Chris Chase believes in the necessity of the spiritual, mental and educational aspects to becoming a great veterinarian. A DVM, speaker, educator, and chief scientific officer at RTI, Chris is a trained classic virologist and immunologist who uses his unconditional love and commitment to make the profession a better place. A South Dakota native who is passionate about the need to be involved in some level of practice despite your current field, Chris is here to shine a light on microbiology and viruses as well as the importance of exploring all of your possible opportunities with no regrets. Diving deep into the complexities of an animal’s microbiome, the financial implications of scientific research, the importance of developing your ‘soft’ skills, and so much more, Chris is a wealth of knowledge for anyone looking to foster a sense of adventure and a child-like fascination with the world.  Do you have a vision of what your veterinary career may look like 10, 20 or 30 years into the future? Share what you learned from Chris today in the comments on the episode page.    In This Episode How to embrace variety as the spice of life in work and play A deep look into decades of change in organized veterinary medicine  Analyzing the role of business and ROI in the field of scientific exploration The importance of figuring out what you do want to do as well as what you don’t Understanding how the gut and the immune system interact with each other in animals   Quotes “If you are going to be good at research or anything else outside of veterinary medicine practice, you got to know what is going on in practice.” (5:03) “I find everything interesting, there is just not anything I don’t find interesting. It has always been me. And that frustrates some people because in academia when I get reviewed they always walk in like ‘here is your program, you just do this little piece of the puzzle and that is your focus. Focus, focus, focus’. And I am certainly not.” (23:47) “Most of the time I can see what I don’t want to be or what I don’t want to do, and figure out what you can do to limit that or make sure that you don’t make those same mistakes.” (26:03) “Here is something that is sort of new and novel to me, I sort of turn it around like a Rubix cube in every way that I can to figure out how I can run with that with what I am doing.” (37:52) “What is really important to me is to figure out what you don’t want to do. Because the worst thing you can do is go downstream in something and realize ‘I hate this’.” (56:28)   Links RTI Website   Enjoying these stories? Consider supporting Podcast A Vet on Patreon & check out our awesome patron-only perk Find the full show notes here  Keep up with everything Podcast A Vet Follow Podcast A Vet on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram Join our free community of dedicated vet professionals looking to improve their practices and lives in our free Facebook community! We'd love it (and you) if you would take 1 minute and leave us a review on iTunes!