Trevor Whitbread BSc BVSc DipECVP MRCVS is a anatomical pathologist at NationWide Laboratories. He has a special interest in dermatopathology and is a Diplomate of the European College of Veterinary Pathology as well as a Fellow of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS). Trevor describes the intellectual stimulation that keeps him motivated and how involvement with others on a specialist path helps to maintain job satisfaction.
Please give a brief summary of your career path so far:
I completed an Applied Biology Degree at Bath University before taking a veterinary degree at the University of Liverpool. I joined a mixed practice in Leicester, but decided I wanted to teach and subsequently obtained a position as a lecturer in veterinary pathology at the University of Liverpool.
I then went Bloxham Laboratories in Devon (which eventually evolved into Axiom Laboratories) tasked with setting up a diagnostic histopathology and cytology department in the laboratory.
In 1985 I set up Abbey Veterinary Services, a specialist diagnostic histopathology and cytology laboratory where I still work. I also established Abbey Clinical Pathology, which was a more general laboratory, and in 2015 both laboratories became part of NationWide Laboratories.
In 2024 I have been awarded the RCVS Fellowship for Meritorious Contributions to the Profession.
What is it about your work that enthuses you and brings you satisfaction?
I consider pathology to be the science behind clinical work and find this intellectually stimulating. Reporting on the samples submitted each day means being presented with a problem – the case – and dealing with that problem in a short time, and hopefully successfully, before moving on to the next problem.
In addition, many times a week I am still seeing lesions which I have not seen before, even after nearly 40 years as a diagnostic pathologist. Seeing these new lesions may entail a literature research, discussion with other pathologists and often working from first principles. I still find this intellectually stimulating – it continues to engage my interest.
What is the biggest challenge to staying passionate in your veterinary career you’ve overcome, and how did you approach it?
When you begin a career, you may find 50 or 60% of cases to be challenging and therefore intellectually stimulating, but of course, as you acquire more experience and knowledge, that percentage drastically decreases to only a few percent. So, a major challenge is to maintain interest based on just a few percent of cases.
Another challenge I have found is managing people as part of a large organisation.
What advice can you share with others embarking on similar paths about finding fulfilment in their veterinary career?
The role of veterinary surgeon must be amongst the most intellectually demanding of any job. The desire for intellectual stimulation needs feeding constantly and if you are able to do this, there is continual fulfilment through your work.
“Fulfilment is also achieved by gaining experience to become very good at what you do, the continual learning through CPD, etc., and providing an excellent service to your clients. These types of achievement are very good for the ego, and I think we all need that massaging occasionally!”
Having a specialist interest, attending specialist meetings, gaining additional specialist training and qualifications and being actively involved in groups and organisations relevant to your specialisms keeps the career fresh. Try to publish. This is always interesting and very satisfying and you learn a lot during preparation. This is also true for the preparation of talks.
There is more to life than career, however. It is essential to have outside interests. It is very easy, when in the midst of a busy professional career, to let hobbies and sports slip by the wayside. Maintaining these should be a priority – “all work and no play etc…” I can recommend underwater hockey which I still play twice a week!
What best sums up your approach to keeping yourself and your team motivated and engaged within your veterinary careers?
I am a manager of a laboratory rather than a clinic. This is divided into three areas – office, laboratory and pathologists. All of those working in each individual area are responsible for the efficient running and organisation of that area. There is no formal hierarchy and each area is essentially treated and run as a cooperative. Everybody therefore has input and responsibilities which hopefully makes them more engaged and allows them to take ownership of decisions. Ownership of decisions keeps each member of the team engaged in the work and the business and take pride in its success.
What do you feel would most benefit job satisfaction in the veterinary professions, and how could we work towards implementing this?
For pathologists and clinicians, it is very easy to use an algorithm and give a diagnosis, but we should always remember the mechanisms behind what we see. We are seeing one snapshot in time, and those mechanisms have developed to that point and will develop further if they are left. This is especially true of dermatopathology and in many aspects of clinical work. The process of making a diagnosis entails using the background science and pathogenic mechanisms. These thoughts should be relayed to the client, which again goes back to maintaining an intellectual interest in the science of the clinical disease processes and helping to keep the job satisfying.
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