for us because I can tell you, it's got to be detrimental to our profession when someone says, I want to be a vet and they can't find a place to volunteer.

Chris Carpenter: It's got to leave them a little empty. 

Megan Sprinkle: Yeah, absolutely. And [00:41:00] I'm probably going to do a very terrible transition. But what I said at the beginning is that you're a multi passionate person, which I love, and it's perfectly okay to do that. So you have this big passion project, which is, I hate to call it a passion project, because, um, It's more that it's like their books and camps and all sorts of things.

Megan Sprinkle: but you, you also did mention that you joined companion animal parasite council, after Johnson and Johnson, and you have been with them for a very long time and we've chatted and some of the things that you're doing is just fascinating. So I want to be able to give you an opportunity to share some of the things you're most excited about with the council.

Chris Carpenter: you know, I, all I can say is that it's, it's the most interesting. thing about what you were saying it earlier. We don't know where our life goes. And I would have never thought I'll be candid with you. I saw the CAPC opportunity because I just left corporate medicine. I told you all the reasons all about quality of life and being with my child who was then about [00:42:00] five or six.

Chris Carpenter: And I said, I want to be around her during these years. And then also, you know, this idea of remote was amazing. Getting back to vet medicine. And I would have never thought it would have lasted as long. And I also made fun of myself saying, like, I think, when people like Byron Blagburn and thought leaders like Dwight Bowman and such saw me, it wasn't probably the person they thought fit with it.

Chris Carpenter: But what has happened with, 2 things I would say about CAP C is, uh, It's been the greatest organization where I've never felt such a part of it. It's small. There's only 12 board members but I've loved the way it's involved with so many big, great companies in our profession, and I've loved, what we've created and what we were able to do is amazing to me.

Chris Carpenter: And I'll just, I'll just highlight one of my favorite things we've done is We were able to work with the laboratories. I, I am going to call them out. I'm not a kind of commercial advertiser, but I think what they did [00:43:00] is amazing. If people think about it, the IDEXX and Antech, they donated their data.

Chris Carpenter: Test results to CAPC so they're sharing their data free of charge with the profession, and they allowed us to do work around it. And I think that's an amazing thing. If you think about it, those are things with a lot of value, but they did it because they knew that we could, as a nonprofit, do a lot of work around it and really make these prevalence numbers work harder and change the conversation.

Chris Carpenter: And that's what I want to talk about that. I I'm so happy with it. CAPC is that when I think back to when I practice and granted it was a while ago. And I was, I think of the Atlanta clinic and having on the wall, a static, heartworm society. It could have been anything map of the heartworm, but it was just this big picture on a wall.

Chris Carpenter: And CAPC recognized back in 2012 that if we, we could change the conversation and make it a lot like what were our brand new iPhones at the time and talk about people about recent data in their [00:44:00] local community. Because when I used to practice, I used to say, Hey, you know, heartworm is look, you can see the red.

Chris Carpenter: Oh, it's not bad in my area. And you still get that. I know practitioners still hear that because my dog doesn't go outside or we live in the mountains and they have all kinds of reasons. But when it's in your county and you can say how many cases happened last month, it's so much harder for someone to say it.

Chris Carpenter: so we said, we're going to share what we call local and timely data. the other thing we started was forecasting, and this is what I'm most proud of CAPC. He started working with a forecaster. Dr. Robert Lund and Clemson University back in 2012 to forecast parasites. And it was funny. I remember our 1st phone call, and he was like, oh, How do you say this "err-li"?

Chris Carpenter: Or lick and you didn't know how to say Ehrlichiosis. And I was like, Oh, no, we're gonna we're in a long journey. And it has been a long journey. It's been now, 12 years. but our forecasts are amazing. the weighted correlation, I mean, we're spot on. We have. Eight publications on it.

Chris Carpenter: But here's what I'm most happy about what we're [00:45:00] doing for practices because we now have the ability to forecast every county for right now for major diseases. The next year it will expand and give that data to hospitals to use. Meaning like if I were at hospital ABC in St. John's County, I'm not just saying, Hey, you should come in for heartworm prevented.

Chris Carpenter: I'm saying We are forecasting this month. You are going to have seven new cases of heartworm. Heartworm is a devastating disease can be fatal, and all you have to do is put on. It changes the conversation so much, though, that, you know, we've done a lot of tests with hospitals, and we know that these local forecast sharing the threat in your local area increases visits by 56 percent and purchases by 70 plus percent.

Chris Carpenter: it truly motivates people to act and that's what it's all about. I mean, I love it because we're now using big data. we now have hundreds of millions of tests and we, go through a big [00:46:00] analysis every year to do a forecast. Think about a forecast for every county in the U. S. For four diseases.

Chris Carpenter: right now we're going to change the process, but it takes 14 hours and Amazon servers to do each forecast. I mean, it's amazing crunching of data. We're going to improve that. I just love that this little organization where there's me and I'm part time person and And a lot of volunteer board members, we created this and, I love the change it's making in the profession.

