Link to slides
Link to Chamisa's bio on the Blue Pearl site
Chamisa was born in New Mexico and spent her early childhood there. She lived in a rural area in New Mexico, and lived in a dwelling that had no electricity and no indoor plumbing! Her grand mother set up a rescue center for wolves and she believes this is where her passion for animals came from.
Her family moved to Spokane where she went to High School. She considered herself a Geeky Athlete in high school. She worked hard and got good grades.
She went to Eastern Washington for college, where she got a 4 year biology degree. She'd looked at the website for getting into Veterinarian college to find out which undergraduate degrees would be the appropriate undergrad degrees and picked biology because she really liked it.
She knew to get into Veterinarian college to study for her DVM (Doctor of Veterinarian Medicine) she would need good grades and have experience with animals. Its very competitive to get into veterinarian college and grades matter. She thought she was a good student but confesses now that she had to learn to really study hard when she arrived at vet college.
After 4 years studying for her DVM, she decided she wanted to become a specialist which required advanced training. Only 5% of veterinarians continue on to become specialists. She wanted to specialize in oncology (cancer). To achieve this she completed one year of internship (which can only be completed once you have your DVM) and then studied at the University of Missouri for one year. She mentioned it was an interesting process as she had to identify her top 5 places she'd like to study and then the system would match her to a placement.
In total Chamisa has had 12 years of college to become a DACVIM - Diplomate American College of Veterinarian Internal Medicine. It is a lot of education but she was determined and knew what she wanted to achieve. Because it is a lot of education event to become a vet its pretty common for vets to have student loans, and loans of $100K aren't unusual. She ended up with loans of $180K because she did an extra 4 years but knows she can pay it off as she is now earning a good salary as a specialist she makes more than $120K a year and that's in her first year of full time employment, and salaries can be around $150K or more at the higher end of being a specialist with more experience.
So is it sad being an oncologist because she only sees pets once they have been diagnosed with cancer? Sometimes it may be but she loves the work she does because she wants to help the animals feel better and spend more quality time with their families. She wants to help the pets with having a better quality of life for the time they have with their families. And sometimes she can help pets extend their lives significantly.
Blue Pearl is a veterinarian practice that is made up of specialists. Chamisa is one of only 6 oncology experts in the state! At Blue Pearl there are 30-40 veterinarians, most with different areas of specialization. Their facility is a specialist location. They have special CT scanners for animals, ultra-sound machines for animals, special surgery cameras, and even do blood transfusions on pet patients!
Most of her day is spent with dogs and cats who have been diagnosed with cancer and making recommendations of treatment options - whether that is surgery, radiation or chemotherapy. Sometimes her favorite part of the day are when she does a 're-check' to see how a patient is doing a while after their treatment as its such a great feeling to know she's been able to provide the patient and the family with a longer period of quality time together.
Because she's an oncologist specialist she has been involved in several drug research programs. Drug companies and researchers need to trial drugs in a variety of ways before they can be used on humans. One program is to trial the drug programs on dogs. This allows Chamisa to use some very advanced medicines, which are also very expensive, for her oncology patients to help them in their treatments, but because it’s a drug trial the medication is provided at no cost - so she can treat animals whose owners might not have been able to afford other treatments. This often has the benefit of helping the pet, and also helps to advance treatment options for humans as well.
She shared a video for a program called Woof for the cure: http://presagebio.com/woof-for-the-cure-video/ The video shows how programs like these work.
Her message: YOU CAN BE ANYTHING! She lived in a rural native dwelling in New Mexico and was inspired to become a veterinarian. She went to college by getting some scholarships and loans, and kept studying hard to get good grades. She became a DVM and then became a specialist. You can achieve your dreams!
And GET GOOD GRADES by working hard. Did she ever think she wasn't going to make it? She laughed when she answered, "all the time, but you just keep going". She loves what she does, and because she became a specialist, one of the perks is being able to work 4 days a week!
