> Articles by: ChristpinaUnlike many veterinarians, I did not grow up dreaming of being a veterinarian, even though I loved animals. I graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a BA in psychology hoping to pursue a PhD and work with troubled adolescents. I soon realized I had little control over the parents who were an influential “issue” for the children, so I became discouraged with my career path.
On July 14, 2022, highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) clade 2.3.4.4.b was detected for the first time in California wild birds. By the end of August 2024, nearly 600 confirmed positive wild birds and over 7.1 million domestic birds had been impacted by H5N1 in California, and H5N1 infection was detected in three dairy herds in the Central Valley.
I learned early on in my organized veterinary medicine career that one can’t just sit by and listen. It was 1996, and I was the student representative to the Minnesota VMA’s Board of Governors. I had proposed that the student representatives receive full voting rights on the Board.
We pursued a direction for the logo that is modern, vibrant, and innovative. This new branding has a fresh and inventive feel, representing our responsibility to continually evolve and support veterinary members of all kinds.
On July 1, 2025, SB 6 (Ashby),passed the Assembly Public Safety Committee. This bill will add xylazine to the California Controlled Substance List as a Schedule III controlled substance, but will keep xylazine solely in the hands of veterinarians for use in practice.
Owning a veterinary practice is not just about making a living—it’s about making a difference in the lives of your patients and their owners. But running a successful practice also involves managing the risks that come with caring for animals and interacting with clients. That’s where business insurance comes in.
On April 15–17, the California Veterinary Medical Board (CVMB) and its Multidisciplinary Advisory Committee (MDC) held their regular quarterly meetings at the CVMB’s headquarters in Sacramento. The CVMA’s Executive Director Dan Baxter and Director of Regulatory Affairs Dr. Grant Miller attended these meetings and commented on various agenda items affecting the veterinary profession.
I always wanted to be an ecologist—to study rainforests, birds, evolution, and animal behavior; write and teach about the amazing interconnections in nature; discover new species; combat deforestation; and maybe even save a species or two from extinction. I even completed a master’s research thesis on the ecology and evolution of birds in Costa Rica, but a few wonderful mentors before, during, and after graduate school ultimately led me to veterinary medicine and my position as a senior wildlife veterinarian at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW).
Understanding the basics of investing is an essential first step toward building a strong financial foundation, but many people don’t know where to get started. Here are five concepts that can be helpful for new investors to grasp:
Due to the progressively and overly stringent compounding regulations by the California Board of Pharmacy (BOP), there are only a few veterinary compounding pharmacies remaining in the state to provide medications for millions of animals. Additionally, the remaining compounding pharmacies have become increasingly disincentivized to produce certain important veterinary medications because of prohibitive BOP regulations.
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