Episode #39 – Dr. Paige Adams

Transcript

Stacy Pursell:
Do you work in the animal health industry or veterinary profession? Have you ever wondered how people began their careers and how they got to where they are today? Hi, everyone, I’m Stacy Pursell, the founder and CEO of The VET Recruiter, the leading executive search and recruiting firm for the animal health industry and veterinary profession. I was the first recruiter to specialize in the animal health industry and veterinary profession in the United States, and built the first search firm to serve this unique niche.

For the past 25 plus years, I have built relationships with the industry’s top leaders and trailblazers. The People of Animal Health podcast highlights the incredible individuals I have connected with throughout my career. You will be able to learn more about their lives, careers, and contributions. With our wide range of expert guest, you’ll be sure to learn something new at every episode. Thanks for tuning in and enjoy the episode.

Welcome to The People of Animal Health podcast. On today’s show, we are talking with Dr. Paige Adams. Dr. Adams is both a veterinarian and a PhD. She is a teaching associate professor at Kansas State University’s Olathe campus, where she has served as a faculty member for more than 10 years. Prior to this, she was an assistant professor and postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Pathology at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas for nine years. She is an experienced practicing large animal veterinarian with a specialty in surgery, as well as a research scientist. Her primary research interest include studies of the immune system’s response to viruses called arboviruses, that are transmitted by mosquitoes, as well as vaccine development for important zoonotic diseases. At the Olathe campus, Dr. Adams actively recruits, teaches and supervises students in various graduate programs that focus on animal and human health. She is involved in professional development programs at the campus that focuses on the regulations of drugs and vaccines for animals. Welcome onto The People of Animal Health podcast, and how are you, Paige?

Dr. Paige Adams:
I’m doing great. Thank you so much, Stacy, and it’s a delight to be here. Thank you so much for the invitation. I think this is a great podcast, especially those that are focused on animal health. So, I appreciate this opportunity to come and speak to you today.

Stacy Pursell:
Well, I am so glad to have you on our show today, Paige, and I would love to start off at the beginning. What was your life like growing up and where did you grow up?

Dr. Paige Adams:
Well, I was born and raised in Bryan, Texas, which is a twin city to College Station. My dad is a veterinarian pathologist, and I was born there in Bryan, but at about 11 months old, we went to South America, my family and I, so my parents, my dad and mother. So I was about 11 months old when we traveled down to South America for about six years, where I grew up through kindergarten, learned Spanish was fluent in Spanish. My dad was hired by the Rockefeller Foundation to do research on cattle diseases. He was interested in livestock and with it being a pathologist, of course, he was interested in those diseases that were circulating in South America. So he had a huge influence on my career. We were there for six years and then we moved back to College Station, where he continued his research and that’s pretty much where I grew up, starting at six years old and really had some wonderful experiences at Texas A&M, being the home university at College Station. So that’s kind of where I started.

I was pretty involved with horses. Horses was my passion and started riding horses at around 11 years old. My mother enjoyed riding horses in South America, and so that’s kind of an influence on me as well, her interest in horses, and so that also became my interest. And was involved at 11 years old with a program called Pleasant Acres, and it was run by a Colonel and he was very… Very much ran the program like kind of a military institution, but he also had a great passion because he was in the Calvary and so he had horses and he had opportunities for us as kids to learn proper equine safety. We also learned how to shoot .22s and do target practice, and so he was a big influence on me.

And then from there I went on into 4-H and raised horses and sheep for most of my middle school and high school years, and got quite involved with 4-H. With us being at Texas A&M, we had a lot of access to a lot of great specialists in equine. So I was involved with horse judging. And then went on and also received a full ride scholarship from the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, which was very nice because obviously I was interested from an early age in going into veterinary school.

And so I started my college career at Texas A&M, being born there and then pretty much raised there most of my life. I was interested in animal science and getting into vet school, I always had an interest in that. Of course, my dad was a huge influence on me in pursuing veterinary medicine. My parents actually met at the vet school at Texas A&M, so there’s a lot of family history at that school. So again, I received my animal science degree at A&M and then I got into vet school.

