Dr. Melanie Barham is a veterinarian, project management professional, and is an MBA Candidate in Sustainable Commerce. She has completed over 40 qualitative interviews with veterinarians who have made career transitions or made changes in their lives to be more satisfied in their careers. She’s counselled many veterinary professionals in negotiations, shifting mindset, and changing careers.

Melanie started The DVM Project in 2017. Originally intended as a blog after she left the equine industry, The DVM Project has grown into a career counselling service providing veterinary specific counselling and coaching to veterinarians, veterinary technicians, and students (veterinary students and technician students). They offer courses, events, and career coaching alongside their community of over 2500 veterinary professionals.

More recently, she has also been developing market strategies for companies in the veterinary space, and was one of the 3 organizers of the Global Veterinary Career Summit. She is also the co-chair elect of the USAHA Committee on Workforce Development, past president of the Canadian Animal Health Laboratorians Network, and past co-chair of the Equestrian Canada Health and Welfare Committee.

In our broad conversation with Melanie we dive into:

  • Melanie’s unique career path and how its shaped what she’s doing today
  • Making life decisions and career shifts as a result of changing life circumstances
  • The benefits of getting a project management professional designation
  • Taking on an MBA while being a parent and what she learned doing so
  • The genesis and execution of the Global Veterinary Career Summit
  • What is the DVM Project?
  • Melanie’s perspective on how the DVM Project has grown over time
  • How Melanie approaches tackling projects with multiple steps
  • The Impact Round!

Thank you to Melanie for joining us on the show! If you’d like to find out more about The DVM Project or connect directly with Melanie you can do so here:

Homepage

[email protected]

Facebook @thedvmproject

Instagram @thedvmproject

Homepage

If you are interested in finding out more about that Global Veterinary Career Summit check it out here:

https://www.globalveterinarycareersummit.com/

And lastly, you can also check out our companion episode where Jonathan and Mike were interviewed on Melanie’s podcast:

https://buff.ly/3doGOrq

If you liked the show and want to stay in the know, please subscribe to the podcast on the listening platform of your choosing.

Want to join our community of like-minded Veterinary Professionals? Send us an email at [email protected] 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 [email protected]. 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