Episode #74 – Dr. Christine Royal

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 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 guests, you’ll be sure to learn something new in every episode. Thanks for tuning in, and enjoy the episode.

Welcome to the People of Animal Health podcast. Today, we are joined by Dr. Christine Royal, vice president of the companion animal and equine business unit at Merck Animal Health. Dr. Royal leads the US team in delivering innovative solutions that promote pet wellness, simplified care for owners, and empower veterinary teams. A graduate of Auburn University with a DVM and a BS in microbiology, Dr. Royal began her career in private practice before moving into the animal health industry, where she has excelled in leadership, research and customer-focused growth. Passionate about advancing veterinary medicine, Dr. Royal is also an active speaker, mentor and advocate for the profession’s future.

Christine, welcome to the People of Animal Health podcast, and how are you today?

Thank you, Stacy, I am great and so excited to be here with you, and it’s an absolute honor, especially given some of the other individuals that you have interviewed over the past.

Well, I’m so happy to have you here today. Christine, let’s start off at the beginning, what was your life like growing up and where did you grow up?

Well, Stacy, thank you for having me here, it’s a true honor. My life started in Hollywood, Florida, where I grew up with my brother, we had, of course, multiple dogs along the way, and my parents. I am from Irish German roots, which thinking about the family and our roots has always been important, and focusing on family values and our faith really has helped shape my life moving forward. My father was a business owner of a hat factory, which is quite unique to my upbringing. It was uniform headwear, so if you think about postal helmets, military, marching band, was what we did. So as you can imagine, around the holidays, we were all huddled around the TV looking for which hats were going to be the Bailey’s family hats, and this was a longstanding family business that actually started in 1929.

So before I started working in veterinary clinics, I worked in the factory, and that is where I absolutely learned I needed an education so that I wasn’t doing repetitive motions or crawling in between the molding machines and cleaning them. But my father really instilled in me, and both my parents, the importance of having a work ethic, and that’s been really important to my career. And then, on the fun side, we spent a lot of time, as a family, bird hunting, fishing, anything outdoors, really involved in conservation in the Audubon Society. And so, those are some important things that I think shaped my life.

Wow, I love that. I don’t think I’ve ever met somebody who grew up with their father running a hat factory, that is such a unique, very specialized niche as a business owner. Well, why and when did you decide to become a veterinarian? Was there a point in time that you said, “I’m going to be a vet”?

Just like so many of us, it was at a young age that I wanted to become a veterinarian. My parents said that I was about eight years old and we had a bird that had fallen out of the tree, and so at that point in time, my mom said, “Well, let’s take it to the local wildlife center.” And we ended up spending a couple of hours there getting to watch them do some of the rehab, and that was at that point in time that I said, “Mom, who are the type of people that would take care of this?” And she talked to me about becoming a veterinarian, and from that point, moving further, that was the only thing that I wanted to be.

Wow. Well, Christine, you began your career in small and mixed animal practice before transitioning into the animal health industry. What inspired that shift, and how has it shaped your leadership style today?

I went to Auburn University, as you shared, for my undergrad and vet school, and during that time, I had the opportunity to do a lot of research along the way in aquaculture, and then also in livestock. And a lot of the grants that I received were from companies in industry, some of them human health, some of them animal health, and so I knew that there had to be some type of roles at that point in time.

After graduation, I transitioned into private practice, and it was actually my local representative that came in and said, “Hey, I think you would be really good at a job in industry.” And so, he and I went out to lunch, I said, “Well, tell me more. What does it look like and what are the different roles?” And I had a friend that I connected with who was already in industry, and we spent a couple of hours in different conversations, and that was really what inspired me to apply for my first role. And it was as a professional service veterinarian, and at the time, I said, “Well, this is going to give me the opportunity to go and look at thousands of practices across the US, see how other people do it, and then I’ll go back into full-time practice and be better for it.”

After I got into industry, I have absolutely fell in love with it, because there’s so many different things that you get to do, from public policy, to shaping some of the products that come onto the market, to the connections that you get to make with colleagues. And so, while I haven’t gone back into full-time private practice, it also allows you the flexibility to do some relief work along the way.

Well, since joining Merck Animal Health in 2014, you have held multiple leadership roles. What lessons from those earlier positions most prepared you for your career as the vice president in your current role?

There’s a couple of experiences here. So I first started out with Novartis Animal Health, and I started in the field and then I moved into the home office with them, and in that, I did training and development and some commercial operations. And then, when I moved and transitioned to Merck Animal Health in 2014, I went back into the field as a professional service veterinarian. That was a critical moment in my career, because I realized that even though when I was in the home office and I would go out three, four times a year and spend time with the reps and customers, that it wasn’t like being in the field, connecting with customers on a daily basis.