Really enjoyed my experience in vet school and again, obviously focused on equine health and I wasn’t necessarily interested in research at that point, although in the summer months, I did spend time working in laboratory performing cell culture for a genetics lab for a Dr. James Womack, who’s a renowned geneticist in animal health. And so I worked in his lab for several summers and got some experience working in the laboratory setting, which was probably sort of the beginning of my interest in research. Of course, my dad was also performing research at the time, primarily focused on a cattle disease associated with Brucella, which is a bacterial pathogen. So once I got into vet school, I graduated, I was obviously interested in equine health. I decided I wanted to pursue a large animal internship just to get some more experience because I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to go into clinical practice or I just wanted to get a little bit more experience.

So what I ended up doing is going to a one-year internship program at the Atlantic Veterinary College in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. So I loaded up, went across to Charlottetown, Canada for… And it was on this island, pretty isolated, you couldn’t get there unless by a ship. So it was kind of a really interesting experience being from Texas, growing up in College Station most of my life, and then moving up to PEI for that one-year experience, but it was such a great experience for me. I was homesick, yes, but I really enjoyed getting that experience, getting to know other people outside of my small circle, and getting some experience with different animal species such as standard bred horses versus quarter horses, which would be typical in Texas. And beef cattle in Texas, of course, in PEI, they were primarily focused on dairy cattle. So I got to really expand my experience and time working with different animal species, animal breeds in large animal.

During that time, I was really getting interested in large animal surgery, and you’ll see as I talk about my career, I didn’t really have a rhyme or reason, but one thing led to another and these things piqued my interest and everything kind of built on each experience. And so that’s something, and I’ll talk about this later as far as what I tell students when I’m working with them, is that, keep your eyes open for opportunities. You never know where one thing is going to lead to the next and then to the next.

So after my one-year experience in large animal internship, I was beginning to develop an interest in large animal surgery because I had some great mentors who took the time to show me how to do surgical procedures, and it really piqued my interest. And so I decided to go ahead and pursue a large animal surgery residency. And again, I had some great influences there. I ended up at the University of Minnesota in St. Paul, and spent three years in large animal surgery getting great experience in working with cattle and horses and small ruminants, etc, during that three-year stint, it was a different part of the country for me as well. So again, I had that opportunity to enlarge my network to get to know other people in the profession, and it was just another great experience and a new location for me, new geographic location. And all along the way I’ve developed some really great friendships and colleagues over the years.

So after that three-year residency training in large animal surgery, then I went and was interested in pursuing research. So there was an opportunity at Cornell University that had an NIH training grant available for DVM students, DVM graduates to pursue PhD training. And so there was a research lab there that focused on equine immunology, more specifically, equine reproductive immunology. And I was able to join that lab at Cornell University to pursue my PhD in the laboratory of Dr. Douglas Antczak, who was a very well-renowned equine reproductive immunologist who had secured many NIH grants because of his ability to write and to and make those connections to human reproductive immunology because of some of the characteristics of early equine pregnancy, provided a really great model for studying immune recognition of the fetus.

And there was a research facility with horses that I also, along with other DVM PhD students, oversaw their care and pursued research in this area and it was a great experience. I got to take care of horses, I got to do research on equine, I got to study immunology, which was a great interest of me that had been sort of started back when I was in vet school. I had a really excellent instructor, Dr. Ian Tizard, who is well known for his teaching in immunology. And that had sort of planted a seed, let’s say, until I got to the point of being there at Cornell, and really got interested in immunology and its implications.

So I was going from a very pretty clinical background to a more basic sort of science background than before. So I was sort of changing directions, but I was also interested in using and applying translational medicine, which got me to pursuing a postdoc at the University of Texas Medical Branch, where I studied Arboviruses as was mentioned, and one particular arbovirus. Now, arboviruses are viruses that are transmitted by vectors such as mosquitoes. And the particular virus that I was interested in studying were alpha viruses, such as Venezuelan and eastern equine encephalitis viruses, that in which there’s a part of the transmission cycle of that virus involves horses. And so there was interest in my background as a postdoc at UTMB to study the immune response associated with that virus.

And so here I had this experience of being a veterinarian, having the ability to work with horses, having the ability to understand the immunology of horses, and then apply it to an infectious disease model using these alpha viruses at UTMB. And UTMB is interested in developing vaccines and therapeutics for some of these really important pathogens that affect humans. And again, this kind of got me a little bit closer to understanding this concept of One Health, which kind of permeates through my career, actually.

