Robyn Stoddard

Dr. Robyn Stoddard, DVM, Ph.D. is a microbiologist, a veterinarian, loves dogs, the outdoors, and is really passionate about her work. Based in Atlanta, Georgia with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Robyn has helped improve capacity in laboratories around the world and also worked on several outbreak responses. We loved hearing about what she gets excited about, how she started off her career working in marine mammal research, what some of her biggest work challenges have been, and what she wants veterinary students and early career veterinarians to know about.

Veterinary School & Year Graduated: UC Davis, 2000

Additional Degree: Ph.D., Comparative Pathology, UC Davis, 2006

Tell me about your most challenging and rewarding veterinary jobs or work experiences.
In my current job I really feel like I can make a difference, both in the US and internationally. One of the greatest challenges I've had in my job at CDC was working in West Africa during the Ebola outbreak in 2014-2015. I went to Liberia in 2014 at the height of the outbreak, helping build laboratory capacity. It was an overwhelming situation for everybody. Not being able to have physical contact with people for 30 days was especially challenging. We weren't allowed to touch and some days we had some really bad days and wanted to hug our co-workers. I think I, along with a lot of people, had a lot of mental issues and PTSD afterward. It took a while to go away.
What did you love about the position or experience?
The thing I love the most about my job is the people I work with. I have stayed in the same job, but recently my boss moved on so a new person was hired. It is great to have someone from outside the group come in and give a new perspective and fresh life to our group that has been together for 15 plus years. I also really like my coworkers, everyone is very supportive and comes to the aid of others that may need some extra help. My coworkers are great. I feel really lucky that I like both the job and the people I work with. We've worked with a lot of partners all over the world and we've had some really great collaborations. I also love the opportunity to work outside of your normal everyday work with outbreak response. I've been involved with responses to Ebola, Zika and SARS-CoV-2.
Tell me about your journey to get to that point in your life.
I never really had it in my plan to go to veterinary school! I also wasn't interested in public health, that wasn't even on my radar. When my family moved from Idaho to San Diego I went to Sea World for the first time and became obsessed with dolphins. In junior high, I decided I wanted to be a marine biologist. In high school, there was a college recruiter fair and there was a presentation from UC Santa Cruz, which has a really great marine biology program. They had dolphins there at the time, so I decided to go to Santa Cruz to become a marine biologist. Through some preparation and luck, I got some really great opportunities. I asked a mentor for a letter of recommendation for a summer research program and they offered a position in their fruit fly development lab. It was during that position I realized that I did like research. After that, I applied to a marine science lab position and got an opportunity to study sea lion cognition, and I also became involved with a lot of writing and revisions on some marine mammal physiology research, which caused me to second guess research as a career!

The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) and started working at vet clinics and finishing prerequisites. I finally realized I actually did like research while working at TSRI. I decided my new plan was to complete vet school and a Ph.D. and eventually become a faculty member at a veterinary school.

Once I got into the veterinary school I also reached out to researchers at UCD and found one to sponsor me as a Ph.D. student. I entered vet school as a dual degree student DVM/Ph.D. student. I did all of my research during the summer breaks without any grad course work during the official school year because I wanted to focus on my veterinary classes while I was in the DVM program. I thought about going into practice but that didn't really work out, and I also worked in an immunology lab but that didn't interest me as much as once I took microbiology classes, and specifically bacteriology. After veterinary school, I transitioned from my original PhD laboratory to Dr. Conrad's lab, where I completed my Ph.D. I wanted to continue my training at UCD as a microbiology resident. Funding hadn’t been secured for the residency yet and so I searched for other opportunities. I interviewed and got offered a post-doc position at the CDC and then found out that there was funding for the microbiology residency. Ultimately, I took the postdoc position and have been at the CDC for 14 years.
As a veterinary student, did you ever imagine yourself taking this journey and having these professional experiences?
Absolutely not. I thought I would be a marine biologist and get a Ph.D. in marine biology and have a career in research. I never thought I'd be in veterinary school. Once I got there, I thought I'd be faculty at a vet school and remain involved in marine mammal and wildlife work. Public Health definitely wasn't on my radar. I'm glad I didn't decline the opportunity to come to CDC just because I didn't think that was my pathway. It was the pathway that I didn't know I wanted. I couldn't be happier. I love international work and I don't regret the way my path has gone.
In retrospect, what do you wish you’d known as a veterinary student or early in your career?
I try to tell folks that they’re not old and can change their pathway. You don't have to stay where you're at. One of my good friends ended up going to vet school and graduated when she was 40 years old and she's doing a residency now at 46. Don’t feel like you're too old to change what you're doing. I wish I was more aware of that flexibility. I feel like a lot of veterinary students could stand to hear that. Especially because of the type of people that end up in vet school. We're very type A, have good grades, have to do well, and I think it's hard for us when we fail or when we see ourselves as failing. Like me quitting my first job was really hard to accept what I saw as a failure when it wasn't necessarily a failure. Don’t feel like you're too old to change what you're doing. I wish I was more aware of that flexibility.
Would you have changed anything about your time in veterinary school?
I don't know if I would have changed anything. The one thing I do regret is not going to Africa. It was never an option for me because I was getting a Ph.D. and doing research in the summers. I have since gotten to go to Africa, but it's more focused on human health. There's a lot of opportunities you can have as a veterinary student that you're probably not going to have once you're out of veterinary school. There are things that you might not be able to do once you graduate and I’d encourage students to follow those opportunities.
Would you have changed anything about your career path since graduating?
The one bad experience I had was when I tried private practice, but it still got me where I'm at. Maybe I would have ended up on a different path. I'm much happier with the research path I went on and I don't know if I would have done that had I stayed in practice.
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?
I met a mentor from a grad student mixer who convinced me to not drop out of vet school. Also, Dr. Conrad was an inspirational and impactful mentor, especially in research. Find people that you look up to and push you to be a better researcher and person.
Tell me about any pivotal moments or key turning points that shaped your career.
Quitting my first job in private practice was a major turning point. I thought that I would maybe stay around for a year but that didn't work out. I had about three months where I was still living in another state before I came back to Davis and that was a rough period of soul searching. Getting my postdoc at CDC and moving to Georgia were also pivotal moments. Meeting my husband two weeks after moving to Atlanta for the job really cemented my staying in Atlanta.
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?
I decided that I wanted to try clinical practice after I graduated. I got a job in another state and moved there but ended up quitting the job after two weeks for various reasons. I didn't feel comfortable with the situations the practice owner was putting me in. I felt that they weren’t necessarily ethical or legal. I quit, and despite the fact that I knew I was leaving a bad situation, I still felt like a failure quitting my first job out of vet school after two weeks. Family members didn't understand why I was leaving which made it difficult as well, I felt like a failure for a while.

