Ann-si Li 

Dr. Ann-si Li, DVM, OMD
Dr. Ann-si Li, DVM, OMD

University of California, Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine Alum (‘68), Dr. Ann-si Li, DVM, OMD is an inspiring force.  Graduating from veterinary school at a time when few women did, she traveled to Italy on a Fulbright scholarship to the Università degli Studi in Perugia immediately after graduation.  An unexpected trip to Hawaii with an Asian-American women's group awakened her to the importance of cultural identity, which inspired her to learn more about her Chinese ancestry and Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine, especially acupuncture.  Her career path has included stints as a small animal practice owner in Oakland, CA, working as a United Nations Volunteer at the China Agricultural University’s School of Veterinary Medicine in Beijing, splitting time working between Beijing and a house call practice in California, and starting up a veterinary clinic in China.  Dr. Ann-si Li now works as an acupuncture specialist at a private specialty veterinary practice in Hong Kong.   We appreciated Ann-si’s frank and honest reflections on the challenges of practice ownership, cultural identity, and how family can influence one’s personal decisions and career path. 

Veterinary School & Year Graduated: University of California Davis, 1968

Additional Degrees: Oriental Medicine Doctorate (O.M.D.), Institute of Oriental Medicine Hong Kong, 1988;  Certified Veterinary Acupuncturist, International Veterinary Acupuncture Society Certification, 1989


Questions and Answers 

  • Tell me about your most challenging and rewarding veterinary jobs or work experiences.
  • My most challenging and rewarding work experience was during my time as a United Nations Volunteer (UNV) in the Small Animal Clinic of the China Agricultural University’s School of Veterinary Medicine in Beijing. I was seeing clients, learning Mandarin Chinese, and serving as a UNV visiting expert representing the United States.  China was just opening up and there had only been a handful of foreign contacts at the school. I was under a lot of scrutiny by the United Nations.  They throw you into the country and there was a little bit of an orientation, but no formal training. I was warned that because I can pass for a local, there was going to be even more of an eye on me. I really had to watch my back. I was watched very closely for the first six months. I followed the rules and just went to work. My only expectation was to see patients. After that, things relaxed quite a bit. It was originally supposed to be a one year position but they invited me to stay another year so I held that position for two years. It was a challenging experience but I also got a lot out of it. I really enjoyed working with the patients and clients, both foreign and Chinese. 
  • What did you love about the position or experience?
  • While working at a United Nations Volunteer, people were very helpful after an initial period of adjustment and scrutiny.  There was little to no professional supervision, as I was not being paid by the veterinary school, but by the United Nations Development Program. I could essentially do what I liked. This included initiating different activities, such as creating case reports, graphing my production, and setting my own fee schedule, and later visiting other departments.
  • Tell me about your journey to get to that point in your life. 
  • I was always interested in doing something international. When I graduated from veterinary school at Davis, a lot of my classmates wanted to do something international. Unfortunately there weren’t many opportunities and there weren’t many people encouraging us to do anything outside of small animal practice ownership. I ended up going to Italy for a year on a Fulbright scholarship. After I came back, I went into small animal practice in Oakland. [When I] graduated from veterinary school, we somehow had the expectation that if one went into small animal medicine, one had to own and operate their own veterinary practice.  Of course that was not always possible, and I was blessed that I could have an opportunity to do that, but later on, I realized that I didn't really enjoy practice ownership much at all, and found the responsibilities of clinic ownership very stressful. 

