Leader in the Making

Ruth Goins Class of 2023

When Ruth Goins called her mother in 2015 to explain that she was thinking about a career change, her mother asked, “Are you going to be a veterinarian?” Goins had wanted to be a vet since she was a small child, but her hesitancy to take “hard science” classes had placed that dream on a shelf. Her mom agreed that it was time to take it down.

After obtaining her undergraduate degree from Harvard University, Goins joined a technology startup in San Francisco. She enjoyed her seven years with the company, taking pride in both its growth and her own. The challenge of veterinary medicine kept calling though, so Goins enrolled in science classes through UC Berkeley Extension, starting with the one that intimidated her the most—inorganic chemistry. She got through it, and kept going.

“My career path is not a straight line,” said Goins with a laugh. “I think this one is going to stick.”

As a career-change student, Goins came into veterinary school with less clinical experience than many of her peers. But she brought other advantages from the corporate world: organizing, scheduling, and leadership skills. She also brought an appreciation of work/life balance.

“You can rest and it doesn’t mean you are being lazy,” Goins said. “Your performance in terms of quantitative data does not necessarily reflect the quality of your life.”

Goins channeled her leadership skills, and her degree in linguistics, into creating the Spanish for Veterinary Professionals program at UC Davis. It provides opportunities for students to learn medical vocabulary and practice taking patient histories with Spanish-speaking clients.

“It builds a lot of trust to speak to someone in their native language,” she said.

Goins also applied her corporate experience to her role as president of the UC Davis chapter of Veterinarians as One Inclusive Community for Empowerment (VOICE). The oldest student-run diversity club on campus, Goins describes it as a safe space to talk about issues that veterinary students are facing. She set out to grow the small local chapter with the goal of “creating a group that served as a little family for those who didn’t see themselves represented in the veterinary community.”

Her efforts led her to the co-presidency of VOICE at the national level, where she gained an appreciation that, in comparison to other schools, “UC Davis is leagues ahead in terms of diversity in the field of veterinary medicine.” Goins noted that the UC Davis faculty are welcoming, approachable, and supportive of students’ desire to “bring their true, authentic self to school.”

In her free time, Goins loves to cook and sew. She provides hemming services to classmates in return for baked goods, and even made a dress for a friend’s wedding. She also enjoys spending time with her rescue pets: cats, Galaxy and Honey; and dog, Rook.

Now in her fourth-year clinical rotations, Goins has her sights set on small animal emergency medicine.

“It’s so cool that this is my job and responsibility for the day; it’s such a privilege,” said Goins. “I have a lot of perspective, and I know that this is what I want to do even though it’s hard sometimes.”