EXTERNS ON THE HILL

Submitted by Meg Knox, Washington State University

"Not just dogs and cats

When I began my externship at the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) Government Relations Division (GRD), I had a major goal in mind: to branch out. Like many small animal oriented veterinary students, I spent the better part of my life grasping for experiences and opportunities in clinical settings. My laser-like focus on gaining hours, technical skills, and connections led me to pigeon-hole myself in the small animal general practice world. This is the last summer before my third year and clinical rotations, and it came as a wake-up call. I wanted to do something different for a change! I wanted to feed my passion for animal advocacy, public policy, and leadership - passions I had been unintentionally neglecting. I wanted to dive headfirst into non-traditional pathways in veterinary medicine, to see what else I could do with my DVM - and dive headfirst I did. 

In the past month, I have met many outstanding and interesting individuals in the veterinary community. I’ve talked to veterinarians who work in the federal government, from USDA to FDA to NIH to NABR (National Association for Biomedical Research). Basically, every acronym organization you can think of. Each story has been unique and inspiring. Some veterinarians went directly into inspection work or laboratory medicine; some had years of experience in more veterinary areas than I could count on my hand.

I’ve met with veterinarians from organizations that advocate for animal health and veterinary-related legislation on Capitol Hill, including my colleagues at the AVMA GRD. During these interactions, I’ve learned about the importance of veterinary medicine representation in both state and national politics. The unique perspective of a veterinarian when lawmakers are discussing agricultural, pharmacological, and appropriations issues is essential. The compassion, intelligence, and strength we have throughout our field is impressive, and now I realize how important it is to use those attributes.

As an extern, I also met with veterinarians who work for Zoos, at sea on humpback whale research investigations, and on East Coast shores doing necropsies on dolphins. Every single person has outlined a wild and unique journey, and everyone was excited to tell me about it. 

At times, I’ve walked away from these conversations overwhelmed, but in a good way! There are so many more opportunities for a veterinarian outside of the exam room. Though I still want to start in small animal practice when I graduate, I now know veterinary medicine is not just dogs and cats. It’s reading 30 pages of confusing legal jargon to understand a bill amendment. It’s petting an Aotus research monkey as it comes out of anesthesia from a dental extraction. It’s talking to a lawmaker’s chief of staff about their puppy. It’s feeding a pig a Starburst candy. It’s talking about learning retention in higher education. It’s discussing withdrawal times in dairy cattle. It’s whatever you want to make of it, really. 

Through all these meetings, I am happy to know that people in our community are comforting and willing resources for one another. I’ve been met with kindness and enthusiasm at every visit. I’m also happy to say that I’ve met my goal of branching out during my time in Washington, D.C. I’m excited for what’s next, whether that be with dogs and cats, or otherwise."

STUDENT EXPERIENCE

Submitted by Joanna Itrich, North Carolina State University

"In April 2023, I traveled to Glossop, England to participate in an externship at the Ashdale Veterinary Centre. I truly loved every minute of my experience. From the welcoming people and many sweet patients, to the wonderful views, I regret that I was only able to stay a week, but I am looking forward to going back! I met the owner of the clinic at the VMX conference in Florida and after talking, she invited me to come see her clinic. Our brief encounter at VMX was followed by a year of planning and emailing back and forth, but I am so happy I was finally able to go! 

Glossop is a little, old town about 25 kilometers from Manchester. The town itself is lovely and full of old English architecture and history. There is evidence that the Romans arrived there in 78 AD. The town is on the very edge of the Peak District National Park – an English gem. Every day after the clinic closed, I was able to go hiking around the wonderful area and explore the English culture. English law allows for crossing private lands by foot if you will not disturb the environment – these types of trails are called “public footpaths.” I had the opportunity to try their traditional dishes like black pudding and drink their famous beers. Each day was an adventure! I spoked with the locals and they directed me to the hidden gems in the area. This part of England is well known for raising sheep and April is a lambing season, so I was able to see many adorable babies. Additionally, Manchester was easily accessible by a 30 minute train ride. I was able to visit Manchester one night, which also has many fun things to do and see. I was in awe of the diverse architecture, which highlighted all eras of English history. I am originally from Poland and Glossop was able to make me feel a lot closer to home than any other place that I have visited recently.

Ashdale Veterinary Centre is a cozy general practice located right in the middle of town. Everything was walkable and my hotel was located about 2 minutes walk from the clinic. All the clinicians were super welcoming and happy to teach. They asked me what I wanted to improve in and we worked on my goals together. 

This clinic also sees exotic species, which was very interesting and taught me so much! I was able to become familiar with drugs that are not approved in the US, which is helpful because I am considering going back to Europe after graduation. Furthermore, I learned a lot of different procedures and techniques that are rarely used back in the United State, like hand tying feline neuter or flank feline spay and was able to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of both. It was very interesting to see and learn about different techniques approaching the same problem. It also seemed like this part of England did not have a lot of mixed breed dogs, therefore, knowing breed predispositions were very handy! Every day I gained critical thinking skills and hands-on experience. 

Overall, this was an unforgettable experience. I was able to connect two of my passions, veterinary medicine and travelling. This experience also showed me that traveling alone to different countries is possible and can be safe if you take the time to plan and prepare beforehand. Furthermore, this experience helped me to see that my dreams are possible, I just need to work hard for it."