And so I was there at UTMB developing a model of understanding the immune response to these arboviruses. We also collaborated with researchers across the nation, including Colorado State University. And the labs that I was working out of were Dr. Scott Weaver’s lab, as well as Dr. Robert Tesch’s lab, in which I was developing those skills in working with viruses, I had skills developing with cell culture. I had experience with immunology working with horses, and so this really kind of brought it all together in having this opportunity to work in the human medical field. Here, a veterinarian working in the human medical field at this university, at UTMB, was another really great opportunity to connect with colleagues at a different location. Thankfully, it was back in Texas so I was a little bit closer to my family who was still in College Station and still there to this day. So it was nice to get back to Texas at that time. So, really great experience.

From there, I was able to apply for NIH funding and received training funding to continue my research. I became an assistant professor there before getting acquainted with my future husband, who actually was living in Kansas. And so this kind of got me to a point where I’ve started looking for positions at Kansas State University and Kansas State Olathe, the campus here on the outskirts of Kansas City had just been built. They were getting ready to develop programs at the K-State Olathe campus, and I have always been interested in teaching, and so I always enjoyed the teaching aspect and was interested in this program. I was interested in the location, and it was just a really great and exciting opportunity for me to pursue.

And so I was hired as an assistant professor working with developing programs, and I’ve been here for over 10 years working with animal health programs, developing the campus, growing the student body. And also not only that, it was just a really wonderful opportunity for me to discover the animal health corridor. That’s an area that I had not been familiar with before in working with industry. So this is a really wonderful opportunity for me to, again, get to know a different part of animal health and the animal health industry and some of the important players that are in those companies associated with the animal health corridor. So it’s been just really a wonderful experience going through these different places, different learning opportunities. I’m still learning. I still enjoy learning, but I also use my experience to also connect with students who are interested in animal health and are focused on animal health. And I really enjoy providing advice for them and helping them to be successful in what they want to do in the future. So, it’s been a really wonderful experience in animal health. I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.

Having that connection with my dad being a veterinarian and his influence and just observing his career has been a huge influence for me as well, so, and I hope I’m an influence for others that are interested in animal health to kind of be a positive influencer to mentor to give the best advice I can for students that are interested in animal health. Not only veterinarians, but anyone that’s interested in animal health, it’s not super restricted to veterinary medicine, as far as having a DVM degree, but anyone that’s interested in animal health, there are so many opportunities. And I hope I can make those connections for them through my position at K-State Olathe.

Stacy Pursell:
Paige, can you-

Dr. Paige Adams:
So, hopefully I’ve been able to give you a little bit of insight.

Stacy Pursell:
Yes, yeah, you have, thank you. Paige, can you discuss the importance of the One Health approach in your work and how it benefits both animal and human health?

Dr. Paige Adams:
Yes, the One Health approach has really grown in its acceptance, its understanding, because there’s these strong connections, these overlapping connections between humans, animals, and the environment. And there’s so many different applications of that concept and it’s sort of a systems way of thinking of things and approaching some of the problems associated, for example, with zoonotic diseases. And so having that understanding of those connections, with having that approach, there’s much better success in controlling some of the important diseases that might be transmitted between humans and animals in which there might be an environmental influence. Because if you only pursue only one of those three aspects in trying to control, let’s say, a zoonotic disease, then you’re going to miss major parts of that connection or that relationship.

So I think having that understanding is so important. It’s a course that I’ve taught for many years in One Health. I’ve taught high school students One Health. I also am involved with the One Health newsletter coming out of the K-State Olathe campus. So there’s a lot of involvement, there’s a lot of interest in that, and I think there’s more and more recognition of the importance of approaching some of these problems that have these overlapping aspects in order to be successful in overcoming some of these diseases, such as zoonotic diseases that are transmitted between animals and humans.

Stacy Pursell:
And with your extensive experience in both academia and practical veterinary medicine, what advice would you give to students and early career professionals entering this field?

Dr. Paige Adams:
I would say to keep your options open. You always want to try to pursue a career that’s going to give you the most fulfillment, that you’re going to enjoy. And my advice would be to find mentors that you can connect with. They’re there to support you, they’re there to give you some advice based on their own experience. And again, being open to some of those opportunities, because you never know where one thing is going to lead to the next and that’s kind of how my career has gone, where I’ve learned along the way, I’ve developed a connection, I’ve developed an interest, and I’ve pursued it. And having that experience and bringing it along with you is going to be… You never know how that background and experience is going to help you lead to the next position, next area.

