Molly McAllister: [00:00:00] And I've never quite said these words before, but I think they, they ring true, which is, I guess I'm not afraid to have an existential crisis because I've had quite a few of them in life where I've really been faced with moments of, gosh, I thought I was doing this, but this doesn't feel like the right thing anymore.
Megan Sprinkle: Welcome to Vet Life Reimagined. As of 2023, Molly McAllister became the chief medical officer of Mars Veterinary Health. She is also someone I hear so many wonderful things about, so I couldn't wait to hear her story. Mars Veterinary Health supports over 70, 000 associates, including veterinarians and paraprofessionals in small animal practices.
Megan Sprinkle: Little did I know that Molly's career started very differently. She has experienced many aspects of veterinary medicine including many different species. Leraning more and more about what she valued most she found her way to Mars trough becoming an SSV for Royal Canin in 2009, and then joined Banfield in 2012. She is Also a board member of the Diversify [00:01:00] Veterinary Medicine Coalition, and is very passionate about health and wellbeing for the veterinary profession. As a single mom, she has learned the importance of boundaries.
Megan Sprinkle: This is well timed for World Mental Health Day on October 10th. I think this episode will make you think and make you smile. So let's get to the conversation with Dr. Mollie McAllister.
Megan Sprinkle: When did you know that you wanted to get into veterinary medicine?
Megan Sprinkle: Yeah,
Molly McAllister: that's a great question. And I'll have to say I'm probably one of the 4 percent that's divergent from the norm, you know, the most of us that decided that at 3 or 4 or never had a different idea, you know, for me, I grew up, , I was fortunate enough to grow up on a family farm. And so animals were a part of my daily life and certainly had a big impact.
Molly McAllister: on me. And I often thought about how I would have a career working with animals. But to be honest with you, my dad had grown up on a farm, , quite poor in the Midwest. And he had actually started his career in veterinary school. He went to a year of veterinary school and he [00:02:00] decided to change and switch to medical school and became a physician.
Molly McAllister: And so I think to some degree throughout my childhood, there was a little bit of family bias that, I wouldn't say discouraged me from becoming a veterinarian, but didn't necessarily. embrace it. Because in his world, being a veterinarian meant farm calls and cattle barns and rain and cold and sleet. And, you know, I think he, he thought that perhaps I would want something different.
Molly McAllister: so that's how I went through high school and college knowing I loved science, knowing I loved animals and not sure how I was going to apply it. And it was only after I started my first. I'm going to be talking about the first job after veterinary, or excuse me, after undergraduate where I worked with a wildlife veterinarian and I was really intrigued by the work that they were doing and the opportunity to engage with animals.
Molly McAllister: I had started out with the idea of being a field biologist. And so it was very observational. And then I watched the veterinarian have this opportunity to be more hands on. And I got really intrigued. And so I came back from that job. It was a, it was a remote field job. I came home and started talking to some of my [00:03:00] mentors.
Molly McAllister: And, , eventually one of them said, why don't you just apply to veterinary school since you thought that was so interesting. And so, you know, I was probably 22 years old and I am so glad that that suggestion was made because it has been the best, you know, it's been a challenging and fun and I, I have no regrets in making that decision whatsoever.
Megan Sprinkle: Yes. And I also have heard you say that. Potentially because you kind of came into veterinary medicine in a little bit of a roundabout way, it allowed you to see the possibilities and maybe the flexibility within veterinary medicine. And I also kind of came in, uh, doing lots of different types of experiences, like with wildlife and marine mammals and all of that.
Megan Sprinkle: And that also, I think, helps me come into the field with a wider perspective than maybe some people who you say veterinarian and they think. Dog cat, you know, in a clinic or like your [00:04:00] dad, , a farm that kind of perspective. So I definitely can relate on that. And I think it's really important. And hopefully it also kind of allowed you to embrace a lot of opportunities, as we'll discuss kind of came your way in your career.
Megan Sprinkle: And so you, you mentioned, okay, so. I had a mentor in college that said, give it a shot, apply you, you get in on the first try. And so you're going into veterinary medicine, and we just talked about that. You are kind of open to different possibilities. You've interned with a wildlife vet. Did you have an idea of what you might want to do after vet school?
Megan Sprinkle: And did that change at all going through vet school?
Molly McAllister: Well, I certainly had an idea. And you know, when you sit through your interviews, they ask you what you're going to be doing with this degree, or at least they did for me 24 years ago. And it changed dramatically. Yes. So, I, in that, in the period of time between deciding I was interested in the veterinary field and [00:05:00] actually starting veterinary school, I did work for an equine veterinarian.
Molly McAllister: I'd had horses growing up and that was a really comfortable space for me. and I spent a little bit of time in small animal clinics, but not that much, which is sort of ironic when I think about what I do today. so I went into veterinary school thinking, I do love equine. The concept of equine medicine, that's something I could do.
Molly McAllister: And so I think I sort of stated that I wanted to do equine medicine, knowing that there were a lot of other things that I was interested in. And so, yeah, I mean, some of the things you just mentioned, when I think about the summer experiences and the externships that I chose for my senior year, I did a marine mammal, experience over the summer and an externship.
Molly McAllister: I did some zoo and wildlife externships. I did go to a couple dog and cat clinics and certainly did equine externships, but I was trying all sorts of things. and so then in my senior year, it was really a matter of again, following some advice that mentors had given me where they had said, you know, whatever you want to do, [00:06:00] there's so many possibilities.
