Staff Spotlight: Mary Johnston, LVT
July 26, 2023
Mary Johnston, LVT
Community Practice, Veterinary Teaching Hospital
The best part of being at VMCVM...
Constantly learning and seeing new things.
Best advice I've gotten...
You’ve overcome challenges before. What makes this challenge any different?
How would you capture the essence of your work in a newspaper headline?
Teamwork makes the dream work.
My hidden talent...
Finding animals to bring home. Sometimes the animals even find me at home.
A person who has inspired me...
My husband. He is such a hard worker and never gives up on his dreams and goals.
Can you share a memorable experience or story from your time working with animals?
I have a strong passion for working with fearful and aggressive animals. Over the years I have devoted a lot of time to helping those animals feel comfortable and safe while in my care. Those moments, when an animal begins to trust you and let you in, remind you that you are making a difference.
What do you find most inspiring or fulfilling about working with students and helping them pursue their careers?
Getting to watch the students achieve their goals and watching them grow into DVMs. It’s also inspiring to see where they end up after graduation.
One misconception that all students seem to have is?
That they have to know everything. It’s okay to not know the answer.
If I had a superpower, it would be...
Healing animals
If you could magically grant an animal the ability to talk, which one would you choose and what do you think it would say?
Cats — I think cats would tell us EXACTLY what they think about us.
Top of my bucket list...
Owning enough land to have a rescue/fostering service of my own one day .
How many pets/animals live at home? Can you tell us about them?
3 dogs (Jayde, Russell, Chloe), 5 cats (Rambo, Hazel, Zelda, Charlie, Sami), 6 chickens and 4 geese. Most all of my pets are rescues or strays that have shown up at my home.