Ep 117: The Making Of A Mentor - Dr. Kirsten Ronngren’s Mentorship Story

In today’s episode of That Vet Life Podcast host, Dr. Moriah McCauley interviews locum veterinarian and mentor, Dr. Kirsten Ronngren. Dr. Kirsten’s journey into veterinary medicine began as a child when she began shadowing and helping her mum (a small animal practice veterinarian) at her practice. Following in her mother's footsteps, Kirsten graduated as a veterinarian from Washington State University's College of Veterinary Medicine in 2015. After graduating, Dr. Ronngren began working in a feline-only practice where she was mentored by Dr. Gary Marshall (one of VetX International’s very own mentors). Following this, Dr. Kirsten went on to practice in Southern California, where she worked as a clinical veterinarian and specialized in client communication and teaching. This led to her taking on a job at Pima Medical Institute where she taught veterinary technicians part-time alongside her time in practice. Her love of teaching and mentoring led to her creating Vet Redefined, a website aimed to connect and aid veterinary students and graduates overcome the challenges of veterinary medicine. At Vet Redefined, “we aim to provide the mentorship, resources, support, and tools that seemed to lag in the training most of us received at the end of school and our first endeavors outside of it.” In the last year, Dr. Ronngren has moved to England, where she has become a registered member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons and is working as a small animal locum vet, alongside mentoring through Vet Redefined and creating digital veterinary content for VetBox. In this episode, Dr. Kirsten talks about her journey with mentorship, from both her experience being mentored by her mother and seasoned veterinarian Dr. Gary Marshall, as well as touching on all other mentors who have influenced her and helped her become the teacher she is today. Tune in the learn the impact mentoring has.