Just Vetting with Peter Tanella, ESQ.
Just Vetting with Peter Tanella, ESQ.
Podcast Description
This program fills the gap in veterinary education by focusing on non-clinical skills like communication, leadership, confidence building, and real-world readiness — all essential to long-term success in practice.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast focuses on crucial non-clinical skills such as communication, leadership, confidence building, and real-world readiness. Episodes cover topics like practice ownership journeys, overcoming operational challenges, and strategies for navigating the veterinary landscape—like the story of Dr. Ashley Staycheff's transition from employee to practice owner and her experiences dealing with unexpected complexities.
This program fills the gap in veterinary education by focusing on non-clinical skills like communication, leadership, confidence building, and real-world readiness — all essential to long-term success in practice.
🌿 Episode Description
In this episode of “Just Vetting,” host Peter Tanella, Esq. sits down with Dr. Lisa Challberg, partner at Muddy Branch Veterinary Center in Maryland, to explore her deeply personal and inspiring journey from aspiring equine veterinarian to small-animal practice owner.
Dr. Challberg opens up about how a childhood love of horses shaped her early ambitions — and how a devastating riding accident led her to rethink everything she thought she wanted from her career. What followed was a decade-long evolution rooted in mentorship, trust, and a partnership built on communication, shared values, and mutual respect.
She reflects on:
✨ Pivoting from equine medicine to small-animal practice after a life-changing injury — and why she’s “never regretted it for a single second”
✨ The power of mentorship and how Dr. Victor Katz created space for her to learn, grow, and eventually step into ownership
✨ Leaving Muddy Branch briefly… and realizing almost immediately that she had walked away from the right place
✨ Navigating the partnership process — from valuations and financing to tough “what if” conversations and building a foundation of trust
✨ How dividing leadership roles (finance for Dr. Katz, HR/operations for Dr. Challberg) strengthened the practice and empowered her as a new owner
✨ Implementing AI medical-record tools, rethinking workflows, and making practice-wide changes that improved efficiency and culture
✨ The realities of debt, risk, and courage — and why future owners shouldn’t let fear of financing hold them back
✨ Planning for succession, the future of Muddy Branch, and what it means to carry a community-driven, privately owned practice forward in a corporate-heavy market
🐾 From a career-changing fall to finding the perfect partner, Dr. Challberg’s story is a testament to resilience, reinvention, and the quiet power of good leadership. Her journey reminds us that the right practice — and the right people — can change everything.
Whether you’re an associate considering ownership, a veterinarian navigating career pivots, or someone who values strong partnerships and purposeful growth, this conversation offers honesty, humor, and heart.
#Veterinary #SmallAnimalVeterinary #VeterinaryOwnership #JustVetting #PeterTanella #VetLife #VeterinaryLeadership #WomenInVetMed #PracticeOwnership #Mentorship #VeterinaryBusiness #CareerPivot
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