Spotlight On: Cristina San Pio Solanilla-399x600.png)
The story of how I got where I am today may not be very long or the most exciting, but I think it can be useful for those vets that are a bit lost and not really sure what direction to take, like I was once (and honestly, still am sometimes!).
I was born in Zaragoza, probably the windiest city in Spain (which kind of prepared me for the crazy Irish weather). Then a few years later I moved with my family to a small town near Madrid, where I was raised and studied my degree in Veterinary Medicine in Alfonso X University from 2014 to 2019.
I wanted to become a vet ever since I can remember, and I can probably attribute that to my grandfather. He was a doctor, and I would spend countless hours playing in the backroom of his consult with whatever leftover surgical instruments he left around to keep me entertained. On the other hand, he also owned a farm where I would spend weekends and holidays surrounded by dogs, cats, horses, sheep, pigs, chickens… you name it. Since I didn’t have any siblings or cousins to play with yet, the animals became my friends and I couldn’t keep myself away from them!
I started vet school with a very clear plan, I wanted to become an equine vet and nothing would make me change my mind. However, as I started studying and learning about other species and areas of veterinary medicine, my initial plan went down the drain. I fell in love with lots of very different things, from small animal surgery, to farm animal husbandry, microbiology, and even food safety. Each year I kept changing my plans of what I wanted to become once I graduated, and by the time I did I still had no answer.
In my final year, I got bitten by the research bug and had the opportunity to participate in two research projects: one about the latest outbreaks of African Swine Fever, and the other on cattle breeds in danger of extinction. I enjoyed working on them more than I thought, which ultimately led me to decide on what path I wanted to take. So I started studying to pass the national exams in order to become a Public Health Veterinarian.
However, the pandemic started a few months later, and it gave me lots of time home alone to reflect on my choices. I really missed the clinical aspect of the career, and wanted to explore and try more options before I settled down on one (also, the fact that I failed the exams gave me a bit of an extra push towards that idea). At the time, I saw it as a giant failure, given all the time invested in studying. However, years later, I can appreciate the resilience, organizational skills, and the self confidence it gave me, as well as a wider perspective on how veterinary, human and environmental health are interconnected and continuously interacting with each other.
So, after restrictions calmed down a bit, I moved to the city and started working in a very small family-owned veterinary practice. I had lots of fun there, developed my clinical and surgical skills and learned the importance of establishing good, lasting relationships with owners and their pets. While working at this practice, I developed a special interest in neurology and digestive related cases. I started creating my own little log of how I handled and treated the same disease on different patients and the results I got to try to find the best overall treatment plan, which re-ignited my interest for research even more.
I kept working as a small animal vet for 3 more years, and while I really loved it, I was starting to grow out of the small practice life. That, coupled with the lack of specialization options, the long working hours and the poor conditions started burning me out, so I began looking for a career change, and even considering moving abroad.
Luckily, at the beginning of 2024 my husband got a job offer in Dublin, and we decided to take a leap of faith and leave everything behind. Ireland had always been on my mind since I went to a couple of summer camps in Meath many moons ago and fell in love with the green fields and the Irish people. Plus we also knew a few friends that were very happy living here and kind enough to take us into their home.
At first it wasn’t easy. It was winter, the sky was dark and the weather cold (nothing like the summer camps I remembered) and I found myself back to square one with no idea of which direction I wanted to go in. I was struggling to find a job and was about to give up and head back to Spain when I got a temporary position as a laboratory attendant and joined the amazing team of Anatomy at UCD’s School of Veterinary.
Working in UCD opened a whole new world of possibilities that I hadn’t thought about before. I was inspired by its big research culture and all the professionals working in the vet school that conducted so many different and interesting projects in all kinds of disciplines, and how most of them intertwined with one another. Also, I got the opportunity to help out the students in some of their anatomy practical classes, where I discovered that I really enjoyed teaching new vets and how sharing my experiences inspired them to keep studying!
All this made me decide that I wanted to pursue a PhD to specialize in one of the disciplines that I enjoyed the most: Neurology. I was very lucky to be offered the position by Dr. Judith Evers, and in September 2025 I joined her team to conduct a PhD research project on chronic cortical brain stimulation to treat Parkinson’s disease. This work could tremendously improve the patient’s quality of life by improving motor function or reducing tremors, amongst other symptoms.
Even though I just started, I’m very excited to learn from other disciplines, in this case human medicine and neural engineering, and seeing what findings I can make that could be applied to veterinary medicine and viceversa. I love the interdisciplinary collaboration aspect of research and find it to be fundamental under the One Health approach, so feel free to contact me if there is a project that could benefit from collaborating together.
Looking back, I’m really glad that I have taken the time to explore some of the different paths in the veterinary world. Even though I felt like I was starting over again and again, I now see that what I’ve learnt from all my past experiences has shaped me into the professional I am today. They have led me to be excited about all the opportunities the future has in store instead of being scared of having to choose.
What I would say to my very confused younger self and to any other vets that are not really sure on what direction to take, don’t be afraid to explore all the options that veterinary medicine has to offer, and to have fun while you’re at it! It’s such an amazing career path and I’m so grateful for it being part of my life.
Now that I’m over the long working hours of clinical practice and can enjoy the weekends again, I really enjoy going for a pint with friends and family, horse riding, travelling and going on hikes to explore Ireland (I’m always looking for new places to discover so let me know if you have any recommendations!)