In today's episode, Dr Kathryn Surasky and Dr Kate Robinson sit down with Dr Ruby Chow for a discussion about her upcoming internship with McKee-Pownall!

Dr. Ruby Chow will be joining our practice for a 13-month internship. Dr. Chow previously worked with us in the summer of 2020 as a technician in our Uxbridge practice and we are delighted to welcome her back as our first intern after her recent graduation from The Ontario Veterinary College.

We are excited to start this program at a time when the equine industry is suffering from a drastic decline in veterinarians. Our ability to provide a good experience for an intern will help ensure that the equine veterinary industry has new practitioners entering the profession and will help us to identify future veterinary associates for MPES. 

An intern is a graduated and fully licensed veterinarian who is seeking additional time after completing vet school to be mentored in additional aspects of the veterinary industry. In our case, an intern is seeking mentorship, experience, knowledge and skill-building in equine practice. Interns may be newly graduated veterinarians, or they may be experienced veterinarians who have decided to pursue specialized training in a specific area of the industry.

So what is an internship? An internship is the term used to describe the position an intern takes. An internship is intended to be a year of mentorship where at the end the intern has gained significantly more confidence, experience and skills in a specific area of veterinary medicine (like equine practice) than they would after a year of practice on their own. In return, equine practice (in general) gains a confident, experienced and skilled veterinarian to join the workforce.  

Almost every veterinarian at McKee-Pownall has come through an internship program of some sort and we are excited to be able to give back to our industry by offering this program.