Molly McAllister: And I'm so glad that 20 years ago, somebody. Also encouraged me to see that this profession has so many possibilities, but his advice to me. It's actually someone who I'm still in contact with. We reconnected just a year ago after 20, 20 years after he gave me this advice that I have shared with so many people, which is whatever you want to do.
Molly McAllister: Try to go into practice, some sort of practice and just solidify those clinical learnings because that process of taking a history, doing a physical exam, coming up with a diagnostic and treatment plan will be valuable to you in whatever you do. And he's, you know, he said, go do that for two or three years and then decide, , what else you might want to do.
Molly McAllister: And he was, for me, at least absolutely right. And. As I say, that's, that's advice that I share with many young veterinarians, veterinary students, because I do feel like we have such transferable skills as veterinarians and having that chance to take what we learn in school to really apply it in the clinical environment gives us such a strong foundation [00:07:00] from which I believe we can truly do just about anything.
Megan Sprinkle: So do I, which is why I have this podcast, but that's perfect. That's perfect. and so it sounds like you actually started on the equine side. So doing an internship in equine medicine. And so what was your internship experience like in kind of living in the world of equine medicine?
Molly McAllister: Yeah. So I did a, I did a private practice internship where I was the only intern in the practice.
Molly McAllister: I think we had four, I'm sorry, we had one person doing a non traditional residency there and then three, um, three veterinarians. And I have to be honest, you know, there's lots of horror stories about internships. And I don't have a horror story to share. They were wonderful, caring people. , I did go into it as a, as a true Gen Xer would, which is that I believed that, you know, I was there to work hard, I was there to do a lot of the, the grunt labor, for lack of a better word.
Molly McAllister: And so, you know, when they needed somebody to spend the night with the colic case or the foal, [00:08:00] I probably could have, you know, asked for help, but I was always, there volunteering because I thought that that was what I was there for. and they took really good care of me and they helped me, realize when, my boundaries were getting stretched and I needed to take some time off or when I was getting sick and I just needed to go home.
Molly McAllister: And so it was a really good experience with them. and over the course of that year, I learned so much and I still say that having to drive around in a truck with a box of drugs and a couple of textbooks, you know, in the front seat is a great experience for learning how to deal with ambiguity because you just, you know, you manage what comes your way.
Molly McAllister: But I did realize over the course of that year that. the concept of being on call all the time was really hard for me. And, you know, part of it was being an intern, but it was also equine practice. You know, still today to some degree is, all the hours that you need to work. And I, I value my colleagues who can lean into that.
Molly McAllister: And what I found is that. I had a really hard time [00:09:00] again with my own personal boundaries when there was always a pager attached to me and I just couldn't quite relax. I couldn't ever really step away because I always felt like I was going to be called into work. And so, you know, I, I dealt with that for a while.
Molly McAllister: I actually stayed on at that practice and worked for about a year. About six months after my internship, again, they were wonderful people, but when I started to look at what the future would hold and how I would navigate the other things I wanted in my life, you know, family and parenthood, and, I wasn't sure how I would do it.
Molly McAllister: And so that was when I started to explore other opportunities and lo and behold, found myself in a small animal practice, which I wouldn't have imagined being the case.
Megan Sprinkle: And how did you, I mean, I know it sounds like you were really good at self reflection and understanding, like, I am not figuring out how to do this well, and there's a lot of things I want to do, so I'm going to go from equine vet to small animal vet.
Megan Sprinkle: Some people find that that's like almost a [00:10:00] change of identity going from, you know, equine to small animal and, and even, other types of transitions. Did you think about other things about like, maybe a deeper passion, personal values, other things that kind of helped you. And maybe also has helped you in other types of career transitions that kind of kept you focused so that you felt good about these decisions.
Molly McAllister: Yeah, yes, definitely. so the first thing that comes to mind as you said, that is, and I've never quite said these words before, but I think they, they ring true, which is, I guess I'm not afraid to have an existential crisis because, because I've had quite a few of them in life where I've really been faced with moments of, gosh, I thought I was doing this, but this doesn't feel like the right thing anymore.
Molly McAllister: And I don't know what else to do. And. In those moments, I've found myself, I mean, I'm a true introvert. I have a few close friends, but you know, so it's not that I've shared it with the world and [00:11:00] crowdsourced what I should do next, but I definitely haven't been afraid for whatever reason to share with close friends and start to think through, what is it that I'm looking for and what's a different way that I could find that.
Molly McAllister: I think another piece is, as you mentioned, it was a benefit to me when I've had these existential crises in veterinary medicine. It was a benefit to me , I think that I didn't have that vision of, you know, from age four, this is what I'm going to do. And so I didn't have a mold that I had to break out of.
Molly McAllister: And then I think the other piece is, as you said, is, As I've done some self reflection and more and more over the course of my career, I've realized that it's really the impact of what I'm doing that's more important to me, less so than what I'm actually doing every day.
Molly McAllister: So how does it impact the people around me? And, I think that's helped me recognize that, In veterinary medicine, there are so many ways that you can have a positive impact in the world, whether it's caring for, you know, a [00:12:00] single patient, whether it's focusing on the clients, whether it's focusing on a business or a nonprofit or, you know, myriad other opportunities.
