RCVS president to appear in Black History Month documentary
"I am a great believer in the phrase 'if you see it, you can be it'" - Dr Mandisa Greene.
RCVS president Mandisa Greene will feature in an ITV documentary on Thursday (29 October) celebrating Black History Month and the achievements of people of African and Afro-Caribbean descent in the UK.
In a special edition of ITV’s ‘Tonight’ programme, Dr Greene will be interviewed alongside athlete and broadcaster Colin Jackson, publisher and author Margaret Busby, Bristol mayor Marvin Rees, and nurse and academic Dame Elizabeth Anionwu.
Her appearance is one of several taking place this month to help raise awareness of diversity in the veterinary profession. On Wednesday (28 October), Dr Greene will deliver the prestigious McCall Lecture, a biennial lecture organised by the University of Glasgow’s School of Veterinary Medicine on issues of importance and significance for the veterinary professions.
Her talk, entitled ‘Changing the face of the Veterinary Profession: Adaptation and Innovation’ will explore the significance of her being the first black person to be president of the College and will include a vision for an inclusive future veterinary profession.
Dr Green has also taken part in other Black History Month-related discussions, including recording a podcast for the University of Liverpool, talks with staff at the General Pharmaceutical Council and the Ministry of Justice, and a presentation about veterinary careers to 220 pupils at a South London secondary school.
Dr Greene commented: “I am a great believer in the phrase ‘if you see it, you can be it’ and I hope that my various talks this month and, particularly the upcoming ITV documentary, will help people recognise that veterinary professionals can come from a diverse range of backgrounds and that, provided they have the drive and the ambition, there should be no barriers to them meeting their dreams.
“Black history is being created daily and has been since the beginning of the black experience. What Black History Month allows us to do collectively is to honour and celebrate the contributions of Black Britons during this one month. It is important that our society counters the portrayal of Black British people which, too often, tends to be one-dimensional, and I am proud to have been able to do this in the context of the veterinary professions.”
The College recently held a joint roundtable with the Veterinary Schools Council on how to support could better support veterinary students from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds. The roundtable included representatives from major veterinary organisations (including the British Veterinary Ethnicity & Diversity Society), the eight UK vet schools offering an RCVS-accredited degree, the new veterinary school at Harper Adams-Keele, and Dublin and Utrecht, as well as student representatives.
The Tonight programme containing Dr Greene's interview will air on Thursday, 29 October at 7.30 pm.
With Strangles Awareness Week just around the corner (5-11 May), vets are being encouraged to share a survey about the disease with their horse-owning clients.
