Pulse - May 2021 - 6

SCVMA PROFILE

JIM BELL

Scholarship Winner's Roots
Are in SoCal and Moldova

C Davis veterinary student Julia Cohen
was " completely surprised " when she
read the email informing her that she had
been awarded an SCVMA scholarship.
" I had to read the email a few times just to be sure my
eyes weren't deceiving me. I was very pleased and grateful, " she said. " This scholarship will be a huge help to me,
as I am taking out loans to pay for veterinary school. I
feel so fortunate and I am filled with appreciation! Someday I would love to pay it forward and support scholarship funds for future students in need. "
The second-year student grew up " in a lot of places, "
including Southern California. Her mother, a neurologist,
lives in Hollywood. Julia went to Westlake High School
in Thousand Oaks. When she visits Southern California,
she usually is in one of those two places, she said. But she
also has spent time in Ohio, where her mother worked,
and Moldova in Eastern Europe, where her mother grew
up and attended medical school.
" I'm one of those people who wanted to be a veterinarian my entire life, " she said. " I remember being four
or five and trying to say 'veterinarian' and actually saying
'vegetarian.' My mom and her whole family - my family
in Moldova are all doctors. "
Julia hopes to practice in Southern California after she
earns her DVM degree. She expects to become a small
animal practitioner - unless she finds a specialty that she
wants to pursue. She also thinks that she would like to
own a practice.
" I would really like to foster a good workplace environment, " she said. " One of my passions is being more
inclusive, more diverse in veterinary medicine, as well as
mental health awareness. "
At UC Davis, she was a member of the undergraduate group, Pre-Vet Students Supporting Diversity. " That
opened my mind a lot, " she said. " I think that diversity is so important for collaboration. It's really good to
have different perspectives and it's important to make
sure everyone who wants to be in the profession and is
passionate about it has an opportunity. It's something I
feel strongly about. " She now is an officer in the VOICE
Club, a diversity and inclusion organization at the School
of Veterinary Medicine.
During her formative years, Julia said, her mother was
doing a residency in Ohio. " I have really good memories
from my childhood, " she said. " When I wasn't in school or
spending time with my mom, I was fixing up houses with
my dad, who was a landlord at the time. He did most of the
work, of course. It was a unique experience that I'm always
thankful for! " Her dad now lives in Arizona, she said.

" I was an only child for the first five years of my life
and I spent a lot of time playing with cats. I'm very much
a cat person now. There are a lot of feral cats on the streets
in Moldova, where I spent a lot of my summers. A lot of
them are sick. I really wished I could help them. That was
one of the things that inspired me to be a veterinarian. "
Moldova, she said, is " a very pastoral place. It's probably the same as it was decades ago. I loved being there in
the summers. It's definitely another home for me. I have
friends there and I have a lot of family there.
" It's very beautiful in a farm kind of way. Everyone
has farm animals. My grandparents didn't but we often
bought milk from a woman who milked her own cow. "
Spending time in Moldova " has helped me understand
a completely different way of living than I am used to in
California, " she said.
While Romanian is the language spoken in most of
the country, Russian was spoken where her relatives
lived. " My Russian was way better when I was younger, "
she said. " I really need to practice it. " P

" I would really like to foster a good
workplace environment, " she said. " One
of my passions is being more inclusive,
more diverse in veterinary medicine, as
well as mental health awareness. "
MAY 2021

PULSE

Pulse - May 2021

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