    I got a car around this time and a friend and I decided to take a class at the YWCA about car maintenance. The lady who was on the staff at the YWCA asked me if I would like to go on a free trip to Hawaii. She sent me to Hawaii through YWCA and of course, she had an ulterior motive.  The lady at the YWCA realized that I didn’t strongly self-identify as Asian and I didn’t have a strong sense of culture. She was right. I grew up in a white neighborhood in Berkeley and really only hung out with white people. This trip to Hawaii was an Asian-American women’s trip to get Asian-American women more connected to their roots and culture. The experience was a huge eye opener and initiated in me a huge identity crisis and awakening as to who I was. My uncle began visiting China as it started to open up. He was a neurosurgeon and I respected his opinions greatly. He couldn’t stop raving about China, and specifically acupuncture. That sparked my interest in acupuncture because my uncle was such an accomplished neurosurgeon and I trusted his medical opinions.  I [also] wanted to experience living in an Asian country.  From 1994-1996, I had the opportunity to work in Beijing as a United Nations Volunteer at the Small Animal Clinic of the China Agricultural University’s School of Veterinary Medicine’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital. 
  • As a veterinary student, did you ever imagine yourself taking this journey and having these professional experiences?
  • I had no idea! 
  • In retrospect, what do you wish you’d known as a veterinary student or early in your career?
  • I didn't realize how much hard work it requires!  I remember going into practice and feeling like it was so awful and feeling so tired. It is really hard work and for some reason that was very surprising. 
  • Would you have changed anything about your time in veterinary school? 
  • No, I don't think so. I got a really good education. I work with a lot of other veterinarians from a lot of different countries. I can see the quality of their education and it's nowhere near the quality of the education I got.
  • Would you have changed anything about your time since graduating veterinary school?
  • I would have enjoyed going to Hong Kong and getting a job right when I came back from Italy and before beginning my career in the United States. I don't regret it, but I think that might have been interesting and would have helped me learn Cantonese earlier. It has been very difficult for me to learn a new language at this point in my life.  However, experiencing living in Mainland China and then moving to Hong Kong was much much easier and has also enabled me to also appreciate much more where I’m living now than if I’d just moved here from California right out of school.  
  • Did you have any mentors or role models along the way that helped or inspired you? Please provide an example of how they helped you or what qualities they had that made them a good mentor? How did you find them?
  • My one significant mentor was a veterinarian in practice in Oakland. He practiced acupuncture and when I decided to look into acupuncture, I called him up. He immediately invited me over and I spent all of my off days at his clinic to shadow him. We would have lunch together after and he truly was a mentor. Calvin Schwabe is another person that I consider a mentor, despite not knowing him very well personally. He was a mentor from the standpoint of his example and what he was able to bring to the veterinary school and the campus. He encouraged and allowed for more international visitors and also postdocs. I really admired him for all his work. 
  • Tell me about any pivotal moments or key turning points that shaped your career.
  • Getting married and having a child were two of my biggest pivotal moments. Starting a family changed a lot of my career in that I went in the direction of practice ownership which I might not have done if I didn’t have my family. 

    Another moment was when one day Professor Livio Raggi just casually asked me if I’d like to go to Italy.  He subsequently assisted me in obtaining a Fulbright Scholarship to go to his alma mater, the Università degli Studi in Perugia for a year.  It definitely changed my life completely, as I really loved living in Italy, learned to speak Italian fluently, and drove all over the country in my little FIAT 850.  What I learned was patience and it got me to slow down.
  • Tell me about one or two challenges, setbacks or obstacles that you faced along the way on your professional journey. How did you address those?
  • One of the huge challenges was after I left UNV, I was invited to work with a big municipality in China. I moved back to California and I started a house call practice there. For about 10 years I split my time between practicing in California and working in Beijing. Another challenge was when I tried to start a small animal practice in Beijing with two other people. It was a big challenge and also a mistake. It was a mistake because the other two individuals were not veterinarians and I didn't assess them well enough. At the same time it was a wonderful opportunity and very exciting. I really enjoyed starting the practice and getting everything going. Once it was all set up, I didn't enjoy it. It also got to be really difficult due to the personalities of the other two individuals and I realized I needed to get out. I had invested a significant amount of money into the practice and there was no legal recourse for me, it was left to the goodwill of the individuals. I was very fortunate that they did pay me back for my significant investments, but it was very stressful.
  • What was the most important lesson you learned as a veterinarian, and still remember today, and would want to tell vet students about.
  • You have to have faith in yourself and you have to be confident in what you're capable of. You cannot let somebody tell you otherwise, which often happens. It’s very important not to be influenced by too many other people. You certainly can take their opinion into consideration, but make your own decisions. 

    Another thing is that as a woman, a career as a veterinarian can get you employment anywhere in the world anytime. I’ve been invited to lecture in Italy, India, China, and of course the USA. [In some places] that is not so easy for a woman.  And nobody can take it away from you, not like if you’re a shopkeeper and your store gets burned down.  It’s all in your head; it’s your knowledge that you’ll always have and that cannot be taken away from you ever.

    I still remember one of my professors telling our class that our education was one of the best biological sciences education we could get.  
  • What’s been the biggest highlight of your career so far?
  • The thing that I find most exciting about my career is that I've had some really well known clients. I really enjoy having known them because they were my clients. It’s a special thing that I consider a little unique about my career. 

    In many parts of the world veterinarians are mostly men, so as a professional woman my presence has been a role model for the women in classes at the veterinary school here. [I’m proud] of being an example of an independent and confident woman for other women. 
Dr. Ann-si Li, DVM, OMD