Why Are US Veterinarians Being Intimidated and Silenced?

This is the conversation the AVMA doesn’t want you to hear - but veterinarians across the world are refusing to be silenced any longer.   It’s time.    Behind the white coats and lame social media posts, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) is a political machine - lobbying on Capitol Hill through their Political Action Committee, deciding which lives deserve empathy and funding (and which do not) through their “charitable arm” the AVMF, and calling that “neutrality.”   For over two years they have displayed racism by omission.   Veterinarians everywhere are speaking up while the AVMA still hides behind its image, and its VERY LOUD silence.   Meanwhile, AVMA continues to delete and hide critical comments about this topic on their many social media posts, and ignore the thousands of emails they have received asking them to show the same level of care for the Global South as they have during other humanitarian crises around the world, like in Ukraine and Australia.   Our guests today are two US-based veterinarians who are also co-founders of Animal Healthcare Workers Against Genocide - an organization that Bree and I are very proud to be a part of! Learn more and join us at http://www.animalwag.org   Dr. Erika Lin-Hendel and Dr. Serena Nayee are two veterinarians who are here to speak about their experience in the American Veterinary world, and to specifically highlight the censorship they experienced when they gave a scheduled educational talk at an AVMA conference in July 2025.   After months of preparation (including advanced approval of their topic/abstract), Dr. Erika and Dr. Serena were suddenly told by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) to censor their presentation just two weeks before the conference.   Can you guess their topic? 🫠   It was public health and veterinary care during the ongoing One Health crises worldwide including Palestine, Sudan and Congo - internationally recognized humanitarian, animal, and environmental catastrophes that the AVMA still refuses to acknowledge.   Their talk - which was submitted in advance, and *reviewed and accepted* by the AVMA 3 months before the conference - made it clear they would discuss:   > the historical and current weaponization of animals against civilians    > destruction of agricultural resources   > damage to the human-animal bond during armed conflict   These are all concepts backed up by scientific data, some of which was reported by the AVMA itself…   And yet, two weeks before they were supposed to give their talk, they received a thinly-veiled censorship email from the director of the AVMA Convention and Meeting Planning Division.   Does this surprise you?   The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) has built prestige and profit around the idea of compassion without borders.   They post regularly about global care and empathy and the importance of veterinarians advocating during global humanitarian crises.   They spoke out for Ukraine. They raised money for wildfire victims in Australia.  But while Gaza’s doctors, families, and animals are bombed, they have said absolutely nothing.    And worse, they are actively silencing those of us who are working to help in this crisis by deleting nearly all critical comments from their social media, and even censoring their own colleagues and members at their conferences.   The AVMA has spent decades branding themselves as a global voice of compassion. But when that compassion was tested… it wasn’t there 🫥     More about our guests:   Dr. Erika Lin-Hendel, VMD, PhD is a veterinarian and activist based out of Arizona. Although they currently practice companion animal medicine, Dr. Lin-Hendel has a background in developmental neuroscience, agriculture and food security. In addition to their clinical work, they are highly involved in advocacy work spanning mental health, education and social justice from a one health lens. Their current passions are centered on the veterinary profession’s role in anti-war movements. Dr. Erika's Instagram page: https://instagram.com/theautisticveterinarian   Dr. Serena Nayee, DVM is a 2020 graduate of the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine. Serena and her siblings were raised with a multicultural background, rooting from strong Gujarati and American values. After graduating high school in Fishers, Indiana, she completed her Bachelor of Science in Microbiology at Ohio State University, before heading to veterinary school. Serena’s interests in the veterinary profession are focused on emergency medicine and development of affordable and accessible urgent/preventative healthcare (clinical and policy) to diversify the veterinary field, with a commitment to the value of One Health. Outside of veterinary medicine, Serena enjoys writing poetry and short literary fiction, singing, reading, and filming/editing videos. Dr. Serena's Instagram page: https://instagram.com/your.pal.dr.serena   Dr. Serena Nayee is also the founder and executive director of Chapter VIII: Veterinary Inclusion and Intersectionality Initiative which promotes inclusive advocacy and education, intersectional art and story-sharing, communication workshops, community mentorship, and diversifying professional experience. The organization aims to reach people who belong to multiple underrepresented or marginalized groups based on race, ethnicity, disability, class, gender, and sexuality. Based on personal experience and statistical assessment throughout veterinary school and onward, the lack of inclusion and intersectionality within veterinary medicine heavily inspired Dr. Serena to create Chapter VIII upon graduation from the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine in 2020. Dr. Nayee has previous experience as a medical director and practice co-owner in the for-profit small animal veterinary urgent care sector, which inspired her to pursue development of accessible urgent care, after reflecting on the need for access to urgent clinical care and education among marginalized groups. Serena hopes to make urgent care and other specialty sectors within veterinary medicine more representative and accessible via incremental care and inclusive education.  

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