And it really reminded me the importance of keeping our customers and our colleagues at the center of everything that we do, and that has been really important to my career and my role here, because I also think that as I connect with our field teams, our reps, our professional service veterinarians, they know that that is a key principle that I not only hold dear, but I also hold our leadership team accountable for that as well. So that’s first.

The second is people and relationships. We can have all the tools and technology, but if you don’t have people and those relationships to help drive it, it’s not going to keep us moving forward. And an important piece of that is caring about each other and helping each other along the way. And then, lastly, I think as I’ve matured in my career, a level of, I want to say it’s self-confidence, but not over… That myself, if I put the right people around me, we will figure it out and we will figure it out together.

Well, I love that. Now, Christine, you have said you want to leave the veterinary profession better than you found it, what does that look like to you in practical terms?

Well, I think it’s always doing the right thing. We have the power to make decisions and hold ourselves accountable and maintaining a high level of integrity, I think that’s first. I think secondly, always serving our profession and the patients in our care, that’s our job as a veterinarian. And then also, advocating for our profession. I think those are just the basics that I think that we can do on a daily basis.

For my role, I think I have the opportunity to work with our team to drive meaningful change within our profession as well, and a lot of that comes down to some of the wellbeing work that we’ve done over the years, in terms of the research to understand the gaps that we have and then the development of tools. The team and I are proud, along with so many partners that we have within the profession, because you can’t do it alone, that we are now continuing to help grow our profession in healthy ways, and also helping those who are transitioning and new into our profession have healthy long careers.

The other thing too, I think, is really championing our profession. There can be negativity within our profession or people sharing stories around that they want to transition out of our profession, and I think sharing that, yes, we do have individuals that want to do that, and that’s okay, because you do learn great skill sets as a DVM that you can go and lead careers in many different areas. But we have so many great things that are going on within our profession, and making sure that we’re sharing the positives.

And then, lastly, and this has been something that has also come out of our wellbeing studies, is that the financial stability within our profession can be, depending on where you’re at, it can be hard. And so, I just think about our technicians nurses and salaries that they make, our profession needs to become one that is financially stable for everyone that wants to be part of our profession, and making sure that we have the right tools and a full understanding of what financial acumen can do for helping veterinary practices be able to thrive, no matter what role you play within the practice.

That’s really good, because veterinary teams are under increasing pressure. How is your team helping to simplify care for pet owners, while at the same time, supporting veterinarians in building sustainable practices?

We are developing client education tools, I think, number one, and I think we have to continue to develop communication tools that provide clarity and are concise for our pet owners. And also, helping our teams to communicate the spectrum of care, and working with that family for what’s best for them to be able to take care of their animal. So that’s one.

I think the other is also providing media campaigns that drive pet owners into the practice. We believe strongly in the medicalization of pets and the ability to do that, but we have to get people and our pets into the veterinary clinic in order to be able to have those conversations. And I think that’s really important, because we do have so many different tools at pet owners’ hands, and there’s a lot of misinformation out there, and so making sure that practices have tools is really, really important.

And then, I think also, helping to support practices to become more productive so that they can spend the important time that they have available communicating with that client, engaging with that client, building relationships with that client. And then, I think some other things that we’re engaged in as well, just as a broader team, is making sure that there’s tools, just like instant rebates and stuff like that, to help with the affordability of the overall visit as well.

Well, let’s talk about innovation for a moment. What are some of the most exciting innovations in the companion animal and equine space that you’re seeing, including some that Merck Animal Health is working on right now?

I think number one, just broadly, we’re talking about technology, which is really exciting, because I think maybe our profession has a little bit of a reputation of being change-averse. We are maybe slower to change, however, we’ve got to talk about it, and it has to be practical and easy for us to be able to do it.

I think secondly is the products, and I think for us at Merck Animal Health, we have, over the past year, have just been bringing a lot of innovation to the market. The first was our NOBIVAC NXT platform vaccine, and I think this provides a nice opportunity for our clinics to be able to vaccinate for feline leukemia and CIV with a half mL and adjuvant-free, that’s first. Secondly is MOMETAMAX SINGLE, which is a single-dose otic product that practitioners can use, and I think that, to me, it’s easy for the pet owner, it’s easy for the veterinarian, and again, it brings the pet owner into the practice.