And so again, having good mentors, enjoying what you do, being open to different experiences, and learn from each experience. Going from a clinician to a researcher is a big jump and it does take work, but it is worth it in the end because you’re getting that experience and that background that’s going to just broaden your outlook on approaching some of these animal health issues.

Stacy Pursell:
Yes, all good advice. Looking ahead, what are some of the emerging trends or future directions in veterinary research and education that you’re excited about?

Dr. Paige Adams:
Well, there’s always new technology, which is always very exciting, especially as it’s being applied to animal health. So that’s always very exciting. And of course, I’m always interested in the vaccine aspect of some of these new technologies because of my background.

And then some of the other areas is, there are going to be more and more opportunities for students to apply to veterinary schools. We have a opening of many new veterinary colleges across the nation, so there’s going to be so many opportunities to pursue veterinary medicine, which is great, and there’s going to be some really wonderful learning opportunities at those different colleges. And so it’s just expanding our field.

And then also the other area that I would be excited about is having those opportunities to explore research, for example, or clinical practice. Getting some of that background is going to be so important and getting that experience with that new technologies that’s coming along the way, because that’s only going to help our profession to improve the care of our animals. So that’s some of the areas that I think are exciting for the future.

And when you go to some of these large veterinary meetings, you can see some of the really neat and creative ways of providing care for animals. And so if you ever have the opportunity to go to some of these major national veterinary meetings, I think that really will open your eyes to some of the possibilities and how that can be applied to animal health.

Stacy Pursell:
Yeah, I would agree. So many opportunities at the meetings, not just to learn, but also for networking too. Well, Paige, what has been the most surprising thing to you during your career in the veterinary profession?

Dr. Paige Adams:
The surprising thing would be, well first of all, having those connections with colleagues across the globe, having that common bond and that interest. And then having the ability to collaborate with a variety of people in a lot of different areas and being sort of open to their perspectives and their… because that only improves creativity and moving forward and making a difference, and it just makes the work so much more fulfilling when you’re working with lots of different people. It’s hard to do something, to do all things great. You need a lot of different people, a lot of collaborators in order to be effective and to stimulate that creativity and have those connections for life. Having those connections are going to be important as you move through your career. So that has been the most surprising thing for me, is having those connections, those collaborations, and the excitement of developing new and creative ways and approaches to some of the major problems in animal health.

Stacy Pursell:
The connections are so important. Well, since you’ve been involved, how have you seen the profession change over the years?

Dr. Paige Adams:
I would say that it’s more specialized. There’s more interest in having more specialty training, and I’ve seen a lot more of that, I would say.

And I think another area that has kind of changed is that there’s more interest in having that work-life balance, especially coming out of veterinary school, because it’s a highly stressful job. And so it’s important to have that balance between work and life, and those that are hiring veterinarians also need to keep that perspective because there’s a lot of issues with mental health and burnout in the veterinary profession and I think I definitely see more of that today than I did when I graduated. So I think having that perspective, having that respect for having that work-life balance is going to be so important in establishing healthy mental health as well as the ability to stay in the profession as long as possible, because there’s a lot of hard work, there’s lots of expectations, and clients expect a lot.

And of course, there’s also just working with the animals themselves. We’re connected to our animals and so are veterinarians, and so they have the greatest focus on animal health and they don’t like to see animal suffering. So it’s a highly stressful profession, but we need to be able to take time away from that stressful situation to be able to do that job well.

Stacy Pursell:
What does your crystal ball say about the future of the veterinary profession?

Dr. Paige Adams:
Well, I would say that there’s going to be a lot more… I would say there’s going to be a lot more interest in a lot of different areas. I think there’s a more realization that the veterinary profession is quite diverse. It’s not only clinicians, but there’s so many opportunities outside of working in clinical practice. And I think there’s going to be, and hopefully there’s going to be more veterinarians involved in different aspects associated with animals, whether that’s in industry where we certainly need veterinarians in the animal health industry, and improving drugs and therapeutics and surgical devices, etc. So I think there’s going to be hopefully a good representation of veterinarians in industry as well as in military, let’s say, professions. I think there’s going to be more realization that the veterinary profession and the skills that you learn as a veterinarian can be applied to so many different aspects.

