Students Explore Veterinary Challenges At Inaugural Bootcamp

students discussing at veterinary innovation bootcamp

The landscape of animal health and veterinary medicine is changing constantly, and students need to learn how to be prepared to adapt in this ever-changing environment.

To highlight current and upcoming changes in the veterinary world, familiarize students with resources that can prepare them for and adapt to these changes, and introduce those students to different ways to approach identifying and solving problems, the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (CVM) hosted its first Veterinary Innovation + Design Thinking Bootcamp.

Held over five hours on Oct. 20, the bootcamp included presentations from various resources from across the Texas A&M campus, as well as representatives from and participants in the Veterinary Entrepreneurship Academy (VEA).

Approximately 40 current Doctor of Veterinary Medicine students, undergraduate Pre-Vet Society members, and faculty and staff participated in the Veterinary Innovation Bootcamp.

Dr. Aaron Massecar, program manager for Veterinary Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the CVM and executive director of the Veterinary Innovation Council (VIC), led off with a presentation on current innovative trends in the veterinary world.

Other presenters at the Veterinary Innovation Bootcamp included Chuck Hinton, from the McFerrin Center for Entrepreneurship and Startup Aggieland; Will Hussey, from the Agribusiness Entrepreneurship Program; Sonia Jiménez, from the School of Innovation; and Rodney Boehm, from Engineering Entrepreneurship and Aggies Invent.

VEA manager Christine Kjeel also discussed the academy and some of its 2018 participants from Texas A&M—Brianna Boyle, McCalley Cunningham, and Stephanie Young—offered testimonials about their experiences and answered questions from their peers about the program.

After a break for lunch, Dr. Massecar led a two-hour workshop on “Design Thinking and the 4 P’s of Medicine” (predictive, preventative, personalized, and participatory), and the event culminated with participants forming teams to identify existing problems in veterinary medicine, working to solve the problems, and presenting their solutions.

“This was our first event, as we continue to bring new opportunities for our students and faculty to explore their innovative interests,” said Jeremy Kenny, program coordinator for Veterinary Innovation and Entrepreneurship. “The feedback we’ve gotten from the participants thus far has been very positive and encouraging, and we look forward to building on the success of this event in the spring when we partner with the College of Engineering to co-host the Veterinary Medicine Aggies Invent (Feb. 15-17).”


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