caitlin vaughn
I want you to know that you’re not alone if you feel stuck in VetMed. But it doesn’t have to be that way - by learning how to shift your thinking, you can discover pockets of happiness in the career you used to love!
Core role Features
quick fire overview.
salary
$155k (USD)
travel & flexibility
Remote engagement with a distributed workforce. Travel up to 35% for campus events and student engagement activities - heaviest during Fall and Spring school semesters. Significant autonomy to work on projects and flexibility with working hours.
Values
Positive Attitude & Adaptability
Results Orientation
Teamwork and Collaboration
Facilitating Connections
region/location
USA: Northeast & Central
essential skills
- Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) or equivalent required.
- 7–10 years of experience in the veterinary industry.
- Experience in leadership roles
- Strong written and verbal communication skills.
- High emotional intelligence.
- Ability to mentor, coach, and build partnerships with veterinary universities and students.
- Experience curating employer branding content and facilitating engagement events.
I started out working in a kennel at age 14. I didn't consider vet school until I was halfway through a research master's and hated every second of it. During my internship after vet school, I thought I wanted to specialize, but I was exhausted, so I went into practice as an emergency clinician. After 5 years, I changed to general practice, then transitioned to more nonclinical roles in mentorship and DVM development.
While I loved being able to help animals and their people, it always felt like there was a little something missing. After going through my own struggles as an early career veterinarian, I sought out some educational opportunities around coaching and veterinary human support. I quickly realized that my experience and new skillset was better suited for broader, program-oriented roles where I felt like I could make a difference as part of the movement to create a kinder, more sustainable veterinary industry. Recently, I found the unicorn organization where I truly belong - it's a learning-focused, supportive, culture, and decisions make at the top still reflect a lot of the values I hold personally.
Honestly, I had to suffer enough that I was considering leaving the profession entirely. I didn't really know what my options were - I looked at a lot of remote telemedicine positions, applied for roles in insurance, and considered going back to school - all just to "escape the clinic floor."
Most of the knowledge and skills I learned that make this role the right fit for the current version of myself are things I worked really hard to develop as I was recovering from my own burnout and despair.
Experience & Qualifications
- Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) or equivalent required.
- 7–10 years of experience in the veterinary industry.
- Experience in leadership roles
Technical & Functional Skills
- Curriculum design, program development, and implementation (training, mentorship, externship).
- Talent assessment and strategic planning.
- Cross-functional collaboration (HR, Operations, Clinical).
- LMS (Learning Management System) experience preferred.
- Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite (Teams, Word, Excel, PowerPoint).
Communication & Interpersonal Skills
- Strong written and verbal communication skills.
- High emotional intelligence.
- Ability to mentor, coach, and build partnerships with veterinary universities and students.
- Experience curating employer branding content and facilitating engagement events.
Leadership & Management
- Performance management and team growth.
- Project and resource management.
- Data analysis and metric reporting.
- Strategic communication with internal stakeholders.
I love working remotely - being able to be flexible, spend a little more time with my pets, and not have to commute are all huge perks. But remote work is not all sunshine and rainbows - some days I get a little lonely, and other days I'm on so many meetings I barely have time for lunch!
Traveling for campus events is super fun when it's only occasionally, but can be tiring when there are back to back events.
More than anything, I love being a part of developing doctors even before they've earned their degree - teaching students, listening to extern feedback. Serving as an external mentor allows me to keep a connection with our new graduates entering the profession, and identify some of the future leaders of our hospitals.
On any given day, you can find me on a call with a mentee or hospital, planning a campus career fair, writing newsletters, scheduling rounds events (talking to key thought leaders and our supplier partners), crafting posts for our brand's social media presence, and considering all the different ways I can make our corner of the industry just a little bit better.
I also spend quite a bit of time keeping up with innovations and new ideas in vet med, and create content to deliver both on campus and for national events.
A role like this is great for someone that enjoys both the freedom of creativity and the structure of strategic thinking.
The biggest barriers to roles like this are simply not knowing they're out there. I joined several online groups, set up job alerts on Google, LinkedIn, and Indeed, and just talked to so many people.
Mostly it's that the landscape is changing. More nonclinical roles open up every day - because we recognize that doctors need support.
While you're looking, pursue training as a coach, or in organizational leadership, positive psychology, or mental health certifications - not only will you personally benefit as a human, but you'll be better poised to jump into a role like this with multiple stakeholders and feel a little less like you're drowning.