the blendVET story

During the 2020 global pandemic, Dr. Niccole Bruno's vision for blendVET^Ⓡ became her mission. Following her first diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) presentation at a collaborative student Veterinary Business Medical Association (VBMA) and former Veterinary Students as One in Culture & Ethnicity (VOICE) meeting on the campus of Cornell University, many of the attendees approached Dr. Bruno in appreciation of sharing her passion around the importance of DEI in veterinary medicine.

To her surprise, she was met with the understanding that the particular VOICE student chapter organization she and her Cornell classmates initiated during her veterinary school education, had not embodied the feeling of "belonging" they intended for students who were under-represented. It was then she realized more academic work regarding DEIB was necessary. Her lived experiences had resonated so profoundly with the students, their overwhelming response confirmed the need to prepare future minority veterinarians for the profession that lay ahead.

In December 2021, blend™ held its first group of DEIB lectures at the Fetch DVM 360 conference in San Diego, California. Following these inaugural sessions was the launch of blend's website in July 2022, showcasing the nation's first and ONLY veterinary-curated DEIB training curriculum combining research, facilitated discussions, workshops, and self-paced learning all coupled with personal life connections for the veterinary professional. Provided the asynchronous DEIB application available for internal programming, its content was first implemented during Lincoln Memorial University's inaugural Masters of Clinical Care program, for veterinary technical students in the Fall of 2022.

Through personalized programming and consulting over the last 3 years, blend™ has laid the groundwork for cultural change with start-up veterinary companies and privately-owned veterinary hospitals, integrated DEIB content for corporate veterinary organizations, administered training sessions at veterinary academic institutions & national veterinary conferences, and has recently launched the blendVET® Achiever certification program in January 2024 to all professionals within the veterinary industry. Organizations and academia such as Rarebreed Veterinary Partners, CareVet Health, VetCor, Vetcetera, Ross University, North Carolina State University, Oregon State University, and Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine positively attest to the heartfelt impact discovered through blend's collaborative application.

BlendVET additionally hosts quarterly student pathway programs across the country with local school districts, and through partnerships with the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) and the North American Veterinary Community (NAVC). Each of these spectacular events which have taken place at Logan Memorial Education Center in San Diego, Jones Paideia Elementary School in Nashville, Tennessee, St.Petersburg College of Veterinary Technology in St. Petersburg, Florida, and our annual pathway events at VMX in Orlando, Florida all aim to introduce youth to the various avenues within veterinary medicine, aid in representation through the exposure to game-changing minorities within the profession, and educate parents in supporting their childs’ aspiring veterinary career.

At a time where the combination of toxic workplace culture, social unrest, and a pandemic genuinely impacted our society, veterinary shortages due to burnout were on the rise. Dr. Bruno’s first presentation discussing diversity in veterinary medicine planted the seed for the creation of blend ™ and ultimately blendVET^Ⓡ : a program that celebrates cultural diversity and drives workplace environments towards genuine inclusion and allyship. Since its inception, blendVET's mission is to place the focus of veterinary medicine on the PEOPLE of our profession and reignite the veterinary professionals’ passion for serving our communities and the pets we love dearly.

It is through blendVET’s certification program where individual professionals and workplace environments are provided the tools to ensure team members, clients and colleagues feel welcomed, and are treated with respect and inclusivity. When veterinary businesses display the seal of being a blendVET® certified workplace, communities will recognize these establishments as being  guided by values which encourage creative learning and are continually building upon opportunities to improve the culture within veterinary medicine each and every day.