There were multiple experiences that led to and sustained my desire to become a veterinary specialist.  My primary inspiration was the desire to train, teach and mentor veterinary students which ignited during my small animal rotating internship at Tuskegee University. The internship also was the experience that led me to want to pursue a career in academia which was later reaffirmed during my one-year tenure in private practice and second internship at Washington State University.

Other inspiration for pursuit of a veterinary specialty came from the mentorship by faculty at Tuskegee and appreciation of the decision of two other Tuskegee graduates and small animal rotating interns, Drs. Ruby Perry-Felton and Howard King, to pursue specialty residencies in radiology and small animal surgery. By the time that I began my second small animal rotating internship at Washington State, I had made up my mind to pursue a residency in small animal internal medicine. The mentorship that I received from the small animal internal medicine faculty at Washington State (Drs. Jim Miller, Richard Ott, and Wally Morrison) during this internship helped me to affirm that this was the right specialty field for me.

Are there any resources or pieces of advice that helped you along the way?

My small animal intern mentors at Tuskegee, Drs. Madan Vig, Jerry Clinkscales and George Blackledge were both encouraging and helpful. They gave me good advice, encouragement and constructive criticism. I certainly learned that constructive criticism was meant to help and not hurt me.  My mentors during residency at Washington State university were also encouraging and helpful. It was here that I developed my understanding of small animal internal medicine as a specialty. 

Dr. Jim Miller, my residency advisor, told me to ensure that I was kind and patient with all the staff because they could be my greatest friends or enemies. I took his words to mean we all equally have a set of responsibilities required for the section, department, clinic, or research to succeed. In other words, we are a team, and each player has a role to play which is of equal importance.  Treat everyone with the respect that you expect from them. Knowing that I was a valued member of a team helped me to strive to do my best for the team. I did learn from both positive and negative criticism because each time I was encouraged to do better. The lesson is not to be discouraged, learn from each situation, and improve your performance.

_{Photo: Drs. Ruby Perry, Lloyd Jarmon, Winston Felton, Desiree Darden, and Saralyn Smith-Carr during a Tuskegee Veterinary Medical Alumni Association (TVMAA) fall conference. Photo courtesy of Dr. Saralynn Smith-Carr.}

What do you consider one of your greatest career successes? How did you achieve it? 

I have had many great career successes which makes it difficult to choose just one, so will settle on three of my top career successes. First, reaching my goal to become faculty at my alma mater, Tuskegee University, was one of my greatest successes. I really enjoyed teaching and interacting with students at Tuskegee.  It was this success that led to awards in teaching as well as research collaborations that were helpful for me to attain tenure and promotion. My road to achieving this goal required completing two rotating small animal medicine internships, a combined small animal internal medicine residency/masters program, and veterinary science doctoral program focused on infectious disease.

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"Sticking to the goal toward Board- certification in small animal internal medicine was well worth the time and effort. This achievement opened doors for other great opportunities for me."