Paige Carmichael
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Photo by: Andrew Davis Tucker
PAIGE CARMICHAEL Associate dean for academic affairs, College of Veterinary Medicine, Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor Founder, The Dog Doctors, a youth outreach program that exposes local children to animals and to the possibility of a career in veterinary medicine, D.V.M., Tuskegee University Ph.D., University of Georgia
"I remember when I was a young child, about 8 years of age, I was passionate about animals. I remember thinking I would love to have some kind of job working with animals. Something that allowed me to work with animals every day would be my ideal job. …. As I got older I started thinking about a bunch of other possibilities…fashion design and fashion merchandising was one, advertising was another one that I remember wanting to do when I was in middle school. Then in high school, I began to get really interested in biology. I was fascinated by biology in particular and genetics specifically. I remember sneaking out to the library—what kind of nerd was I to sneak out to learn things about genetics and then about dog breeding? …Then I got the opportunity, and I know this is going to sound bizarre, to work with a herd of water buffalo, and I fell in love with the concept all over again.”
—Paige Carmichael on how her interest in animals as a child led to a career in veterinary pathology, studying inherited neurological diseases in Bernese Mountain dogs and other breeds. For more on The Dog Doctors youth outreach program, go to http://www.vet.uga.edu/vpp/dog_doctors.