And then, lastly is our most recent introduction, BRAVECTO QUANTUM, which is a year-long injection for fleas and ticks, and this, I have to say, has been the most fun launch that I’ve ever had as part of my career, because it’s a real game changer. We’ve been talking for the past 20 years about how you fix compliance, and this, in one injection, fixes compliance. And I think the second big benefit outside of the medical piece is that it’s also helping businesses to be able to grow, because it is medicalizing, once again, flea and tick, and bringing that business back to the veterinarian and the healthcare team, which is where we believe it should be at. And so, I can’t wait to see the continued growth and what this does for our profession and the patients in our care, but also those practices and how this will help their revenue as well.

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Well, there is so much innovation, so good to see that, and then let’s look ahead. What trends do you see shaping the future of veterinary medicine over the next decade?

I think, and this is maybe a bit of me being wishful, that I think that we will continue to change and adopt that technology, whether that is how we’re utilizing our practice management software, to new AI tools that come in, to advancements in our diagnostics that will have the opportunity. So I think we’ll still continue to have a big focus there. I think getting back to the basics is really critical, because as you take a look at what’s going on within our profession right now, we had the big COVID boom. Now, if you take a look at visits, if you take a look at animal numbers, we’re back down to the pre-COVID numbers. So your growth of the industry is basically based off of that 3% to 5%, that’s mainly primarily driven by innovation and price. And a lot of the things that we need to be doing within practice is, how do we drive that loyalty of the pet owner? How do we communicate the value of what we’re offering to the pet owner to get them to then commit to it?

And so, I think those, even though that that’s not maybe your shiny penny, it is critically important, because we also still see that pet owners… The main drivers of why a pet owner comes into the practice or not is because, “Well, my dog didn’t need a vaccine,” or, “My pet wasn’t sick,” and I think we have the opportunity to deliver a lot more value from that.

Christine, you hold active veterinary licenses in multiple states, how does staying clinically grounded inform your work in industry leadership?

As I shared before, staying as close to our colleagues is really important, and doing a lot of listening along the way, whether that be some of the hot topics that are going on in the profession, to the challenges that people are having in terms of they don’t have medications or the tools or resources to be able to help the pet owner, and so I think that’s really important. And I love my profession, and so I love my colleagues and the opportunity to have conversations around how they’re doing, what’s keeping you up at night, and what are the things that they really wish that they could do.

Well, you’ve also contributed research, you’ve spoken at conferences and even appeared on TV, how do these different platforms help you connect with veterinarians and pet owners?

They provide unique platforms for us, I think, in order to bridge through the veterinary world to the pet owner world, and I think it provides unique opportunities for us to share research, and also clarifying some of the information that is out there. And then also, I think a lot of the engagements, whether you’re at a conference or whatever speaking opportunity is there, yes, you’re speaking, but it’s the opportunity to connect with people and listen and the questions that they ask, and sometimes that is the most powerful thing about having the opportunity to be engaged in these different platforms.

Yeah, the connections are so important. Well, outside of work, you enjoy family time, dog training, fishing and cooking. How do these activities recharge you and influence your perspective as a leader?

Well, right now, it’s all about my girls, they are 12 and 14, and so they pretty much drive a lot of what we do. Right now, it’s actually a lot of lacrosse. They play lacrosse year-round, so a lot of times on the weekends, we are standing around and running, and sometimes my husband and I are dividing and conquering in terms of what field we need to go to. But these opportunities help to clear my mind and really be present for my family.

Recently, the principal of my youngest daughter’s school, so she’s 12, she’s in seventh grade, he gave me a call and said, “Hey, Christine, would you be willing to be a cabin mom for our class trip?” Well, I immediately said, “Yes.” Clear point for the future, a clear learning for me is I should ask questions before saying yes. We ended up going to Stokes, which is a park up here in New Jersey, and I ended up being the cabin mom for 14 12-year-old girls, and-

Oh, wow.

Yes, exactly. And most cabins had two to three moms that were actually helping out. But for me, being able to set aside time, because I am so busy for work and I love the work that I do, but being able to set aside time to really connect with my daughter and the individuals that she has developed such strong friendships with over the years was really powerful for me and was a good reminder that I need to do that on a more regular basis, because sometimes, what a 12-year-old can teach you is really important. Not to mention some of the new terms that are out there that I had no familiarity with what they actually mean, this whole six-seven thing, all learning new terminology with the teenagers.

Well, being a cabin mom sounds fun. When you said 14 or 16 girls, wow, that’s a lot. Well, for young veterinarians or professionals considering a transition from practice to industry, what advice would you give them about bracing new opportunities?