Molly McAllister: And once I realized that, Life was really just about finding the impact I wanted to have and a good way to deliver that impact. Then I got a lot more comfortable with changing course when the opportunity was there and it felt like the right thing to do.
Megan Sprinkle: Yeah, this is what I try to encourage people to do is really dig deeper at the, at the bigger meaning and why that, you know, we got into veterinary medicine because I think that When we give ourselves permission to really expand the horizons of what we could do when we do that.
Megan Sprinkle: When we look at the bottom line, it's like, I'm looking to make an impact. So that could be a lot of different things. You can still make an impact. I think it's just so important for our profession because we do have a lot of people that will say, you know, I came out of the womb knowing I wanted to do this [00:13:00] and it has a certain picture.
Megan Sprinkle: And we just have such an exciting profession where we can do so many different things. It's a shame not to allow yourself to really be able to explore. Explore those things and, and explore. You have so , so how was getting into small animal medicine? What were you kind of discovering about it and, finding Yeah.
Molly McAllister: Well, and, and one thing I'll say as, as we segue from the last question to this one is that , another thing that comes to mind that I really felt when I left equine and went to small animal was that. I worried about all the people who had invested time in me along the way. And again, a little different for me because I hadn't spent my whole life shadowing in veterinary clinics.
Molly McAllister: And I didn't have, you know, people who, who I should say I had supporters, but they hadn't been supporting me, you know, for 18 years. And I think that was also really important when I realized that. The people who've been supporting me and encouraging me along the way have been doing that because they're looking out for my, my [00:14:00] happiness and my satisfaction with my life, not necessarily because they see me doing one thing and they'll be horribly disappointed if I don't do that.
Molly McAllister: And that was really hard because. Again, even though it wasn't that much time, I'd spent, you know, a good five or six years working with the same equine veterinarians. They'd been so helpful when I hadn't planned on veterinary school and, you know, helping me through that journey. and it was really hard.
Molly McAllister: And, and even to my internship mentor to tell him, you know, thanks for this great experience. And I, I want to do something different with my career, but. having those conversations and realizing that it was such a relief to realize that they didn't really care. You know, they, they might've asked a couple of questions and at the end of the day, they were happy.
Molly McAllister: I was doing what I was happy with. So I think that was, , the first biggest thing I had to tackle , when I made that move into small animal medicine. And then, , You know, I had a great opportunity. I had a friend who, who was practicing at a clinic and somebody was going on maternity leave and she said, just come, come do some locum days and I'll be [00:15:00] there with you.
Molly McAllister: And you know, we'll, we'll figure it out together, which was really nice. And yet I still remember. And I tell the story of, you know, that first day or the, really the first few weeks in that practice where I would walk into a room, see a case. I, I knew I could. work up a case. I knew I could do a physical exam, but I would come out and think, Oh my gosh, , where's the banamine?
Molly McAllister: Where's the xylazine? I don't know the dose of flavamox. I've never, I've not used cephalexin like that. , and there was definitely, there were definitely many moments of self doubt like, Oh my gosh, how in the world can I be a veterinarian if I don't know some of these basics? And then, doing some, reflection, some regrouping.
Molly McAllister: And I realized, you know, I know what I'm doing. I may not know all the little details and all, you know, exactly what the next steps are going to be, but I know what I need to know. And that's the important thing is I know that I need to know what sort of antibiotic is going to be appropriate for this case.
Molly McAllister: [00:16:00] and so then I could leverage my technicians, my colleagues, my textbooks, because we didn't have cell phones then, and I knew that there was a question I needed to answer. If I knew what that question was and I knew what resources I had available to me, I was in most cases going to be just fine.
Molly McAllister: And I think actually, you know, those two to three weeks were so stressful. And yet some of the most formative of my career, even maybe even more so than when I graduated from school, because I didn't have that same safety net you have as a new grad where somebody is right there, you know, walking you through it.
Molly McAllister: And I realized again that I had transferable skills and I had transferable knowledge and it could apply in a circumstance where I felt really insecure. And, and again, I've used that over and over again, whether it's been a clinical transition or whether it's been, you know, taking a huge job promotion and not knowing what I'm stepping into and just stepping back to say, okay, I know how to.
Molly McAllister: assess a [00:17:00] room. I know how to take a history. I know how to identify what I need to know, and I'm going to find the resources that I need to, you know, to fill in the gaps. And lo and behold, that works most of the time.
Megan Sprinkle: Yeah, no, I think that's a great point. knowing you've got the fundamental how to steps, like thinking like a scientist, and then also not being afraid to look at your resources, meaning Ask questions.
Megan Sprinkle: That is one thing that I'm very glad that I have for the most part had is I actually really like asking questions. I'm not worried about looking silly. I'm just so curious. I want to ask the questions and that helps a lot is to, you know, use the people around you to ask questions. Now there's a certain point that I'm sure it gets annoying.
Megan Sprinkle: Like if you, if you're just asking all the time, the same questions over and over again, but you know, that's, that's how you start to learn is Take the answers, apply it, learn from it, and keep going. Um, so I think that's really important. And [00:18:00] then also, you know, talk about transferable. I know from working in zoo and wildlife that, we don't have a lot of data on how to feed or take care of a lot of these animals.