Chris Carpenter: it's the use of big data and I can see where the veterinary profession is going is no longer. You're going to have these. Blanket open conversations. You're going to be able to talk to people and say, we know you live in this county and here's the risk. Let's bring it up for you. The future is really exciting.

Chris Carpenter: And, you know, jumping back to where you started. I'm just so excited. We did that. it took us a long time. We were little, but for 12 years, we've marched forward and now we have 4 different statisticians working with us. We have parasitologists, as you know, from across the [00:47:00] country. And it's a cross college, cross discipline, meaning statisticians combining with parasitologists and veterinarians all working together.

Chris Carpenter: And we just heard this awesome team now and back to where we started this. Maybe I don't know if I'm trying to close my interview, but I'm bringing this full circle. Never would have thought this was where I would be so grateful for it. I've been here 12 years and CAPC has been amazingly rewarding and the impact we have had back to why I jumped into marketing.

Chris Carpenter: not that I wouldn't have had impact on lives as a practitioner, but I think I've done something with this board that's really good for the profession and I love it. I just love it. And I can see how some of these elements that you are discovering that you enjoyed have come into this, like working with the big brands and this is your product that you're, marketing and selling and making bigger and better, the impact, like all of that is kind of coming together into it.

Chris Carpenter: it's been great. And it's just funny because back where I [00:48:00] realized at the start of this, where you were going with it and it's true, like now I laugh and now it's a funnier joke. I think of Byron Blackburn, and I think probably when he first, Chris Carpenter. Why is he the CAPC Executive Director?

Chris Carpenter: I remember him at school. He was not the smartest guy, and he goofed off a bit. and, I don't know if I'm excited about this, but, I have to say it's been an amazing, path. And going into nonprofit, I had to learn a lot about.

Chris Carpenter: How nonprofits work. we were talking earlier before we got on this taping session about going to conferences. And I always joke that everyone runs from me and fears me because I'm standing with my hand out going. Hey, CAPC. Could you use your support? You know, I'm always fundraising And I've learned a lot in that, you know, I guess that's kind of a aspect of sales and I've really learned a lot about that. listen, it's, I won't lie. Sometimes it was tough years, but it's been great. I've gotten to know this profession. I've gotten to know all these companies and all these other people in the non [00:49:00] profits that work with us.

Chris Carpenter: It's, again, not what I would have written, not where I thought I was going to be back when I thought I was going to be a radiologist, but wouldn't change it for the world. 

Megan Sprinkle: Yeah, absolutely. Well, just as a final question, and I know you've expressed a lot of gratitude throughout this, you work a lot, you put a lot of effort into managing Vet Set Go and CAPC, but when it comes to just life in general, what are you most grateful for?

Chris Carpenter: they're the obvious ones that I think most people would say, family, and, I think, you know, this is crazy to say, know this. I, I stayed single a long time and got married late in life.

Chris Carpenter: And, I was like, Oh my God, who would do that? I really wasn't single forever. I'm going to hike and I'm going to do all these adventures. But when you have a child, I don't even know how to describe it. You think, you know, love, but you don't. and I always say it's much like a sliding glass window.

Chris Carpenter: And that I used to see my sister and other people [00:50:00] had kids and they would talk about them forever. I'm like, Oh my God, God, God, quit this. Like we go home for holidays, but then I got it. I don't know how to say it. And I was on the other side of the glass and I was like, Oh, my God. they're everything.

Chris Carpenter: And that understanding that learning that relationship and that love and that relationship with someone. It's obviously the most important thing in life. It's easily what matters more than anything. And I'm very proud of myself. I've done haven't done a lot of smart moves in my life, but I I'm very grateful that I gave up.

Chris Carpenter: What have been a title at J and J to be dad with Sydney. I mean, I, so that's what I'm most grateful for. Again, I'm not pretending like Chris has the right answers all the time, but that one I'd got right and never regretted it. Never ever and I, you know, I think it really, It will be the thing. It is the thing I turn to, you know, whenever you have those [00:51:00] tough moments and stuff, I think about what are the things I have. And I think that is the thing that I'm just, it's, it's, it's fantastic. And even to this day, just being able to talk to her like she's my best friend.

Chris Carpenter: It's awesome.

Megan Sprinkle: I hope you enjoyed this episode. I am very excited for this month of episodes. I hope in every episode you see the human behind the professional and feel a sense of community, passionate people here for you. Don't forget to register for our giveaway this month. We are giving away children's books written by veterinary professionals.

Megan Sprinkle: You can give them away to a child you want to encourage. You can even keep them in your waiting room for people to enjoy during their visit. And a huge thank you to all of our sponsors this month. Our May sponsors are Dr. William Tancredi, who writes an amazing Substack, Dr. Chris Carpenter with VetSetGo, and VetBadger, a practice management software created by working veterinary parents.

Megan Sprinkle: Links and resources are in the description below. As always, make sure you give love to our sponsors and until next time!