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AAVN Member Spotlight: Dr. Christopher Margrey
I am a first-year Clinical Nutrition Resident at the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine (UTCVM). While I am currently living in the mountains of eastern Tennessee, I was born and raised in central Virginia in the hillsides of the Blue Ridge Mountains, eventually calling the beautiful town of Blacksburg, VA. my home during seven eventful years of undergraduate and veterinary studies. In Blacksburg, I learned a lot of life lessons, made some amazing friends, met my future wife, and somewhere along the way, found my path in life as an aspiring veterinary nutritionist.
My story of finding my path to veterinary medicine is much like many others’; I grew up loving animals of all shapes and sizes, shadowed some local veterinarians, and ended up going to school with the dream of being a small animal general practice veterinarian back home in Virginia. Throughout my undergraduate studies, I enjoyed learning about almost every topic presented, but I always found myself particularly interested in nutrition, metabolic physiology, and biochemistry. As I made the next step in my career to veterinary school, that interest was still at the forefront of my mind, as everything I learned in class sparked the thought of “what if we could manage/prevent this disease with diet?” While that answer was not always available, I found that nutrition often played a pivotal role in patient care, and as I transitioned from a student to a student-clinician, I began to learn that it was also frequently overlooked. When this was combined with high-quality mentorship from the board-certified veterinary nutritionist at my school, I knew that I wanted to be a veterinary nutritionist for the rest of my career. Once that decision was set, the only thing left to decide was how I was going to do it. That question led me to pursue a number of clinical nutrition externships during veterinary school as I sought to involve myself in the field I hoped to join one day.
While planning out my clinical year externships as a veterinary student, a mentor of mine recommended that I consider a rotation with the UTCVM. As a newcomer to the world of veterinary nutrition, I lacked the understanding of how important networking with schools that offered residencies was, or even what the well-renowned clinical nutrition residency programs were. Thankfully, between guidance from those around me and some sheer good luck, I was fortunately pointed in the direction of the UTCVM, completing a clinical rotation with their Veterinary Nutrition Service. During this rotation, I was impressed with how welcoming and friendly everyone was, as well as the quality of teaching by the nutritionists. I left feeling grateful for the experience and hopeful that it was not the last of my time with that team.
Fast forward a year or so, and I would finish my clinical year of veterinary school, complete a mixed rotating/Community Practice internship in Cary, NC and at the UTCVM, respectively, and in the end, begin a clinical nutrition residency at the UTCVM. As a Clinical Nutrition Resident, I can safely say that my job has never lacked for excitement. There is always some sort of interesting new case right around the corner. Whether it is an in-patient needing an assisted feeding plan, a pet with diarrhea/vomiting in need of a homemade diet, or a consultation for some strange disease process that we don’t know what the ideal diet is, there is a tremendous sense of accomplishment in knowing that our work plays a big role in improving these animals’ lives. My day-to-day work almost exclusively revolves around creating homemade diet or commercial diet plans for dogs and cats, with my favorite diseases to treat and research being obesity, chronic kidney disease, and just about anything affecting the gastrointestinal tract. The rest of each day involves either journal club, research project work, topic rounds, or studying for my graduate-level nutrition coursework.
Regarding our Nutrition Service, my team at the UTCVM consists of two fantastic veterinary nutritionists (Drs. Angie Rollins and Maryanne Murphy), two wonderful technicians (Ashley Self and Tammy Moyers), and two amazing resident-mates (Drs. Katie Tolbert and Flavia Vaduva) who always make sure to bring a smile and excitement to every day’s adventures. We proudly have a close-knit team, sharing a sense of compassion, openness, and cooperation that makes our workplace a joy to be in. This residency and the UTCVM Veterinary Nutrition Service have thus far lived up to every expectation I had as a veterinary student and intern, giving me a lot of confidence towards my future as an aspiring veterinary nutritionist. At the end of this residency, my goal is to work in a veterinary hospital as a clinical veterinary nutritionist to keep bringing the benefits of personalized nutrition to inpatients and outpatients alike, all while helping my colleagues to provide the best care possible for our four-legged family members.
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