I would say that when it comes to embracing new opportunities, always be open to them. Sometimes, we can have knee-jerk reactions and say, “Oh, that’s not in my wheelhouse,” or, “I don’t know if I can do that,” and there’s the imposter syndrome in there, there’s some self-confidence pieces in there. But be willing to listen, to ask some more questions, and believe in yourself, because a lot of times, I know sometimes it’s hard to believe in yourself, but the people around you really believe in you, and the things that you will learn is just a huge amount of return. And that’s one of the things, I think, that I’ve learned over my career, is a lot of times, just like the camping trip, I say yes and then you figure it out, because you can always have people that are going to help you. Our profession is one that is high empathy, compassion and willingness to help each other, and so there will always be someone that you can ask for help to get you up to speed or able to pitch in. So I think that’s number one.

I think the other thing too about these opportunities, just taking a look at, for those who might be interested in making a change from practice into industry, is think about the skill set that you’ve learned in veterinary school and then in your current role, maybe as a general practitioner. There is something unique, I can guarantee you, that you can bring to that team within industry, and really figure out how to tell your story and how you will communicate that, how you will connect with customers, because I think that’s really important.

One of the things that I will share that I think isn’t good is sometimes, over the past, where I’ve been involved in interviews, we’ll have people that will share, “Well, I’m just really tired of my job.” And I think that’s hard, because for roles within industry, we want people who are running to it, not running away from something. And so, really thinking through what’s the driver behind it, and that might be the case, it may be that you are having a hard year or couple of weeks within practice, but just make sure that you have something that you’re running to.

Yeah. It just sends the wrong signal when you’re leaving because of something negative, you want them to come for positive reasons.

Absolutely.

Christine, what has been the most surprising thing to you during your career up to this point in the veterinary profession?

The growth of the human-animal bond and what people will continue to do for their pets never ceases to amaze me, and it just makes my heart smile. I have such a love for pets, that’s the reason why I got into veterinary medicine, and I love the connection that you’re able to have with pet owners, and it is an emotional roller coaster. But that’s also, I think, why I love it so much, because you’re able to connect with animals, first, in the good times and in the bad, and also with the pet owners, because part of our role is also helping them get through those times. I tend to wear my emotions on my shoulders, and in those hard times, oftentimes I’m in tears too, but it’s part of that bond and what people want to see.

I just had the opportunity to watch a presentation on it, where a gentleman was sharing his connection with homeless individuals and helping to heal pets that might be on the street with them. And to me, nothing is more powerful than that human-animal bond, no matter who you are, and it just gives me chill bumps to think about it, because I think that is so critically important, and the fact that it only continues to grow is something that we should be truly grateful for.

I was there too at that event and had the opportunity to hear him and his presentation, it was so inspiring. How have you seen the profession change through the years?

Having had the opportunity to be in private practice, and then also in industry, it’s been interesting, first, to see the advancement of care that we’ve been able to have. So we have more tools than ever within our toolbox, whether that be medication, preventatives, diagnostics, the tools that we’re using within practice, and the tools even that we’re using outside of practice, so that’s one.

I think the second is just the channels that are ever-evolving across our profession, whether that be how our veterinarians and staff are getting products to their practice, or how pet owners are engaging and purchasing their products. I think that seems to be hugely dynamic within our market. And for one, that’s great, because it increases overall access, but I still want to make sure that pet owners are coming and getting their information, their education and their recommendations from the veterinarian. So navigating that, navigating the dynamics and understanding so many different perspectives and the complexity associated with that has been interesting to see.

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

I think the future is bright. I think that we have a lot of challenges, but again, we will figure out a way, and the most important thing is that we have to do it together. If we don’t advocate for our profession and the animals in our care and come together for that, we will let outside forces change that dynamic for us. And I feel really passionate about that, because I think as individuals, or I’ll talk to new graduates, and we have a lot of new graduates that are getting involved to have their voice, but some don’t feel like… Why should I have that voice? And just encouraging them to take leadership positions within their local VMA, or the volunteer positions with the AVMA, I think, is really important, because our voice does matter, and having the ability to shape it for our future.

I love that. Well, we all know that successful people have daily habits that help them to achieve success. Christine, what are a few of your daily habits that have allowed you to achieve success?

I make a lot of lists. One of the things that I will do is, when I’m starting my day, I will make a list of the critical things that I need to do in order to be successful for that day, and that helps me stay focused. Now, sometimes, I have to negotiate that, because I do truly believe that prioritizing the people is really important. But that helps me be able to also feel successful at the end of the day, and also help our teams to keep their priorities aligned, because that’s something. Now, I’m not saying our organization is good at that, but we are trying to get better. So that’s one thing that I feel really helps me stay focused.

