1. What made you want to pursue a career in infection prevention and control?
My background is in veterinary medicine, and I’ve always been drawn to the work that makes care safer for patients and the people caring for them. As I became more involved in patient safety, training, and quality improvement, I realized how naturally those areas connect with infection prevention.
The One Health perspective made that connection even more compelling. Animal, human, and environmental health are deeply interconnected. Antimicrobial resistance, zoonotic diseases, healthcare-associated infections, and emerging pathogens don’t respect the boundaries between professions, so neither should our approach to preventing them.
2. What does being a-IPCTM mean to you?
Being a-IPC means having a recognized foundation in infection prevention and being part of a community committed to safer healthcare. Because the credential is primarily rooted in human healthcare, earning it has also given me an opportunity to think about how those principles can translate into veterinary medicine. Some concepts transfer beautifully, while others require a little veterinary creativity!
I’m proud to bring a One Health lens to infection prevention and help strengthen the connections between human and veterinary healthcare.
3. What was the best studying method for you when preparing for the examination?
A combination of structured studying, practice questions, and connecting concepts to real-world situations worked best for me. I learned much more when I understood why an answer was correct rather than simply memorizing it.
Coming from veterinary medicine also meant doing some mental translation along the way. Thinking about how human healthcare concepts applied to veterinary practice helped me understand and retain the material.
And, thankfully, I did not study entirely alone. Sharing resources and working through questions with others made the process much more manageable!
4. How has gaining the a-IPCTM credential impacted your career development?
The credential has reinforced the direction my career is taking. My role sits at the intersection of patient safety, infection prevention, training, and operations, and the a-IPC has strengthened both my knowledge and confidence in the infection prevention side of that work.
It has also encouraged me to look beyond individual events and think more broadly about systems, human factors, surveillance, environmental risks, and how we can build safer practices into everyday veterinary care.
5. Do you intend on pursing your CIC® credential? If so, why is becoming certified important to you?
Yes. I see the CIC® as the next step in continuing to grow my knowledge and expertise in infection prevention and control. Certification matters to me because it represents a commitment to lifelong learning and to bringing evidence-based practices back to the teams and patients I serve. I also hope to help strengthen the connection between human and veterinary infection prevention. One Health isn't just about recognizing that we're connected. It's about learning from each other and using that knowledge to make all of us healthier and safer. I’d love for my career to contribute to that conversation.
