Pulse - June 2021 - 18

It's Challenging for Young Latinx Professionals
to Find a Mentor
Young Latinx veterinary students and professionals often face a barrier that their white counterparts do not:
there are few mentors available who look like them and share common experiences and culture.
As more Hispanics come into the profession, that likely will
begin to change. But there is a long way to go. Latinx doctors are
1.6 percent of the nation's veterinarians, the U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics found in 2019, though Hispanics are about 19 percent of
the population.
There are ways around the problem but some of the Latinx professionals
interviewed for these stories reported simply making do
early in their careers without the invaluable help a great mentor
can provide.
Dr. Julio Lopez, who owns a practice in Encino, is a major exception.
" I have had some solid mentors, luckily, but finding someone
who had the same experiences I've had and who grew up in similar
fashion as I did and spoke the same language - that becomes a lot
more difficulty, especially in veterinary medicine, " he said.
" But I have been lucky enough to have had some great mentors,
regardless of race. Dr. Stephen Ettinger was a primary mentor
of mine and still is to this day. He's helping guide me as a new
practice owner. I lean on him for advice. " Dr. Ettinger is retired
after a storied career.
The relationship dates to the time when Dr. Lopez did an
internship and residency at Dr. Ettinger's specialty practice in Los
Angeles. " He was a big mentor of mine. He would talk to me
about his struggles, being Jewish, and remarks he had heard while
he was in school during his undergrad days. When people make
derogatory remarks, it doesn't matter what race you are. If someone
has experienced that, you can share it.
" I feel like I've had strong support systems at the practices
where I've worked, especially with Dr. Ettinger's group, which
always had a diverse staff, as well.
" Dr. Ettinger is a true believer that, if you wanted to be successful,
it didn't matter what your background was, he was going
to help you. You just had to put in the same amount of work and
dedication. On the first day I met him as an undergraduate when
I was working with the technician and treatment staff, he asked:
'Do you want to go to vet school?' I said yes. He said: 'You just
keep working hard and focus on getting good grades and keep
that interest and we'll be here to support you.' "
Dr. Lopez said that he is available as a mentor, " whether it's
someone with a Latinx background or not, if the fit is right. I'm
more than happy to help, just as I was helped by my mentors. "
Dr. Silvia Grossi Stone, who owns a mobile practice in Orange
County, recalled a relationship that helped her obtain her U.S.
license to practice. A native of Argentina, she lived in this country
as a child with her parents and is fluent in English. She moved
with them back to Argentina after 10 years here and attended college
and veterinary school there.
Dr. William Farrow, who owned Littleton Animal Hospital near
Denver, Colo., " was instrumental in helping me with my internship
18
training and the evaluation
for my U.S.
license. To do that, he
had to get his practice
approved to oversee
my internship training
and evaluation. That
required several steps.
He believed in me. 'I'll
help you get this done,'
he told me. He went
out of his way to help. "
Dr. Stone said she
has acted as a mentor
to several RVTs, none
of them Latinx.
As a student at
Western University of
Health Sciences, Dr. Victor Ramirez said that he " just tried to pick
up whatever I could on my third- and fourth-year rotations. The
closest thing I had to mentors were two veterinarians in Pasadena
- both older white general practitioners. They were very nice,
very open and welcoming. They talked to me a lot about practice
in general.
Now owner of a practice in Boyle Heights, he said that he has
helped a couple of young veterinarians. I've also taken in a couple
of college students who aspire to become veterinarians and a few
third- and fourth-year students as externs. " He plans to hire one of
the externs as an associate.
Melissa Garcia, practice manager at Bloomfield Veterinary Hospital
in Lakewood, said that she had never had a Latino mentor.
" I've kind of been my own [mentor], " she said. " It was very hard
to find a mentor who looked like me when I started out as an
RVT. I was at different hospitals and I was usually the only Hispanic.
If there were any others, they were in the kennels and they
weren't allowed to move up. "
She is a member of the Orange County Practice Managers
group, which has some diversity and had helped her a lot, she said.
She acts as a mentor to her hospital staff. " We have younger
RVTs, a younger staff and I try to push them and educate them
and encourage them to give back to their communities. Dr. A [Jose
Arambulo, the practice owner] gives back to his Filipino culture and
I give back to my Hispanic culture and the staff can see that. "
She said that she is an " open book " and that she talks to the staff
about racism and any incidents that might occur. " They don't have
to feel like they're alone or the only ones who experience something
like that, " she said. P
JUNE 2021
PULSE

Pulse - June 2021

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