Merck Animal Health's veterinary business competition recognizes inaugural winners

When veterinary students across the country stepped into a virtual clinic, they weren't just playing a game—they were gaining hands-on experience in leadership, teamwork, and financial wellbeing, thanks to Merck Animal Health.

"There's a clear link between finances and wellbeing in our profession," said Dr. Taylor Tillery, veterinary academic and industry liaison lead for Merck Animal Health. "Our recent data show that 68% of veterinary professionals have financial concerns and 60% are unsatisfied with their financial situation."

To help better prepare the next generation of veterinarians for the financial aspects of veterinary medicine, Merck Animal Health launched the Veterinary Business Simulator Competition in January.

Developed with the Veterinary Business Management Association (VBMA) and powered by Advantexe Learning Solutions, the simulator let teams of veterinary students open and run a fictitious small animal clinic named North Shore. Teams competed against peer clinics, experiencing what it's like running a business but without suffering the real-world consequences of failure, Dr. Tillery said.

"Pilots don't learn to fly by jumping in the cockpit the first time they fly. They start in a simulator where they get to learn, where they get to fail but not crash and burn. We took exactly the same approach with our business simulator for future veterinarians," he said.

The inaugural competition winners were announced October 8 during the 2025 AVMA Veterinary Business and Economic Forum in Denver.

Eric Gary, Gabrielle Shalabi, and Dr. Jasmine Blattner of Colorado State University College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences bested more than 140 veterinary students among 29 teams competing to be the most successful managers of the North Shore virtual animal hospital through a multi-year scenario. The trio share a $30,000 award and will have their names engraved on a traveling award that will pass to the next winning school each year.

Inside the competition

The national contest unfolded over five weeks in the spring. Teams began by defining mission, vision, and values, then advanced through progressively complex decisions. Early rounds limited choices to fundamentals; later rounds opened full control over pricing, investments, and staffing. Throughout, an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot provided micro-lessons and on-demand explanations of concepts and key performance indicators (KPIs).

To reflect real practice life, the simulator introduced "wobble factors," unplanned events such as equipment failure, software changes, or sudden staff turnover. The teams' response to these curveballs would impact other aspects of the game, for better or worse.

"What looks optimal on paper may not be sustainable if staff morale or client satisfaction erodes," Dr. Tillery noted. 

North Shore's competition in the simulator was modeled on a large veterinary specialty hospital, a long-standing mom-and-pop clinic, and a holistic medicine practice.

Performance was scored against five core parameters: revenue, profitability, cash, employee satisfaction, and customer satisfaction. "We wanted students to see how a single decision—say, adding a [veterinary] technician—affects short-term metrics, long-term health, and alignment with the practice's mission," Dr. Tillery said.

At the end of the simulation period, the top five teams presented live to a board of directors, that is, an invited panel of industry and profession leaders who chose the winner.

Turning hesitation into action

For Tony Rago, VBMA treasurer and a second-year student at the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine, the simulator turned classroom theory into applied practice.

"The semester before, we covered profit and loss, cash flow. The simulation came at the perfect time because I could take all of that and actually apply it to running an organization and sticking to a mission," said Rago, who played on the VBMA team.

The game made Rago and his team change their behavior. "Making decisions is hard," he said. "The game forced us to pick a path and move. It changed how our VBMA team operated. We stopped sitting on choices and started getting things done."

The wobbles pushed teams beyond lowest-cost thinking, he added.

"You'd get feedback from your [veterinary] technicians like, 'What are you going to do about such-and-such issue?' Do you hire another tech? A doctor? A receptionist? Tell them to tough it out?" Rago said. "You couldn't just game the system by making everything the cheapest. Morale and client experience mattered, and the simulator measured it."

Real-world lessons

Dr. Blattner, a member of the winning team who graduated this May, said the lessons learned in the simulation carried into her first months in practice. She is a Thrive ER Academy intern in small animal medicine and does equine work on the side.

"Because I'm building my own equine caseload, the simulator directly translated. It gave me the confidence to start and the tools to think through decisions like pricing, equipment, and client communication," Dr. Blattner said. 

She found the preparation for her team's presentation pitch especially useful. "In the simulator, if you wanted a new X-ray machine, you had to make the case and justify the numbers, how and when it pays back," Dr. Blattner said. "I haven't pitched equipment in the ER academy yet, but I'm working to integrate more local anesthesia and using ultrasound to do TAP blocks before abdominal surgeries. The same logic applies: explain the clinical benefit and the operational impact."

Dr. Blattner believes veterinary business simulation should be required for all veterinary students. "Every student should go through it, even if you don't plan to own a business. You're likely to lead a team at some point," she said.

Simulator 2.0

Pre- and post-assessments showed gains in both confidence and competence among simulator participants, which according to Dr. Tillery, align with the expectation that targeted, hands-on simulation boosts interest in business and improves self-reported readiness.

The team behind the game plans to continue refining the simulator's data and scenario design, while also adjusting some of the wobbles and ensure KPIs reflect current benchmarks.

"We're also exploring asynchronous options so learners beyond students—new graduates, associates, even practice managers—can use the tool with real-time feedback from an AI tutor," Dr. Tillery said. 

"We'll be back next year," he added, "with better scenarios, more data to share, and the same goal: Develop veterinary leaders who can connect business decisions to team wellbeing and patient care."