In-person Mentor Program Events will be Thursday, October 9th and Friday, October 10th, 2025 at the Virginia-Maryland CVM in Blacksburg, VA.

Thursday, October 9th:

• Welcome Dinner | 5:30pm-8:30pm
  This is a casual gathering with refreshments and dinner for mentees and mentors. Before dinner, mentors will go around the room and introduce themselves. This a great opportunity to catch up with (or meet for the first time) mentees and/or mentors in your cohort.

Friday, October 10th:

• Breakfast | 8:30am-9:30am
• Meet & Greet and Table Swapping | 9:00am-11:00am
  Join us in the Commons and Waterfall room where a handful of mentors will be assigned to each table (each table will have a sign with mentors' name and practice type). Mentors are usually grouped together by their specialty/area of practice (Small Animal, Public/Corporate, etc). Students may visit any/all tables to talk to several mentors, even those outside of their assigned cohort. After about 20 minutes, we make an announcement to "swap" tables.
• Breakout Sessions with Mentor/Mentee Q&A | 11:00am-Noon
  Everyone will split up into three groups; students will be organized by class year and mentors will be dispersed evenly among the groups for small group discussions and Q&A with mentors. Around 11:55am, gifts will be raffled off for students in each group. Prizes normally include gift cards and products donated by industry members.
• Lunch | Noon-1:00pm | Program concludes after lunch

Need a place to stay while in Blacksburg?
Reserve your room at The Inn at Virginia Tech!

901 Prices Fork Rd, Blacksburg, VA 24061 | (540) 231-8000

VVMA is offering a room block rate at
$161/night (plus taxes and fees)

Reserve Your Room

Mentor Program

Hosted by the Virginia Veterinary Medical Association (VVMA), the Maryland Veterinary Medical Association (MDVMA), the Delaware Veterinary Medical Association (DVMA) and the West Virginia Veterinary Medical Association (WVVMA), this program provides mentorship opportunities between the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine's DVM students and practitioners across surrounding states.

Any veterinarian can be a mentor!

It does not matter where or when you graduated from veterinary school, your professional and personal experiences can, and will help guide current veterinary students. You do NOT have to be a member of one of the 4 VMA's (Virginia, Maryland, Delaware or West Virginia), but it is encouraged to be apart of YOUR professional association.

As a mentor:

As a veterinarian, the VVMA will assign you to a cohort. Cohorts are a group that includes other mentors who work in the same and/or similar area(s) of veterinary medicine. Mentees are matched to cohort groups who have an interest in learning more about your field of vet med, or are currently tracking these areas.

As a mentee:

As a student, the VVMA will assign you to a cohort. Cohort assignments are based on what field(s) of veterinary medicine you are tracking, or are interested in learning more about. Your cohort will include mentors who currently work/have worked in those areas of veterinary medicine.

Cohorts:

By creating mentor/mentee cohorts, we are hopeful that these groups will give both veterinarians and students broader networking opportunities, and allows a chance for everyone to establish organic and intentional connections/relationships.