Megan Sprinkle: So a lot of it is kind of using those principles, right? Right. What do I know about other animals? , what's the scientific thinking and you were able to actually do some wildlife, get back into wildlife a little bit during this time as well. So how did you find the opportunities to do small animal, but then also get pretty heavily involved back into wildlife?
Molly McAllister: Yeah, so when I, after I felt semi comfortable in small animal, which is very by semi, I mean, you know, maybe I felt like I had 20 percent of the job I, um, hooked up with a local rehab organization, which actually in Portland, it's the largest rehabilitation facility in Oregon and, has quite a caseload.
Molly McAllister: And I started doing some volunteering for them on my days off and, and kind of relearning my skills that are the knowledge I had about wildlife and, and [00:19:00] also just, again, the practical clinical application. And, you know, boy, what a, what a really empowering couple of years to go from equine and flexing hocks and doing lameness exams to, you know, small animal dogs and cats to bandaging.
Molly McAllister: wing fractures on a little junco. that was, that was a huge change in what I was doing again, applying all the same, skills. But yeah, I started volunteering with them and really enjoyed it. And, you know, one day they called me up and said, Hey, we're looking for somebody to, to work more full time.
Molly McAllister: Would you like to come and do it? And it was a hard decision to make in a variety of ways. because I was just starting to feel like, you know, I had this small animal thing down and was getting into a groove, but it was such a great learning experience. And actually, if I think about. If I think about what I'm doing today, that year that I worked full time in wildlife and then I couldn't afford it anymore, which is the challenge, but that year is probably most similar.
Molly McAllister: I probably leverage more skills from that [00:20:00] year now than from some of my other experiences because of that ability to navigate the unknown and to not have an answer , and it wasn't just about the clinical cases. , that was certainly part of it is. Today, most of the problems I face don't have an easy answer, and it's about figuring out, you know, what little bits do I know?
Molly McAllister: And, in those days, my, my mentor at that time, this , wonderful woman who has since passed away, and she, taught me this mantra that, again, I still use today, which is just because you can't do everything doesn't mean you can't do something. just because, you know, in wildlife, you have , so many animals that you can't save, but it doesn't mean you can't give them pain relief.
Molly McAllister: It doesn't mean you can't, stabilize them and give them a chance to get to a specialist. And, and so she really helped me learn that I didn't have to be perfect, and I leverage that all the time. You know, now as I, as I navigate complex and ambiguous situations and say, [00:21:00] okay, I'm just going to start taking a little bite out of what I know and what I can do.
Molly McAllister: And, and similarly in that situation, I was working with a lot of volunteers. I only had one person who actually worked for me. And so boy, learning how , to lead and influence people who don't have to be working for you. Don't have to be listening to you. . , was a great experience.
Molly McAllister: And so I feel like that really built my leadership skills and my ability to navigate complex situations in a way that, I still learned in equine and small animal practice, but it took it to another level for sure. But it was really fun and I'm glad I, I'm glad I took that little divergence off. And , it's like I say now, I couldn't have known it then.
Molly McAllister: It felt like this weird thing that people said, why are you going to go do that? What are you, what are you ever going to do with that? And now as I connect all the pieces of my career, I can say, here's a really meaningful space that, that, that job played in, in learnings from it.
Megan Sprinkle: Yeah, and you beat me to the question too.
Megan Sprinkle: I was going to ask you also, if you learned a lot of [00:22:00] leadership lessons from that experience as well, and , leadership has a lot of unique challenges, but especially if you think about it from a volunteer perspective, you're right. Those people are there for free.
Megan Sprinkle: They're doing it out of the goodness of their heart. And so, Keeping them engaged and interested. And, you know, that's like another really neat opportunity to use another skill that I think one, you know, no matter what role we're in, in veterinary medicine, we're, we're leaders in some form or fashion.
Megan Sprinkle: And so that's, A great skill set to continue to build, especially for someone like you, who does get even higher up and has a lot of people that are paid, but still work for you. So, yeah, yeah. So you mentioned that. It was a little challenging. , at this role, was that kind of what started, to pique your curiosity and what some other options might be, or how did you get to the next step?
Molly McAllister: It was, [00:23:00] and it really, I mean, as. As unromantic as it sounds, that is absolutely the reality, which was I loved the job. I loved what I was doing. And after about a year, I realized that I couldn't pay a mortgage and my student loans, you know, let alone anything else that I, that I would want to spend on. And.
Molly McAllister: I was very starry eyed for that first year and thought I'll make it work. I'll make it work. And then, you know, I had some financial advice given to me. So, , which is fine because we have to pivot sometimes. And so, yeah, that was when I started to think, okay, you know, I've done clinical practice.
Molly McAllister: I've had this chance to do something that, that was outside of typical clinical practice and what might I want to do next? And I am, I'm so thankful. for my peers and colleagues in this profession because they are such a source of wisdom. And I had a great friend who I'd met who was a professional services vet. It was Bayer at the time when they were still in our space.
Molly McAllister: And like me, she had done some clinical practice and had this breadth of [00:24:00] interests. And, and she said, you know, just give it a try. You'll get to see so many hospitals. You'll get to see, a different part of our profession. And, and You can always go back to clinical practice and, you know, again, kind of connecting the, pieces of advice and the encouragement.