Link to Chamisa's bio on the Blue Pearl site
Chamisa was born in New Mexico and spent her early childhood there. She lived in a rural area in New Mexico, and lived in a dwelling that had no electricity and no indoor plumbing! Her grand mother set up a rescue center for wolves and she believes this is where her passion for animals came from.
Her family moved to Spokane where she went to High School. She considered herself a Geeky Athlete in high school. She worked hard and got good grades.
She went to Eastern Washington for college, where she got a 4 year biology degree. She'd looked at the website for getting into Veterinarian college to find out which undergraduate degrees would be the appropriate undergrad degrees and picked biology because she really liked it.
She knew to get into Veterinarian college to study for her DVM (Doctor of Veterinarian Medicine) she would need good grades and have experience with animals. Its very competitive to get into veterinarian college and grades matter. She thought she was a good student but confesses now that she had to learn to really study hard when she arrived at vet college.
After 4 years studying for her DVM, she decided she wanted to become a specialist which required advanced training. Only 5% of veterinarians continue on to become specialists. She wanted to specialize in oncology (cancer). To achieve this she completed one year of internship (which can only be completed once you have your DVM) and then studied at the University of Missouri for one year. She mentioned it was an interesting process as she had to identify her top 5 places she'd like to study and then the system would match her to a placement.
In total Chamisa has had 12 years of college to become a DACVIM - Diplomate American College of Veterinarian Internal Medicine. It is a lot of education but she was determined and knew what she wanted to achieve. Because it is a lot of education event to become a vet its pretty common for vets to have student loans, and loans of $100K aren't unusual. She ended up with loans of $180K because she did an extra 4 years but knows she can pay it off as she is now earning a good salary as a specialist she makes more than $120K a year and that's in her first year of full time employment, and salaries can be around $150K or more at the higher end of being a specialist with more experience.
So is it sad being an oncologist because she only sees pets once they have been diagnosed with cancer? Sometimes it may be but she loves the work she does because she wants to help the animals feel better and spend more quality time with their families. She wants to help the pets with having a better quality of life for the time they have with their families. And sometimes she can help pets extend their lives significantly.
Blue Pearl is a veterinarian practice that is made up of specialists. Chamisa is one of only 6 oncology experts in the state! At Blue Pearl there are 30-40 veterinarians, most with different areas of specialization. Their facility is a specialist location. They have special CT scanners for animals, ultra-sound machines for animals, special surgery cameras, and even do blood transfusions on pet patients!
Most of her day is spent with dogs and cats who have been diagnosed with cancer and making recommendations of treatment options - whether that is surgery, radiation or chemotherapy. Sometimes her favorite part of the day are when she does a 're-check' to see how a patient is doing a while after their treatment as its such a great feeling to know she's been able to provide the patient and the family with a longer period of quality time together.
Because she's an oncologist specialist she has been involved in several drug research programs. Drug companies and researchers need to trial drugs in a variety of ways before they can be used on humans. One program is to trial the drug programs on dogs. This allows Chamisa to use some very advanced medicines, which are also very expensive, for her oncology patients to help them in their treatments, but because it’s a drug trial the medication is provided at no cost - so she can treat animals whose owners might not have been able to afford other treatments. This often has the benefit of helping the pet, and also helps to advance treatment options for humans as well.
She shared a video for a program called Woof for the cure: http://presagebio.com/woof-for-the-cure-video/ The video shows how programs like these work.
Her message: YOU CAN BE ANYTHING! She lived in a rural native dwelling in New Mexico and was inspired to become a veterinarian. She went to college by getting some scholarships and loans, and kept studying hard to get good grades. She became a DVM and then became a specialist. You can achieve your dreams!
And GET GOOD GRADES by working hard. Did she ever think she wasn't going to make it? She laughed when she answered, "all the time, but you just keep going". She loves what she does, and because she became a specialist, one of the perks is being able to work 4 days a week!