MMI Campfire Chat: Translating Words Into Action - What could the future look like for BAME veterinary students and professionals?

The MMI Campfire chats are back for series four! Join the MMI Team and our fantastic guests for an informal delve into themes and topics that matter to the veterinary community. Open to all, these free online panel sessions offer a chance to pause, reflect and learn from each other’s experiences of navigating life and work.

Translating words into action 

In this MMI Campfire Chat...

October marks Black History Month. The theme for which this year is 'Time for Change: Actions Not Words'.

Chaired by Dr Tshidi Gardiner MRCVS, Chair of Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons Diversity and Inclusion Group, join us and our fantastic panellists for this Black History Month Campfire Chat special as we explore what the future could look like for BAME veterinary students and professionals.

This chat will be centred around the BAME Student Support Working Group Report, published by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons and Veterinary Schools Council in June 2022 which can be accessed on the RCVS website. The panel will be discussing the issues highlighted in the report; how it’s recommendations for improving the educational experience of BAME veterinary students can be translated into action; and what else can be done to ensure that those from ethnically diverse backgrounds in the professions are valued and respected for who they are. The discussion will also touch on wider EDI issues, as well as mental health.

To get to a better tomorrow, we can’t just focus on the past. We must look to the future and how we must all play an active part in shaping it. We need action. Not words.

Chair

Dr Tshidi Gardiner MRCVS
Tshidi is a Wellness Coach, Speaker, Author, Wellbeing Educator and a Small Animal Veterinary Surgeon with over 18 years of clinical experience in almost all sectors of the veterinary industry. She holds a postgraduate Certificate in Small Animal Surgery & still works in clinical practice. She volunteers as an elected member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, thus undertakes the governance of the College.

She is the current Chair of the RCVS Diversity & Inclusion Committee and Lead for Global development. She is a passionate Burnout Prevention Advocate & supports Mental Ill Health initiatives within the veterinary community. Her process uses deep health as the basis for her Wellness Coaching & Stress Management practice. She is a mum of two and enjoys walking her dog along the beach for much needed rest & recovery.

Panel Guests

Rheanna Ellis MRCVS
Rheanna qualified as a vet just over a year ago and is currently working in a small and exotic practice in the Midlands. Having graduated from the University of Nottingham in 2021, Rheanna also founded the British Veterinary Ethnicity & Diversity Society (BVEDS) Student Network to give students from across the UK a voice when it comes to issues surrounding race in the profession and academia.

Further Panel Guests TBC. 

How to register 

Please register to attend on Eventbrite: 

Register here 

Contact us

Should you have any questions, please email the RCVS Events Team.