Dr. Dawn Martin - Strong, bold, and fearless

Dawn Martin has been driven to succeed from a very young age. As a child growing up in New Foundland in a family without a lot of discretionary money, she quickly learned how to make money through her own hands, by offering to stack goods at the local grocery store. This first job was only a stepping stone to the bright and beautiful future she has carved herself.

 By the time she got to college, Dawn already knew that she wanted to work in medicine. She was strongly drawn to that career path, and was given advice from a faculty guidance counselor who advised her not to limit herself to one species.

She volunteered first in human medicine, but eventually decided that animals were her passion. If she hadn’t gotten into veterinary school however, Dawn believes she still would have been happy as an MD—that just isn’t how it turned out. She got her under grad degree at Atlantic Veterinary College, and completed her internship, residency, and DVSc degree at Ontario Veterinary College.

Bringing high tech help to our best friend

While Dawn did work for a busy multi-disciplinary referral hospital in Toronto for 7 years, she eventually decided to start her own practice. In 2015 she opened Bayside Veterinary Specialists with the goal of providing pets the best technology had to offer, while also offering compassionate care for them and their owners.

Recently, her practice merged with Clearwater Animal Referral & Emergency which offers board-certified surgeries and CT scans on top of what she could offer on her own.

Conversations in the vet world

To say that Dawn loves being a vet is an understatement, but even so she recognizes problems in the veterinary industry. In an interview with Vet Candy, Dawn acknowledged these problems. 

“I think that for veterinarians and veterinary professionals such as technicians and support staff, emotional fatigue and burnout has become a topic of much interest. Veterinarians and technicians enter the field because of a desire to help and care for animals, which can lead to very high expectations of ourselves which sometimes are unrealistic. Today, this is compounded by a general stress in our world due to the pandemic’s influence on or lives.”

In order to deal with her own stress, Dawn often laces up her sneakers and goes for a long run. Not only does it help clear her head and give her a little bonding time with her own dog, she has actually been able to figure out many cases while she’s out pounding the pavement.

Dawn is a one of a kind veterinarian, doing her best to give top quality care to help the animals she sees every day. She brings her drive to succeed, empathy for pets and their owners, and respect for the animals to work with her every day, and this is a big reason for her success. The world needs more people like Dawn in it, to make veterinary medicine a better place.