Molly McAllister: Again, I'm still so thankful that I can always go back to clinical practice, even though my career has gone in a very different direction. And so she said, go and, you know, spend two years and see what you think of it. And so. That was when I started to, you know, see what was available in that space. And that led me to, over 15 years ago now, my entrance into working for Mars via Royal Canin.
Molly McAllister: And, that was, you know, a big milestone and turning point in my career that I would have never imagined making. I would have never thought about working in industry when I was in, School, you know, eight years prior to that, and it turns out to be one of those, one of those transitions that just, wow, took my life in a whole different and fantastic direction [00:25:00] that I couldn't have imagined what that journey would look like.
Megan Sprinkle: Yeah. And I think we have people who are, who do know that industry is an option for a veterinary professional. What do you kind of look back and think about that particular position? You were a scientific service veterinarian for Royal Canin. What do you think about the learnings that you had from that role that got you prepared for starting to get into pretty large roles within other aspects of Mars?
Molly McAllister: Yeah, I think, there were two or three main things. The first was the going back to the concept of impact and realizing that in my clinical practice, you know, I could see 15, 20 pets a day and I could have an impact on them. And in my role as a scientific services veterinarian, I was talking to veterinarians throughout, major regions of the country.
Molly McAllister: Thousands of veterinary hospitals and [00:26:00] through the education of those veterinarians and their teams, I was able to touch that many more pets or at least that, you know, that's how I looked at it is I went from what I could do in a day to the number of people that I could talk to and support in a day and the number of animals that they could touch.
Molly McAllister: , I guess you'd call it scale. It was the first time I really thought about having impact at scale and , it showed me the diversity of. practices and I also recognized how much I loved the way that our profession has so much diversity and the value that it brings.
Molly McAllister: And then I think the other thing that was really important for me. beyond scale and impact was, that it was a job and an opportunity and a company that really showed me what happens when your employer is willing to make an investment into you. And so the chance to learn communication skills, to have somebody send me , to get some coaching on executive speaking and how I leverage that.
Molly McAllister: every day now, leadership skills, um, just skills in identifying where you want to go and what you need to do to get there and [00:27:00] then putting a plan in place and doing that in a way that isn't just about treating a case. It's about taking care of yourself so that you can be better so that you can be able to do your job even better.
Molly McAllister: And you know, I'd never, uh, I'd never worked in a situation, in a scenario where. A career had been presented to me like that, like a growth opportunity. And that was something that I really gravitated towards. So yeah, I learned so much about communication.
Molly McAllister: I learned so much about, development opportunities. And as I say, again, learned how I really enjoy the opportunity to have an impact at scale. And that was the first time I I'd recognized important that was to me.
Megan Sprinkle: I can definitely relate to all of those things. so two, two big wins though.
Megan Sprinkle: What is I, I think industry has also allowed me to see. Veterinary medicine from lots of different aspects, if that makes sense. Like, yes, [00:28:00] I've been in clinical situations, but then being able to step back just a little bit and again, see lots of different aspects of vet med, I think makes me appreciate it all the more, but also get excited about all the possibilities that we have within it.
Megan Sprinkle: And, and then also about the growth opportunity. You said that super well, because again, I, Got excited by that as well, because I'm such a learner. Back to that curious, curious person who likes to ask a lot of questions, being able to learn and allow people to, I give you a lot of resources to be able to do that and explore.
Megan Sprinkle: I'm going to talk about how you can explore things about yourself and how you can take that and contribute it into other places that you can have impact was also really huge for me. So just want to appreciate that. I totally understand what you're talking about and along with those growth potentials, you talked about, All these different skills that you were able to learn that helped you go [00:29:00] into a lot of different directions.
Megan Sprinkle: And, I also notice you around the time that, Banfield reached out to you to see if you would be willing to come and help them with a, new program, a learning program. you also started working on a master's in public health. what interests you in going for a master's in public health?
Megan Sprinkle: Kind of at the same time of the job change. You're like me, you like to do lots of changes. I
Molly McAllister: do. If you're going to make a change, you might as well throw eight others on top of it. And then you'll navigate them all at the same time. So, you know, it was like, it was probably like my entrance into veterinary school.
Molly McAllister: I went into it. With, with sort of one idea in mind and I came out of it with somewhat of a different idea or somewhat different sense of what I was going to do with it. I went into public health with the interest in epidemiology and One Health and which is still fascinates me and is, I am still very glad I have it from that standpoint, but what I, What I [00:30:00] gathered through my program, what I learned and got really excited about was the idea of population health.
Molly McAllister: And so again, it goes back to impact. And it was the impact of what I can do in a day, the impact of what you can do with knowledge and insights across an entire population of pets or population of veterinary hospitals. And so it really was, I feel like my career has been this progressive, , movement of, instead of deep, narrow impact, it's broad, thin impact.
Molly McAllister: And, I can talk about that later, but. But that idea of population health was, something I was really intrigued by, you know, being with Royal Canin, it was the idea of, gosh, how can you influence the health of dogs and cats by looking at what you're feeding them and, you know, in a very preventive day to day way.
Molly McAllister: And so that made for a really natural transition to Banfield, which was so focused, is still so focused on the idea of preventive care. And at the time, Banfield with their database had the large, I believe the largest medical record database for pets at the time. And so it kind of put it all [00:31:00] together for me to say, wow, here's a, business that's focused on preventive care, which I am passionate about.
