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Student receives scholarship from national group for commitment to accessible veterinary care

Kristen Margrave

Kristen Margrave, a third-year student at the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine, has received the Steve Marton Veterinary Student Scholarship from PetSmart Charities, an award given to veterinary students who embody the organization’s mission and are committed to careers delivering veterinary care in under-resourced communities.

Named after a former chairman of PetSmart Charities’ board of directors and champion of animal welfare, the Steve Marton scholarship provides up to $50,000 for one year’s tuition to three veterinary students who embody the organization’s mission and are committed to careers delivering veterinary care in under-resourced communities. Recipients must have demonstrated leadership in providing access to veterinary care for pets and people in need.

“There are many avenues of veterinary medicine, but none has entangled my passion like accessible veterinary care,” Margrave said. “Whether it is due to finances, location, lack of transportation or just being unaware of available care facilities, accessible care provides the means to remove limiting factors that impact an individual’s capability to seek medical attention for their loved ones, their pets.”

Driving her passion for accessible veterinary care is her own personal experience, she said. Musgrave has struggled with economic and health issues and as she worked to maintain her financial independence and says it has not been easy.

“I know that at times, if an emergency with my pet occurred, I would feel the worry and heartbreak that clients I have helped throughout my career feel when faced with these types of unpredictable or stressful situations,” she said. “To be able to provide owners with more than one option to keep the strong human-animal bond alive, keep pets in their homes and out of the shelters provides me with a feeling that I have made a difference, and nothing can replace those moments.”

Margrave worked as a registered veterinary technician, or RVT, at a non-profit shelter in Ohio for two years prior to relocating to Florida, where she began her career at the Pet Alliance of Greater Orlando. She remained there for eight years, serving as the lead technician for the group’s mobile unit, prior moving to Gainesville to attend veterinary school. Her experience in Orlando afforded her the opportunity to visit high schools to teach students about veterinary care, offer weekend vaccine clinics to the community, participate in a weekly trap-neuter-return program and travel to senior communities to provide veterinary care.

In combination with her role at Pet Alliance, she worked for seven years for a mobile veterinary company offering affordable care by traveling to multiple locations on the weekends to provide monthly preventive care and annual vaccinations to animals in need of such services throughout Florida.

In the short-term, Margrave aims to complete her Shelter Medicine Certificate at the college in conjunction with her D.V.M. degree, and continue to engage in activities offered through her involvement with the Student Chapter of the Association of Shelter Veterinarians. She hopes in the long term to invest her time and education in a non-profit shelter organization that aims to provide affordable care and opportunities for community engagement.