How can we help research transfer to more career satisfaction for veterinary teams?  How can you stress less every day in appointments?

In this talk we have some very special guests for you! Kat Sutherland and Natasha Janke are graduate students at the Ontario Veterinary School within the Relationship Centred Veterinary Care research lab.  

We talk about the findings of both Kat and Natasha’s research and how you can apply them to your everyday life in practice to have fewer hassles and reframe success. We also talk about what it’s like to be at graduate school pursuing a project in veterinary communications. Curious? Watch back below! 

Natasha Janke (she/her)

Dr. Natasha Janke is a postdoctoral fellow in the Relationship-Centred Veterinary Medicine research group at the Ontario Veterinary College and a sessional lecturer in the OVC Medical Communications Program. Her research interests are driven by a desire to understand how social interactions in veterinary medicine impact clinical outcomes. Natasha’s interest in veterinary medicine led her to complete her MSc (2017) and PhD (2021) in Veterinary Epidemiology at the Ontario Veterinary College. During her doctoral work, she used mixed methods to understand the current state of information exchange and clinical decision-making during companion animal veterinary visits. Following her PhD, Natasha worked as a postdoctoral fellow in the Veterinary Communication for Professional Excellence program at Colorado State University (2021-2022), where she investigated the impact of a 15-month in-practice clinical communication training program. Natasha is currently conducting research to identify organizational practices that veterinary hospitals can implement to enhance team functioning.

Kat Sutherland (she/her)

Dr. Kat Sutherland is a postdoctoral fellow in the Relationship-Centred Veterinary Medicine research group at the OVC. Kat’s research interests are motivated by wanting to understand how relationships in veterinary medicine impact pet owners’ uptake of and adherence to nutritional and weight management recommendations, and how veterinary-client communication can be enhanced to improve the quality of life for pets with excess weight. She completed her MSc in animal nutrition prior to pursuing her PhD in Population Medicine. Her PhD research explored pet weight-related communication in small animal veterinary practice, with emphasis on obesity-specific communication. Kat has also been active in various roles in the Medical Communications Program at the OVC since 2018, working with veterinary students to refine their communication skills. Currently, Kat is involved in the development and assessment of an educational intervention study for veterinary professionals focused on obesity prevention, treatment, and client communication.