Molly McAllister: Here's this data and an opportunity to really generate knowledge and insight that could be so impactful to so many pets and a chance to put that together with, you know, just sort of the love of clinical medicine and what we can do for pets. and people and again, make an impact over, you know, what was Banfield at the time, 700 hospitals and a million pets a year.
Molly McAllister: And gosh, , what could that look like for me? so that was a great step to take. And that master's in public health is, another great part of education that I can still leverage today in so many ways, because. today my job is about the population health of our profession and how do I look around the world to say what we can do to make life better for veterinarians and veterinary teams so that they can take better care of, you know, millions and millions of pets every year, in a whole other way, level of impact.
Molly McAllister: So yeah, that was a really fun, , experience. I'm, I'm glad I [00:32:00] got that degree.
Megan Sprinkle: and you did great on kind of sharing more about the evolution. , going from the population of the pets, but also now looking at it even larger about the people who help those pets. when did you start to realize that you were interested on the people side of veterinary medicine? Because so far we've mainly talked about the vet side, right? So were there some moments or some things that started to click where you were getting really excited about the veterinary professionals?
Molly McAllister: Yeah, , so you mentioned when I first came to Banfield, I was, while I was in the midst of the master's in public health, the first job that I had with them was to lead their medical learning program. And so it was about, how new doctors would come to Banfield, how they would be on boarded, Banfield gets a pretty large proportion of new graduates.
Molly McAllister: So a lot of it was how do we help people start out their career on the right foot? and I'll come back to that in a minute. And then I, I ultimately transferred more to a science type [00:33:00] role with Banfield. And so I was, , doing research, leading research again, using that big database and where the two come together is that number one, I realized that , when I was overseeing sort of education as a whole.
Molly McAllister: how important it was to support the doctors at Banfield in having the resources that they needed at their hands, whether it's knowledge in their head, textbooks in their hospital, things they could access on their desktop, so that they could do their job and just, to remove that barrier to make it that much easier to do their job.
Molly McAllister: And I think that was kind of the point in time where I realized I love taking care of animals, but now that I'm starting to think about scale, it's so important to take care of, again, the people who are connected to those animals, whether it's clients, whether it's veterinary teams, because at the end of the day, the dog can't walk themselves into the hospital and the dog can't treat themselves for, you know, an ear infection.
Molly McAllister: and then when I moved to the data side, you know, I sort of, [00:34:00] ironically, or maybe it doesn't, doesn't make sense to everyone, but it made complete sense to me is while I was focused on medical data, the intent of what you wanted to do with that medical data was to make it easier for veterinary professionals to make good decisions and to be less burdened by, is this the right decision or not?
Molly McAllister: And so, to me, that was, such a great opportunity, you know, in a very different way to say, how can we take care of veterinary care providers? And so, , it was that era of my, career where I started to make that shift. And then, from there I started to get into roles that were much more focused on leading people.
Molly McAllister: And that was, um, Again, another, another new era for me in my career where I got to say, wow, there's, there's such an impact to be made by thinking about the environment that people are working in, the culture that they're working under. And no one person, no leader, no organization can dictate all of those things, but boy, there's a lot that you can do that can influence it.
Molly McAllister: And I think, you know, when we, when we work together as a profession, there's so much [00:35:00] great work we can do to advance, um, The culture of veterinary medicine, the profession of veterinary medicine. , and if by doing that, we then open up our ability to take that much better care of animals around the world and the people that are associated with them.
Molly McAllister: So I very quickly snowball into this huge, this huge, aspiration and inspiration for me, which is that I truly believe that veterinary professionals have the ability to make the world a better place. , and that may sound cheesy, but I, I firmly believe it because we touch People, we touch their pets, we make their lives better and that makes their communities and you know, the world they live in better.
Molly McAllister: So anyway, , I can say I, I didn't go into veterinary medicine thinking I was going to change the world. I thought I was going to go into veterinary medicine to take care of some horses and what a, you know, great journey it's been to realize I can, you can do so much, so much as a veterinarian.
Molly McAllister: And again, you know, it doesn't have to be that you, treat a million pets in a year that you oversee 2000 hospitals. It just [00:36:00] has to do with how you think about the work you do, how you talk about the work you do, how you engage with the people around you.
Megan Sprinkle: Yeah. And I want to come back to that I do think that sometimes people come into veterinary medicine thinking it's their responsibility to save the world.
Megan Sprinkle: So there's a balance of all of that. But, just reflecting over your career journey to, especially, you know, get starting to get into the, the Mars network, you really got to see lots of aspects around the business. And I think that's really important for leaders to understand lots of aspects of a business to be able to lead it.
Megan Sprinkle: And so. I am curious because chief medical officer , it's a very fancy title. how do you describe what a chief medical officer is and some of the responsibilities and aspects of the job?
Molly McAllister: Yeah, I'm sure there's others in other organizations who may have slightly different definitions.
Molly McAllister: So I don't want to, I don't want to define it for the whole of our profession, but I'll say that within Mars Veterinary Health, the role of the [00:37:00] chief medical officer is to oversee and support the quality of care. the way that care is delivered and the environment in which it's delivered up to and including how we take care of our veterinary professionals and the the engagement of our doctors and the engagement of our veterinary technicians in particular just as as credentialed veterinary professionals.
