Spotlight On: Robin Farrell
I was born and raised in the small town of Irvington, New York, 50 miles north of New York City on the Hudson River. Like most veterinary technicians, nurses, and veterinarians, I knew I wanted to care for animals in some capacity very early in life. My first official job working with animals was in the children’s section of the Bronx Zoo as a teenager. I spent my weekends and summer days looking after a goose, chickens, sheep, llamas, pigmy goats, guinea pigs, rabbits, wallabies, lemurs, otters, prairie dogs and a porcupine and loved every minute of it.
Following high school, I attended the University of Delaware and graduated in 1998 with a bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Science. During my undergrad, I had my first experience in research working with a ruminant nutritionist analyzing rumen contents using mass spectrometry. While I enjoyed the experience, bench top research was not for me. Following graduation, I wasn’t entirely sure if I wanted to pursue veterinary medicine. I decided I would pursue a veterinary technician position to gain experience in practice before deciding my ultimate career path. At that time in the United States, you did not have to have a specific degree or registration to work as a veterinary technician.
I was lucky enough to secure a position with the US military as a general practice veterinary technician in Heidelberg, Germany. It was a progressive practice catering to military family pets. I learned how to perform anaesthesia, dental prophylaxis, laboratory procedures, physical examinations and ran my own vaccine and wellness technician clinics. Due to life circumstances, I had to move back to the United States in 2000. At this point, I knew veterinary practice is where I wanted to be. I continued to work as a veterinary technician for another two years in general practice and then as an Intensive Care Technician in the Texas A&M Veterinary Teaching Hospital. I found I loved teaching students and was especially enamored with the training we received as technicians using simulation. This is when I first realized that I not only wanted to care for animals, but I also wanted to teach. About this time, I also determined I could not financially or physically afford to work as a veterinary technician if I wanted to have a family and be financially independent. I made the difficult decision to leave my job as a technician and go to veterinary school with the intention of eventually pursuing an academic position in veterinary education.
In 2002, I packed up my two dogs and headed to the island of St. Kitts to start my veterinary school journey at Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine where I later gained a post as an instructor of clinical skills and Director of the Clinical Skills Laboratory. The years I spent as a student and faculty member at Ross were some of the best years of my life. The school and island cultures were so inclusive and fun. At that time, clinical skills education using models in veterinary education was very new with only a few schools having a dedicated clinical skills laboratory. I was fortunate to have fantastic mentors and colleagues who provided me with the support, time, creative space and networking opportunities necessary to build and resource a clinical skills programme.
Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine delivers a year long programme with student intakes 3 times a year. While teaching on a course that takes in a cohort of students every 4 months has its challenges, it is an excellent model in terms of learning to teach and the capacity to engage in educational research. During my 11 years at Ross, I taught thousands of students and was able to grow a strong research team in the area of educational research, specifically teaching, learning and assessment of clinical and professional skills. I also played an active role in animal welfare supporting the student animal welfare clubs as faculty advisor, trap, neuter and release surgeon and served on both the board for PAWS (People for Animal Welfare St. Kitts) and the monkey welfare task force. My time with PAWS culminated in my position as one of the founding members of (opens in a new window)BARC (Basseterre Animal Rescue Center)
So how and why did I leave a tropical island to take up a position at UCD? To be honest, I fell for an Irish man who is now my husband and we wanted to move closer to our children’s grandparents. I was very excited to see the job post for the Director of Veterinary Nursing at UCD and even more excited when I received the offer to work here. When I arrived on the UCD campus, it felt like coming home. The UCD School of Veterinary Medicine and Ireland have so many of the wonderful cultural characteristics that I appreciated in St. Kitts and working with veterinary nurses and veterinary nursing students again has brought me full circle.
Whilst I love both the veterinary professions of medicine and nursing, I truly feel more connected to veterinary nursing and have thoroughly enjoyed returning to working in this profession as an academic. I also appreciate working on a campus with so many disciplines represented. It has given me an opportunity to pursue interdisciplinary research which I have found particularly rewarding. Working with and supporting students in their academic journey is my passion, animals are my joy and doing research to improve learning environments and resources to facilitate students attaining an outstanding education is my endeavor.
While I love all aspects of my role as Director of Veterinary Nursing, I do find not working directly with animals challenging but I do keep myself busy with teaching, service and research. I am currently working with a team of fantastic veterinary nursing faculty and students developing and researching the effective use of technology to enhance learning, specifically the effective use of virtual simulation and the role of the virtual learning environment in improving student’s metacognitive skills.
In my spare time, I enjoy traveling, fostering and training dogs, hill walking and spending time with my family. I am more than happy to discuss my research interests with anyone, so please feel free to contact me.