Rooted In Mills County - Dr. Jessie Juarez Shares Her Passion For Veterinary Medicine As SDSU Program Director

Dr. Jessie Juarez has a vivid memory of the day she decided to pursue a career in veterinary medicine.

She was a freshman at Glenwood Community High School, meeting a science class requirement by spending a day job shadowing the staff at the Glenwood Veterinary Clinic.

“Jill Smart had a science class and part of science class was to do a job shadow,” Dr. Juarez said. “I was set to actually job shadow my next door neighbor, who was an emergency room nurse, but due to HIPAA and other laws, I was unable to do that.

“I was active in shooting trap and skeet at the sportsmans club and I knew Dr. Darcy Butts from the sportsmans club, so I asked if I could come job shadow at the vet clinic. I was interested in animals – growing up in FFA and 4-H, I had a strong interest in animals but had never really thought about animal health as a career.”

The Glenwood Veterinary Clinic staff agreed to let Jessie spend the day at the clinic and by the end of the morning, she knew she had found her calling.

“I observed a surgery that morning. They were removing a mass off a dog and I was like, ‘This is where I need to be,’” she recalled.

Fast forward 20-plus years and that impressionable high school freshman is now the Director of the South Dakota State University Professional Program in Veterinary Medicine.

In a relatively short period of time, the 2006 GCHS graduate has built an accomplished resume of academic and professional achievement.

Volunteering At Glenwood Vet Clinic

During her high school days, Juarez volunteered more than 2,000 hours at the Glenwood Veterinary Clinic, gaining valuable experience and encouragement working alongside Dr. Butts and Dr. William Rishel.  Her volunteer hours earned her statewide recognition with FFA and the experience prepared her well for the formal animal science and veterinary schooling she’d receive over the next eight years at Iowa State University.

During her time at ISU, Juarez earned a Bachelor degree in Animal Science / Dairy Science, Master degrees in Animal Science and Agricultural Education and a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree (DVM). While a student at ISU, she returned to Glenwood on a regular basis to work at the Glenwood Vet Clinic during summer and winter breaks from classes. 

“Dr. Rishel was a very integral part of my development as a pre-vet student and a veterinarian,” Dr. Juarez pointed out.

She did more than go to classes in Ames - she also worked at ISU’s dairy farm and was involved in research projects.

After completing her degrees at ISU in 2014, Dr. Juarez took her first full-time job in veterinary medicine at a rural practice in Waupun, Wis., where the focus of her job was on embryo transfer and cattle herd health.

Dr. Juarez was enjoying her first full-time job as a veterinarian, but the following year, she got a call and offer from her alma mater that she couldn’t refuse.

“I was actually recruited to come back to Iowa State. One of my former mentors called me and said they had a position open in animal science and that my background and interests would fit that very well,” Dr. Juarez said. “I really enjoyed being in practice, but one of the things I had the opportunity to do while in undergrad and vet school was be a teaching assistant. I really, really enjoyed teaching and I liked providing information to people explaining why we do what we do.”

Dr. Jaurez was offered and accepted the position at Iowa State.

“That’s kind of what started me back at Academia,” she said.  “I always knew that I wanted to teach some day, I just did not know that some day would come so quickly.”

Dr. Juarez spent her first few years back at ISU teaching in the Department of Animal Science and later worked as a clinic assistant professor for the College of Veterinary Medicine.

In 2020, another career-advancing opportunity presented itself and Dr. Juarez found herself moving to Brookings, S.D., to help launch the South Dakota State University Professional Program in Veterinary Medicine, the first veterinary program of its kind in the state of South Dakota.

“I started as a faculty coordinator and I knew that I wanted to have an administrative role in the veterinary program and that was the opportunity I had to do that,” said Dr. Juarez. “I did not know that I would be director within two years time of the program. Opportunities came up, I took advantage of them and rose through the ranks fairly quickly.”

At SDSU, veterinary students are in a “2+2” program, Dr. Juarez explained.

“The veterinary program is four years in length,” she said. “We have what we call a 2+2 program, which means we do the first two years here at South Dakota State University and then our students join University of Minnesota students for years 3 and 4 and graduate from the University of Minnesota with a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree.

“We teach half of their curriculum, but they do graduate from Minnesota.”

Each class has 20 students, giving the program a total of 40 students (20 first year students and 20 second year).

“It’s very one-on-one with our students,” Dr. Juarez said.

The program’s first class of students are juniors this year at the University Of Minnesota. Dr. Juarez is involved in all aspects of the program – including student recruitment, curriculum design, staffing, budgeting and teaching.

“I definitely miss the day-to-day interactions with producers and animals, I really don’t do that much anymore,” she said. “What I do have the opportunity to do frequently is teach students out at the farm. We have a course we call Clinical Skills – it’s a hands-on, experiential -based learning where they go out to the farm. For example, we teach them how to do physical exams on cattle, so I get a chance to get out and interact that way.”

The SDSU program was established, in part, to address a growing veterinarian shortage in rural areas.

“There’s a veterinary shortage in rural areas and the program is designed to help train students, ultimately veterinary graduates, to return back to the upper Midwest,” Dr. Juarez said.  “Hopefully, South Dakota, but we recognize we have students from Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Montana. We have students from all over, but our goal for them is to return to the upper Midwest and contribute to the veterinary health needs within the states.”

Dr. Juarez said she’s grateful for the guidance and experiences that have helped get her to this point in her career, mentioning she still stays in touch with Dr. Rishel. She has a great appreciation for her rural, small-town upbringing and the impact it’s had on her career.

As a child, Jessie was involved in 4-H – showing chickens, goats and other animals at the Mills County Fair.  Growing up on her family farm in Mills County, she was always around animals, including horses, donkeys, cats, goats, chickens, ducks and cattle. Animals have always been an important part of her life.

“I think there is something very special about the human-animal bond, whether that’s a companion animal or a food-producing animal,” Dr. Juarez said. “The animals provide a lot to us, so as a veterinarian, that’s a very special thing to be able to assist people with the health of their animals and in the case of a food-producing animal, I’m the livelihood of that person as well.

“I really enjoy what I do now, from a standpoint of providing education to the next generation of veterinarians. So, I think education, veterinary medicine, is my fit.”