Molly McAllister: in my role, It's a little bit different because I don't directly oversee hospitals. I oversee other businesses. And so in my role, it is really much more about that, population health. What can we do around the world to really make, Veterinary professionals' lives easier to make our care delivery better.
Molly McAllister: So, to give a couple of tangible examples, it's rolling out a global system to enable us to report safety events, patient safety events. And so that we can gather knowledge that we can ensure, well, actually I should say number one, that we can, that we can work towards having a culture where people feel comfortable admitting mistakes or calling out when things could have gone differently [00:38:00] or , didn't go well, , that we can use that information to then.
Molly McAllister: Apply towards, , the environment, apply towards our decision making so that we can minimize the number of errors and ultimately so that we can hopefully help educate the profession broadly on, on what we can all do to keep pets safe. It's about looking at things like how do we help veterinarians and veterinary professionals move across the country or around the world with their career and explore all of the different opportunities that are out there and do that with, you know, the security of a single employer or of a, of a group of employers that are going to work together. I would say it's the opportunity to think about how do we train medical leaders? How do we take these amazing people with all of these transferable skills and inspire and support their development so that they can go on to be leaders in the profession in the future?
Molly McAllister: So , those are a few of the tangible examples of what I get to do. it is not chief medical decision maker. It's not chief clinician. But I really see it as an opportunity to say, what does medicine [00:39:00] mean to a business and a good business is good medicine. And so how do we make sure that those connection points are there along the way, as, in as many places as possible and, and frankly, help our business people learn about veterinary medicine and veterinary professionals and how we are unique and special in a really great way.
Megan Sprinkle: exactly. Where I was about to go is the importance that. I also see and everything that you're talking about is that you represent a very vital part of the business and are able to have a seat at the table to make sure that that perspective is understood and can be taken into consideration with all of the decisions that the business makes.
Megan Sprinkle: So, to me, that's, That's huge. , and again, going back to understanding lots of aspects of the business that you can best represent, that larger population that represents at that time, Banfield, and of course now even globally in, in Mars Veterinary [00:40:00] Health. again, a lot of these things that you were talking about to me makes me think about sustainability in veterinary medicine, because like I said, again, now your, your role is very much on a global scale.
Megan Sprinkle: and then also, I think I've heard you say in. Another podcast, you do have two kids and I think at least one has maybe mentioned that she might actually want to be a veterinarian one day. So, so now it's really close to home that, you know, we want to make a profession that we would be excited for our children to, to be in.
Megan Sprinkle: so what are your thoughts around what we need to make this profession more sustainable. And what are some things that you're seeing that is helping us get there?
Molly McAllister: Yeah, gosh, what a great question. and one thing, that I'll start with is that, when I think about my own experiences and how I might be able to bring them to life or share them with others to, to hopefully benefit our profession worldwide.
Molly McAllister: You kind of said, you know, gosh, when [00:41:00] you say I want to save the world, you know, reminding veterinarians that we don't, we don't have to save the world. And I think that is important. And, I know Brene Brown uses a term called, passionate perfectionism , about people being so passionate about being perfect and it creates this sort of self perpetuating cycle.
Molly McAllister: And I think in our profession, a lot of us are prone to being compassionate perfectionist, which I think is almost, almost worse because we're driven by a desire to help others. And we want to be perfect at doing it. And so we can, we can create an environment that's very unsustainable if we aren't thoughtful and intentional about how we do that.
Molly McAllister: And so, uh, to me, it really goes back to that piece of advice from my one mentor, which is to remember that just because you can't do everything doesn't mean you can't do something. And doesn't mean that that's something isn't really important, even if it's just, just a little bit. And that you have to take care of yourself because you can't take care of anyone else if you don't take care of yourself first.
Molly McAllister: so to [00:42:00] go back to your question, you know, when I think about, , some of the opportunities in our profession, first of all, I think that, you know, you've had a chance, I've had a chance to take my career in a, in a direction that's allowed me to step back and see the possibilities. And I think that the more that I love your podcast, because I think the more that we can share with our colleagues that Being a veterinarian can mean so many things and it doesn't have to mean one thing for your whole life.
Molly McAllister: And so you have opportunities, you have different journeys that you can take. And I think the, for me, one of the first parts about sustainability is realizing you're not stuck. You have options, , you have different paths forward and it's just a matter of , doing the self reflection to figure out what path might be right for you at that moment in time.
Molly McAllister: I think, and then another piece, you know, of course it's about health and well being, but so many say it's about taking care of yourself first. And, it's not solely because I've had kids, but I'll say I [00:43:00] have kids and I'm a single mom. And I, I'm, I'm actually, you know, I'm sort of grateful for the lens that that's put on my life because it's made it very, very clear to me that if I don't take care of myself.
Molly McAllister: I can't be there for my kids. And in my situation right now, there's no, there's no backup plan. You know, there's no backup parent if I'm not there for them. And so having those boundaries and carving out , that time to take care of myself isn't just about self care. It's about my ability to be there for my kids who are my top priority.
Molly McAllister: And my ability to be there for my job. cause I have gone through burnout. I have gone through those times when I just couldn't imagine going to work the next day and putting the safeguards in place that helped me take the time that helped me step away has been so instrumental to me.
