Madison Durflinger knew she wanted a career working with animals while growing up on a farm near Eldon in southeast Iowa.
“We had a small cow-calf operation along with row crops,” she says. “That really sparked my interest in veterinary medicine.”
Durflinger graduated from Iowa State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine in 2023 and started working at the Stuart Veterinary Clinic in Stuart, Iowa.
Prior to entering vet school, Durflinger received her bachelor’s degrees in biology and animal science at Iowa State.
“I visited a lot of clinics around the Midwest, and it was really cool to see how they were all somehow different,” she says. “The clinic in Stuart really matched what I wanted in a practice. It’s been a great opportunity.”
While Durflinger works with animals of all sizes, most of her emphasis at Iowa State came with large animals, especially hogs.
The vet school encourages students to recognize the opportunities out there for large animal veterinarians, says Justin Brown, assistant professor of swine production medicine at ISU.
“There is still definitely a shortage of vets working with food animals,” he says. “We also see shortages out in the rural areas. A lot of residents do not have access to a local veterinarian.”
Brown says Iowa State uses an all-around approach to help train veterinarians.
Not only are they well-versed in production medicine, but they understand the role of a veterinarian in their local community.
“There is a lot of value to having a veterinarian in a small community,” he says. “For the most part, veterinarians are pretty active members of their communities, and we want our students to realize that.”
Brown says there are several programs offering incentives to students looking to pursue a career in veterinary medicine.
He says ISU will work with students interested in these programs to find a fit for them.
That can include being a part of the Army Veterinary Corps, where the Army pays for vet school in exchange for several years of service.
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