Also, governmental positions as well. We need veterinarians in the government, in governmental positions associated with animals, and being able to translate and explain, educate in those areas. So I think there’s going to be more expansion of veterinarians in different aspects. And that is certainly my hope as well, because we can do so much. And it’s been really, as you just heard from my career, I’ve been able to do lots of different things. Research, clinical practice, teaching, there’s so many different things that you can go into and that’s just scratching the surface. So I think that’s where the future is going to go. And I hope that these new colleges, as well as our current colleges continue to educate those DVM students in these different areas because I think that’s very, very important to have representation in a lot of different areas.

Stacy Pursell:
Well, Paige, everybody’s career has some high points and some low points. What has been the biggest adversity that you’ve had to fight through during your career?

Dr. Paige Adams:
Adversity? Let’s see. I think it’s been mainly just the learning curve. Going from clinical practice to research is quite a learning curve. Even though I did some work in the summers in working in laboratories, I think the learning curve is hard, but it’s worth the work toward it. And there are lots of people that are there to help support you and they supported me as I was learning how to perform research, and how to… and I had great mentors that helped me along the way and I think that’s also so very important that they’ve been encouraging me. They’ve encouraged me throughout my career. They’ve given me their best advice, especially feedback if I needed it, that maybe I need to make some improvements. So that, I mean, it’s really been on me, on my, as far as adversities, is my ability to get to the level that I want to be in order to be successful and that just takes time sometimes. It just takes time and a desire to be successful, but also be determined and excited about it.

So again, it’s really rooted in the individual and some reach that quicker than others. I feel like it took time for me to kind of learn some of those aspects, but I think it was well worth that time and energy and effort because as I said, it kind of adds to your experience level, it gives you much better understanding when you’re kind of stretching yourself beyond what you think you’re capable of. So I think that’s been the biggest, I guess, adversity, if I would call it that.

Stacy Pursell:
Well, what advice would you give the younger version of yourself?

Dr. Paige Adams:
I think my advice for my younger self would be to take breaks, try to do a little bit more work-life balance. I worked pretty hard and was pretty determined, and I’m not burned out, but I think that I would’ve enjoyed those moments better, to take that time to reflect on where I was and where I was going. I think having that time away is so beneficial because you have that time to gain a different perspective of where you’re going because you can get so focused, at least I could get so focused on what I was doing that you sort of lose where you are in the scheme of things. So I think that would be my best advice to my younger self, to enjoy the moment, take the time with people and the location to really enjoy that experience. I had a great experience, but it just seemed like I was pretty focused on pursuing and being successful. And so I think spending time with people outside of work would’ve been a good benefit to me as well.

Stacy Pursell:
That’s some good advice. Well, some of our guests say that they have had a key book that they read that really helped them with their approach to success or that’s impacted them the most, whether in their career or in their life. Do you have a key book that has made an impact on you?

Dr. Paige Adams:
I’m trying to remember the author’s name, but I want to say it’s Simon. I forgot his last name, but it’s-

Stacy Pursell:
Sinek?

Dr. Paige Adams:
What? Say that again?

Stacy Pursell:
Sinek. Simon Sinek?

Dr. Paige Adams:
Yes, yes. That is a great book, and it’s on the reason why, and I think that’s a really… I just recently got involved with that book. I was part of the AAVMC Leadership Academy, that’s the American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges Leadership Academy, and that book was introduced to me, and I wish it was introduced to me earlier in my career because it really is a grounding book on the reason why. Why are you pursuing what you’re doing? What’s the direction of where you’re going and what’s driving you toward that? Because I think that’s an important thing to establish, because especially if you’re moving into leadership roles as you move through your career, and it’s important to really understand what’s motivating you and how can you be a motivation for others that are interested in the same thing. I think that’s really important and as I said, I wish I would’ve read this book sooner.

So it was very insightful to me and kind of helped establish even this far in my career to understand what my reason why was, even though I didn’t really have it clearly stated. It really made you think about where you’re going, what was motivating you to move in the direction that you are? What’s your passion? And of course, my passion, of course is in animal health, but it’s also teaching and educating students in animal health to help them to be successful in animal health and helping animals indirectly. So, I think that was a huge, huge influence on me.