The only other job I've had is the one at CDC. When you’re a faculty member running a lab you’re in charge of your group and you’re the leader, whereas at CDC I still get to work in the lab. If I were a faculty member at a university I probably wouldn't be in the lab. One downside to my job at CDC is that I am a microbiologist working in a lab group and I am not the head of the laboratory (team lead). Because of this, I have to answer to my boss instead of being an independent researcher making my own decisions. I don’t always agree with how my boss handles things or thinks projects should go, so that can be difficult. The upside is that I can focus on the research and not have to be a manager running everything.
What was the most important lesson you learned as a veterinarian, and still remember today, and would want to tell vet students about?
Stand up for yourself and your own well-being and make sure that you're taking care of yourself. I don't think we always do that. Make sure you surround yourself with people that you feel will be supportive of you and back you up, personally and professionally. I also think it's really important to not give up an opportunity just because you think it's not necessarily what you had in mind for yourself. It may end up being the thing that you love to do, but if it's not, then you just try something else. I realize financially it's not always possible, but if you're in a situation or a job that you hate, get out of that situation and find a new job. I read an Oprah quote about sometimes your biggest failures will be your greatest opportunities and that really resonates with me. Make sure you surround yourself with people that you feel will be supportive of you and back you up, personally and professionally.
What’s been the biggest highlight of your career so far?
Going to West Africa during the Ebola outbreak definitely stands out. It was hard work, but we needed to be there helping, which was great. Working in Ethiopia for over a six-month period was probably the biggest highlight for me in an international setting. Often we go places for maybe a week or two weeks and then we leave, and we might do multiple trips but you're not there for an extended period of time. For me, living there for three months and working with the same people every day felt like I was living there. I went back again the next year for three trips and I really felt like I got to know the people in the country and the culture in a way that I never had before. I think it’s really important when you're doing international work that you gain a better understanding of where you are and the way things work there. I also had the opportunity of doing personal trips within Ethiopia and it's an amazing country. I got to see a lot of amazing things and started learning a little bit of the language.

Another highlight was my involvement in studying brucellosis after some human cases popped up in the New York and New Jersey areas. We ended up tracking the cases down to the specific dairy and the specific cow. The project became the brainchild of my former boss and my coworker. Within a week they drove up to Pennsylvania and bought this cow from an Amish dairy for $800 in cash. They drove her back to the CDC animal facility outside of Atlanta. We ended up learning a lot of really interesting information and insights from studying her. One side of the cow’s udder shed more [bacteria] than the other. Eventually, she ended up getting hardware disease and when euthanized, there were 11 veterinarians at the necropsy. I’m still very proud of how we all worked together to figure out a problem and get it done smoothly.
Is there anything else you’d like to tell me that you think would be helpful or relevant to veterinary students or early-career veterinarians?
Be open to the fact there could be other things you do in your career. Also, be open-minded to things outside of small animal practice or traditional work and be willing to try a different path and look at other opportunities. I also think it’s so important for students to take some personal me-time and not just study all the time. I think it's good to go out for your mental health and get some exercise and do yoga or meditate. In Davis, you're near some really beautiful mountains. I recommend getting out on the weekend, maybe up to Tahoe if you have time, and see the outdoors.