Emily Singleton

My name is Emily Singleton and I am a graduating junior at The Ohio State University majoring in Animal Biosciences. My career goal is to become a food animal veterinarian and my interests include swine medicine and research. Along with being a food animal veterinarian, I am very interested in the DVM/MPH combined degree program as having an understanding of public health is critical in the veterinary profession, especially with working with production animals. The most influential experience I have had on my decision to become a veterinarian was working in Dr. Linda Saif’s laboratory in the Food Animal Health Research Program, FAHRP, at the OARDC located in Wooster, Ohio. This confirmed my interest in specializing in swine medicine and sparked my first interest in research. Most of my time in FAHRP was spent helping with the porcine epidemic diarrhea virus, PEDV, studies in neonatal pigs. The study included orally inoculating germ-free, pregnant gilts with PEDV and challenging them three days postpartum to see if the study had worked. Another major aspect of the project was studying the impact that oral vitamin A had on lactogenic immunity, which proved to have some effect on piglet survival rate. Due to issues like compassion fatigue and burnout, poor mental health is prevalent in the veterinary career field. There are no worthy support systems for our workers and many people in this career field do not like to ask for help from others. I would like to help to find a solution to address this issue before it reaches a much larger scale. If we began to take steps in recognizing the importance of mental health, it would tremendously improve our work environment and the lives of multiple veterinary professionals. My extracurricular interests include coaching high school FFA, Future Farmers of America, students for livestock judging and helping with both their State and American FFA degree applications. I am dedicated to helping high schoolers find and understand what they are passionate about themselves and do everything that I can to help them reach their goals. A major aspect of working as a large animal veterinarian is being able to communicate and understand the needs and obstacles of producers. I am able to apply my background knowledge from firsthand experience which allows me to have a greater understanding of the challenges faced by livestock producers. A major challenge that I was introduced to in small-scale production farms was the lack of resources for veterinary care. Without food animal veterinarians, it would be challenging to provide quality assurance for animal products purchased by consumers. I have directly seen the differences between large- and small-scale operations and have an understanding that there are different concerns about herd health and treatment plan options between farms. Overall, given my past experiences, my passion for science and research development, and my resilient characteristics, I am confident that my skills, leadership abilities, and drive to succeed in this industry will make me thrive and excel in your veterinary program.