Hello, I am Sherri-Anne (Dr Pegg MRCVS). I am in my 2nd year graduated after completing my Veterinary degree at the Royal Veterinary College and am also the Chief Mentor for Vets. I am currently working in first opinion mixed practice in a small independent practice in Northamptonshire. I first became involved with Medic Mentor as a scholarship student in my final year of vet school, working on my project “Venturing into Veterinary” – a complete guide to the vet school application process. After graduation I moved into a Vice President role as Vice President for Veterinary Medicine with the Educational Directorate. My role included consulting on the projects Medic Mentor has running in order to make them more relevant to prospective veterinary students and mentoring our veterinary scholars. This included working on the study guides, Medical Leadership Programme teaching days and teaching at the Medic Mentor Summer School as well as recruiting new veterinary scholars. I am now Chief Mentor for the Veterinary Awards Programme, where I focus on mentoring our applying students through the Veterinary Leadership Awards programme.
Academically, I have professional interests in veterinary education, mentoring, conservation medicine and research. During university I intercalated on a Comparative Pathology degree where my research project comparing the immune response of Brown Swiss and Holstein Friesian breeds of cattle contributed to a publication in the Journal of Veterinary Immunology and Immunopathology. My placements focused on zoological and wildlife work, including a placement with a wildlife vet in South Africa. I was selected to work alongside the Elephant Welfare Group in my veterinary research project, Keeper Opinions on Factors affecting Elephant Foot Health, which I was able to turn into a research poster which I presented at the British Veterinary Zoological Society annual conference in Birmingham in 2018. I was also selected for both the Medic Mentor Scholarship and a Homfray Award scholarships in my final year.
Since graduating in 2018 I began work in small animal and a small zoo/seal sanctuary on the Lincolnshire coast before moving into mixed practice in Northamptonshire where I have completed my Professional Development Phase (PDP) and the Edward Jenner Certificate in Veterinary Leadership, a joint programme between the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons and the NHS Leadership Academy. I am currently working on my Official Veterinarian qualifications for tuberculosis testing in cattle and pet passports and am looking to start a Masters degree in Conservation Medicine part time alongside my Medic Mentor and Veterinary work.
Outside of work I love to spend time in the countryside walking my dog, Kairos, I shoot in a bell target air rifle league and am an amateur crafter. I love hearing from all the Medic Mentor Family so if you have any questions for me you can post them below.
If you would like to ask Dr Pegg a question, post a comment below and she will get back to you!
Hi Dr Pegg, I’m just wondering what sort of effect the covid-19 pandemic has had on your work and the veterinary profession on a whole.
I’m currently in first-year college hoping to get onto a veterinary course after my A-levels
Dear Haydn,
The effects that the COVID19 pandemic have had on the veterinary profession are numerous and varied!
There has been much debate regarding whether veterinary staff are classed as key workers – and indeed, there have been sub-groups forming within the veterinary profession. The RCVS and the BVA have been regularly updating their guidance to vets on which aspects of our services we can still provide at each time. In general, this has prioritised protecting the food chain (farm work and abatoir work for example), emergencies and conditions which we think will cause negative effects on animal welfare if left until the end of the pandemic. They have flow charts guiding vets in their decision making process, and many practices are choosing to triage via telephone consults first. The rules regarding remote prescribing have been relaxed slightly. It would be great further reading for you to look for this guidance on either the RCVS or the BVA websites as it is likely to be discussed at veterinary interviews over the next few years as one of the biggest challenges the profession has faced in recent years.
In response to this reduced workload, many practices have had a reduced income. This has lead to staff having reduced hours, smaller teams in practice and also furloughing of some staff. The NHS has had roles they have tailored to vets in some NHS trusts, and practices which have suitable ventilators have been asked to donate (or sign up to pledge to donate if required) so there have been multiple approaches to how the veterinary profession has been affected.
Hi Dr Pegg,
I am currently a first year student at college, hoping to study veterinary medicine in the future and I am completing a Gold Crest Award on the ethics of using monoclonal antibody therapies in veterinary medicine. I was just wondering what your views were on using them and any other information you may have about them.
Dear Rebecca,
This covers a broad spectrum! Maybe you would like to drop me an email regarding any specific questions?
The monoclonal antibody therapy I am most familiar with is cytopoint, which I personally have found incredibly effective when I use it on my own dog and I beleive the whole area of study has huge potential to improve future animal welfare. I believe when zoetis launched it it was the first monoclonal antiobodies therapy to be launched in Europe. A quick online search with google scholar brings up a number of interesting articles as food for thought. I would be happy to answer any more specific questions you may have regarding this – I can be contacted on chiefvet@medicmentor.info