Stacy Pursell:
Yeah, I have the book, I’ve incorporated some of it in some of my talks. It’s a great book and it’s called The Power of Why.

Dr. Paige Adams:
That’s right, that’s a great book and I’ve shared it with all my family members, so hopefully it’ll be beneficial to them as well.

Stacy Pursell:
Well, Paige, you’ve got the mic. What is one thing that you’d like to share with the listeners of The People of Animal Health podcast before you drop the mic today?

Dr. Paige Adams:
Well, I think what I would say is that I just want to encourage, if there are students listening into this podcast, to… And I work with students every day, and especially students that are interested in animal health. Sometimes they’re not real sure what direction to go or if they have ability to pursue a career in animal health. And so I enjoy talking to students about their careers and I try to motivate them, encourage them to think about what they want to do and why they want to do it. What is going to get them out of bed and so out of bed to get into work? And so I like to talk to students about what they’re interested in and how they’re going to get to that goal.

And I also tell students as I’m advising them, is to enjoy what you’re doing. For goodness sakes, you want to be able to enjoy what you’re doing and not be afraid to take risks because even if you make the wrong decision or you moved in the wrong direction, it’s that experience that you learn from that, that you’re going to be able to take with you to help you navigate the next decision, or having that experience will be beneficial to you in your next position, even though you didn’t plan it that way. And that’s kind of how it went with my career in some respects.

And there’s so many opportunities to focus on in animal health, and as I said, I’m just so grateful to be in the animal health corridor. I’m right in the heart of the animal health corridor, and I didn’t really plan it that way, but that’s how I ended up being in this area and learning about the industry and making those connections with industry and working with them on our animal health programming at K-State, Olathe. And so that’s been an absolute pleasure getting to know a different aspect of animal health. So moving, pursuing things that you’re not comfortable with, or pursuing, taking those risks are worth it, and it really opens your eyes to possibilities.

I like to learn, I’m a learner for life, so I’m always wanting to learn the next thing, and then making those connections with the people, and learning how to collaborate with other people, because I think that’s going to be really important as you move through your career that you’re working with lots of different people with lots of different perspectives. And they all should be contributing something to whatever that project might be, for example. And it’s so much fun learning about other people, their perspectives, and that really motivates me to be creative in thinking about, how can we… And especially in the light and the focus of animal health, how can we in the end help animals by working together as in collaboration with other people to make that a possibility?

So again, thinking outside the box, that also helps motivate me to think outside the box of possibilities. And so again, that’s what some of the advice that I would give, is to learn how to collaborate with people. You’re going to find that the animal health field is quite small, and so you’re going to have those connections throughout your life. And you’ll see a lot of your colleagues over your career at different meetings and different locations at different… You never know when you’re going to come across folks that you’ve collaborated with or had that connection with over your career. And that’s always a lot of fun to make those connections with others.

So I guess again, my best advice as far as closing is just to make sure that you’re enjoying what you do. And don’t forget to try to take risks, take those opportunities, volunteer. Just get in there and see what that experience is like. And again, if it’s not what you expect, then that’s okay. You move on to the next experience and move forward from that and learn from that experience and moving forward.

Stacy Pursell:
Such good advice and I loved hearing your story. I’ve really enjoyed our conversation and having you on The People of Animal Health podcast today. And it was interesting to hear that you grew up in Bryan. My youngest daughter is a student at Texas A&M.

Dr. Paige Adams:
Great.

Stacy Pursell:
And she has one semester left, she’ll graduate in December. She’s majoring in chemical engineering and she’s actually doing an internship this summer for a major animal health company. So she’s got one semester left, she’ll be graduating in December and she’ll be looking for a job, and so I have to a plug in there for her.

Dr. Paige Adams:
Of course.

Stacy Pursell:
So if there’s anybody in the animal health industry that needs an entry-level chemical engineer, I’ve got one who is looking for a job.

So Paige, again, I enjoyed having you on the show today. I’m glad we had a chance to visit and I enjoyed learning more about your career. You had some excellent advice, and thank you for being here today.

Dr. Paige Adams:
Thank you so much, Stacy. I really appreciate it, and I hope you have a great rest of your day.