Molly McAllister: Feeling like I can do my job every single day and do it. Well, it doesn't mean there are bad days and hard days, but that I know I have the energy and the support to come back and be resilient through those hard times. So [00:44:00] helping our profession step away from thinking that we have to be perfect all the time, stepping away from thinking that we have to be compassionate to everyone else all the time over ourselves.
Molly McAllister: I think those are two really important pieces, from a really, tangible and tactical piece now being exposed to veterinary medicine around the world. , I can say that I haven't gone to a single country and had a conversation where someone hasn't said we need more veterinarians, or we need more people to take care of, you know, particularly in the companion animal space.
Molly McAllister: And so I think obviously there's a, there's a chicken and egg. Aspect of this where if we want to have enough veterinarians, we have to have a sustainable profession But also if we don't have enough veterinarians, we can't have the flexibility that today's veterinarians want so how do we do the work of both improving where we are today and also building the awareness among younger generations to want to come into this profession, knowing that it can give them, you know, a [00:45:00] vast array of career opportunities.
Molly McAllister: It can be a place where they can be healthy. so we have to, you know, we have a lot of work to do to simultaneously build a castle, build a promised land, and then tell people about it and bring them to it. Um, and I, I mean, gosh, I could go on and I don't want to take up too much time, but I'll just say, you know, I think it goes back to me of how do we focus on people taking care of themselves so that they can take care of the pets and people that need them. And whether that's the benefits we provide them in a job, it's the flexibility we provide them in a job, or it's just the, the holistic health and wellbeing of, you know, their community and their family and their finances.
Molly McAllister: That is also important to us being able to do what we took an oath to do as veterinarians, which is. To take care of animal health. and it's funny how it seems so clear, when you start to put the pieces together, but when we just talk about it out in the world, I think sometimes we can get so focused on taking care of the pets that we forget about that people part as a, as a top priority [00:46:00] too.
Megan Sprinkle: I think it's a good point to talk about starting with ourselves one, because we don't, that's not always our first instinct is to take ourselves and understand what we need, but, you know, back to , we're all leaders. We're all role models when we can take care of ourselves and we're putting ourselves in good places to show that .
Megan Sprinkle: Then I think other people see that and it breaks my heart every time I hear, somebody reach out and say, I've been interested in veterinary medicine, but all I hear is burnout and this and that and debt and this. And it, you know, it's like, ah, no, like it's good to, to talk about the challenges that we have in this profession, but also when we start with ourselves, we can show that.
Megan Sprinkle: Not to belittle challenges, but that there are opportunities in this profession to really love and thrive and, make this , the best profession ever with so many different endless possibilities. And I, another one, I know you're [00:47:00] really passionate about it.
Megan Sprinkle: We won't have time to go over it, but another aspect of sustainability, I think in the profession is diversity, which I at least want to plug. Diversify Veterinary Medicine coalition, , I have some good friends in it as well. Melanie Barham, I don't know if, you know, yes. And so I think that's another thing again. I know you're very passionate about and it's super important You know, there's lots of elements that I think we can. Use different skill sets and focuses to build the sustainability in our profession. And I want to thank you so much for everything that you do for the profession. And just to end on one final question for you, I like to end this way is what is something you are very grateful for?
Megan Sprinkle: And it can be just the first thing that kind of pops into your mind.
Molly McAllister: Yeah, I'll say, you know, gosh, not to make this too deep, but I'll say one of the, one of the things that I'm most grateful for was, uh, was a very impactful experience in my life, which was that I lost a sibling. I lost an older sister when I was 12 years old.
Molly McAllister: And as, as, as odd as it might sound for me to say, that's what I'm [00:48:00] grateful for. What it taught me about at a very young age was how precious life is and how. How lucky we are to have this experience of being in the world and being able to build a community and support other people around us. And I'm really grateful for that horrible thing that happened because it made me realize how much I have to be grateful for to be here to be able to take care of other people.
Molly McAllister: And, , I think there's so many opportunities for us to, to. Really reflect on some of the challenges that we navigate in life and recognize that, without those challenges, there's so many things we wouldn't learn. There's so many things we wouldn't be aware of. , and so, you know, that's a, that's a sort of a harsh example, but it is, it has also taught me throughout life to say, you know, even when things feel really bad, there's a lesson to be learned.
Molly McAllister: There's something that this is going to impact me in a way that's going to make me see things differently going forward. I think that's something to be very grateful for, particularly in this world where people face so many different challenges. And the more that we can relate [00:49:00] to people and the journey that they've led, even if it isn't our own journey, but if we can relate to different facing different challenges along the way, we can do a better job of, you know, again, taking care of the people around us and, and then in our profession, taking care of pets and making other people's lives so much better.
Megan Sprinkle: I hope you enjoyed this fascinating veterinary story. We can make an impact in so many places. Check out the show notes for lots of resources. Please make sure you are subscribed on your podcast app, subscribe on the YouTube channel and follow me on LinkedIn, where I hang out the most. You can contact me on LinkedIn, on the website at vetlifereimagined.
Megan Sprinkle: com. And brand new is that you can text me to send me a text message. Find the link at the top of the show notes below that says, send us a text message. I want to thank our longtime sponsors, fire consulting, and we'll use who support the podcast over on our hosting platform. Buzzsprout. You can support the podcast to just check out the show notes for a link.
Megan Sprinkle: And I hope to see you [00:50:00] next time on that life reimagined.