I would say the other thing too is leveraging technology. I’ve gotten pretty good at our internal GPT chat, and that really helps me be efficient in my day as well, because as much as I’ve tried to put more hours and more minutes in the day, that doesn’t seem to happen. So I think those are the top two things.

Well, most people throughout their careers have highs and they have lows, we all run into challenges and adversity. What’s been the biggest challenge or adversity that you’ve encountered up to this point throughout your career?

The biggest adversity actually came this past year. So I was on a flight and I was going to Las Vegas, and I thought, gosh, maybe I had eaten some candy and maybe I had a bad toothache. And so, I went through the trip just grinding, and then I got home and it didn’t get any better. And I went to see a doctor and they said, “Oh, go see your dentist.” Went to go see my dentist, I didn’t have any issues. So I went to go see my general practitioner, and he shared that, “Hey, I think you might have trigeminal neuralgia.”

And so, at this point in time, for any of you who may have had this, it’s fairly infrequent, it’s about 1% of people are impacted, and it’s an intense amount of pain through your trigeminal nerve, and then I also had my occipital nerve. It’s almost a little bit of a curse being a veterinarian, because then you know what is involved. Went to multiple different doctors and wasn’t getting the help that I needed, and I was diagnosed with atypical, because I have different… So I actually have two arteries that are wrapped around my trigeminal nerve.

And so, after going to four different specialists and just thinking… Because then you start to think, gosh, maybe I’m just imagining this, and the only thing that would help was sleep at the time. And so, finally made it to a doctor that was specialized in pain management, and have been now on good medication, nerve blockers, that have helped most of the time, I still have flares. But it’s been a really humbling experience for me, because now I appreciate so much more people who have chronic pain. But also, as a leader, I don’t think I’ve ever had something where I was embarrassed to share it, or was going to think people are going to think differently about me, because, hey, now I have this weakness. And so, that’s been hard for me to really share with people and be able to navigate through not only my personal life, but also my career.

But that being said, I’m certainly in a much better place than when I was in January. But I share that because I hope that other people see that we all have something that could potentially hold us back, and you’ll navigate through. This is something that I’ll still continue to battle, and I know there’s been a couple of people, actually, veterinarians, who’ve reached out to me that have something similar and have the same diagnosis, and are actually doing much better. So I’m very excited that maybe I’ll make it to that place eventually. But just really appreciate the support that I’ve gotten along the way.

Well, I’m glad that you were able to find a doctor that was able to find some answers and give you a diagnosis, and thank you for sharing such a personal story. What advice would you give the younger version of yourself?

I would say believe in yourself, because I had self-doubt along the way and imposter syndrome, and now, I think if I would’ve believed in myself earlier, that probably would’ve helped me be able to navigate, and not spend so much time thinking about, oh, gosh, did I do that wrong? Could I have done that better? So I would definitely say believe in yourself and you will always be able to figure it out, and if not, somebody else will help you.

And then, what advice or what message or principle would you like to teach everyone listening to our podcast today?

Have empathy for those around you, compassion, and don’t jump to conclusions. Give the people around you the opportunity to share their story, and truly listen, because I think that hearing their perspective will better help to navigate together forward.

Give people the benefit of the doubt.

Absolutely, everybody deserves it.

Well, Christine, some of our guests say they’ve had a key book that they read that helped them along the way. Is there a key book in your life that has impacted you? If so, I’d love to hear that story.

It is Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek, and it is a book that… So it starts out with the tradition of talking about how, in the US Marine Corps, officers eat last after their troops as a symbolic nature of servant leadership, and servant leadership has always been really important to me, and establishing psychological safety. You’ll be much better as an organization when people feel supported, feel that you’re listening to them, and then they also will be empowered to lead and bring things much sooner to you that you may need to navigate together. So I think putting people first is also something that was taught within that book, and that’s something that’s always stuck with me as I’ve continued to grow in leadership positions.

That’s really good, put people first, and everybody wants to be heard. Well, Christine, you’ve got the mic, what is one thing that you want to share with our listeners at the People of Animal Health podcast before you drop the mic today?

Thanks, Stacy. I believe we have a bright future in animal health, but that bright future depends on us remembering why we started as a veterinarian, our veterinary oath, our responsibility to pets and all the people within their care. We have the opportunity to advocate for those pets in our profession every single day, and so whether you’re in practice, industry, education or research, your voice matters and believe in it, your opinion matters. So let’s keep on pushing the boundaries and supporting each other to drive innovation for the future, because the health and wellbeing of animals and the people who care for them are absolutely dependent on it.

Well, Christine, thank you for being my guest today on the People of Animal Health podcast. I enjoyed our conversation.

Thanks, Stacy.