Dr. Joshua Stewart of Dousman, Wis., and Dr. Stacey Adams of Lake Geneva, Wis., were elected to the WVMA Executive Board. Dr. Stewart represents District 1, which includes Ozaukee, Milwaukee and Waukesha Counties, and Dr. Adams represents District 2, which covers Green, Jefferson, Kenosha, Racine, Rock and Walworth Counties.
Dr. Stewart grew up in the New England states of Connecticut and Massachusetts. He earned his B.S. degree in Animal Science from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville and went on to earn his veterinary medical degree from the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Stewart started his veterinary career in a mixed animal practice. After about 3 years, he bought the Wales Animal Clinic, a small animal practice, where he
continues to practice today.
A member of the WVMA for 23 years, Dr. Stewart previously served on the Legislative Committee. He sees great value in the WVMA.
“Membership in the WVMA provides opportunity to collaborate on legal and ethical issues that impact veterinary medicine,” he said. “It is also a good source of continuing education and networking with other veterinarians.”
Dr. Stewart welcomes the opportunity to serve on the WVMA Executive Board and is most looking forward to working with other veterinarians to maintain control over how veterinarians practice medicine in Wisconsin and how they can support one another as they face the challenges of daily practice.
“I would like to help the WVMA improve member care in regard to mental health as well as better preparing young veterinarians for the life of practice, business management and debt control,” he said.
Dr. Stewart and his wife, Kate, have four grown sons and three daughters-in-law. Outside of his veterinary medical practice he is involved in his local community church, the Southern Wisconsin Bluegrass Music Association, the Lapham Peak Trail Runners Club, the Delafield Chamber of Commerce and the Kettle Moraine High School Bluegrass Club. In his free time, he enjoys running marathons, downhill skiing and playing the five string banjo.
Dr. Adams grew up in Lake Geneva, Wis. She earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her veterinary medical degree from the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine.
After graduation in 2009, Dr. Adams joined Veterinary Associates, a multi-doctor, multi-location practice in Hazel Green, Wis., and Galena, Ill. She practiced there until January 2013, when she moved back to Lake Geneva and spent the next two years working at two different small animal jobs. She opened Adams Veterinary Service in 2015, where she is the owner and sole veterinarian.
A student member of the WVMA while in veterinary medical school and a regular member since 2009, Dr. Adams sees the value a WVMA membership provides.
“The WVMA is one of the more active state VMAs where advocacy is concerned,” she said. “A very important example is the PDMP exemption that the WVMA was able to achieve which many other states have not been successful in achieving.”
Dr. Adams is a past chair of the Public Education and Marketing Committee. As a WVMA Executive Board member, she looks forward to providing input to shape the future of the organization. She would also like to be part of devising a feasible, sustainable solution to the climbing debt-to-income ratio of new graduates.
Her advice for current veterinary medical students is clear: “Work hard, take only as many student loans as you NEED, cherish your time in school because it will go fast, and your classmates will likely become some of your closest friends!”
Aside from the WVMA, Dr. Adams is involved with the Rock Valley VMA, the Wisconsin Cattlemen’s Association, the Wisconsin Angus Association, her local FFA alumni and World Beef Expo. She and her husband, Jason, and one-year-old son, Mason, live on a small farm where they raise a mix of registered cattle. In her free time, Dr. Adams enjoys showing Angus, Simmental and Shorthorn cattle, sewing, doing needle crafts, and being a mom.