Dr. Jason Soukup
Title: Doctor Intern
Hometown: Pampa, TX
E-Vets Special: After Hours
For recent Texas A&M Veterinary School graduate, Dr. Jason Soukup and the other doctor interns at Alameda East, becoming a good doctor means long hours, late nights, and pots of coffee. "I think my number one tool for staying awake has got to be coffee." Dr. Soukup says. "I probably drank about six or seven cups of coffee last night."
As an intern, Dr. Soukup is required to put in two months of overnight shifts at the 24-hour emergency hospital where he must do what it takes to be prepared for anything — at any hour of the night.
Despite the occasional struggles with lack of sleep, Dr. Soukup admits that working the overnight shift at a hectic vet hospital does have it's advantages. "Although you're very busy, there’s so much less commotion around you," Soukup says. "You're able to concentrate a lot better." And concentration has been key for Dr. Soukup as he has faced some of the toughest cases of his new career at Alameda East.
When we asked Dr. Soukup what motivated him to enter the wild, sleepless nights of the veterinary world, he told us that the decision was made his senior year of college after being accepted into both medical and veterinary school. "I've always had a love for animals, I was raised around animals. Something was pulling me in that direction." Dr. Soukup explains. "It provided me the opportunity to work with people and animals."
At home in the suburbs of Denver, Dr. Soukup enjoys the great Rocky Mountains with his wife and their three dogs — two pugs and one very active chocolate lab. He spends what free time he can find backpacking, fly-fishing, snow skiing and reading.