STUDENT EXPERIENCE: NICARAGUA

Submitted by Kathleen Kuhl, Long Island University (IVEC scholarship recipient)

"I recently returned from volunteering for Aprovet, a non-profit veterinary medicine organization located in Granada, Nicaragua, and I cannot say enough about how incredible my experience was. As an incoming second year veterinary student, I was eager to join a trip where I could gain more opportunities to practice my clinical skills in the veterinary field, and my experience with Aprovet exceeded my expectations. Our week-long trip included three surgery days at the Aprovet clinic and a community outreach day, where we traveled to a local neighborhood and provided wellness care for people’s pets. Not only was I able to perform surgeries myself, as well as monitor and provide care for patients, I gained a unique perspective on the veterinary needs of other communities outside of the United States. I learned to be extremely grateful for the resources we have in the United States to care for animals, whereas other countries are not as fortunate. However, despite lack of resources, Aprovet’s Dr. Lester and his staff demonstrated such compassion and kindness to all of the animals we treated during the trip and provided us with advice and new treatment techniques to add to our veterinary repertoire for the future. This trip made me realize the need for veterinary care around the world and how these kinds of trips are something I want to be a part of throughout my future career.

I also had the opportunity to meet some amazing people in the veterinary field from other areas of the United States and Nicaragua itself. I am incredibly grateful for the encouragement and positivity I received from the people around me during this trip because it made learning exciting and a lot less stressful. Additionally, my friend and I rescued two puppies from Nicaragua, who we brought back to the United States to give them a chance at a new lifestyle! We got both of the puppies new homes, which was an extremely rewarding feeling after seeing the lifestyle of so many of the dogs on the streets of Nicaragua. Overall, I had the best time in Nicaragua, and I cannot wait to go back and continue to provide veterinary care to all the animals in need!"

STUDENT EXPERIENCE: AUSTRALIA

Submitted by Vivian Lee, Cornell University

Vivian Lee (she/her) is a third-year veterinary student at Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine interested in conservation medicine and aquatics!

"Imagine getting to work with stingrays up to 300 kg, dozens of penguins, and one of the rarest sea turtle species in the world. I am extremely grateful to say I was able to do that this winter break while doing an externship with The Aquarium Vet in Melbourne, Australia. The Aquarium Vet is an Australian-based company that is dedicated to advancing the health and welfare of aquatic animals in aquariums and zoos globally. They offer aquatic veterinary consultation services and are the creators of several online E-quarist courses and the E-lasmo virtual conference, in addition to a few other services offered.

I applied to this externship back in January 2021 when I was a first-year veterinary student during the COVID-19 pandemic and reserved my placement for January 2023, with high hopes that Australia’s borders would soon open again for international travel. The Aquarium Vet’s team is led by Dr. Rob Jones, a well-known shark expert, and has several other contracting veterinarians including Dr. Brett De Poister, who regularly provides veterinary services for SEA LIFE Melbourne Aquarium and whom I primarily worked with during my rotation. 

This was my first time traveling to Australia and first international veterinary experience, and I’m happy to say it was an unforgettable experience that I will cherish for years to come. While my rotation was only two weeks, every day was filled with exciting procedures and new things to learn. SEA LIFE Melbourne Aquarium is home to Shipwreck Explorer, a 2.2 million litre oceanarium that has a wide array of sharks, stingrays, groupers, and more. As this exhibit is undergoing constribution in a few months, all of the animals currently in the exhibit will be transported to nearby aquariums and facilities. One of my primary tasks during the rotation was to assist with barb trimming procedures of the stingrays, some which were southern stingrays (Hypanus americanus) that weighed up to 300 kg. I was mainly in charge of anesthestic monitoring, but also had the chance to draw blood from a spotted eagle ray (Aetobatus narinari) and work on my blood smear technique. 

One of the other cases I worked on was a king penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus) that had a history of seizures and torticollosis that was previously being managed well. Due to a possible environmental trigger, the torticollosis returned and so I was able to observed how this was managed and help with re-check examinations. Certainly one of the greatest experiences I had was with one of their flatback sea turtles (Natator depressus), who needed an endoscopy procedure and my role involved intubating and monitoring anesthesia during this procedure. Other tasks involved doing necropsies on several fish and acclimating fish into a newly renovated exhibit.

As you can see, these two weeks were filled with many incredible clinical experiences! One of the main surprises I learned while living here was the work-life balance in Australia, which is much better than the United States. Every workday we had a mandatory coffee break, and all the employees were out of the aquarium by 3:45pm unless there was an emergency. It was really eye-opening to see how it impacted the quality of life for employees, and how much closer co-workers were to each other because of these simple lifestyle changes.

I was personally very happy with this balance, because I was able to go sightseeing on my days off. I went on two group tours, one of them being the Great Ocean Road Tour, where I witnessed Australia’s breathtaking coastline with pristine beaches, rainforests, and the 12 Apostles. On my last day off I did a two-island tour, first visiting French Island National Park, a hidden treasure of wilderness that has one of the largest populations of wild koalas. Afterwards, we headed to Phillip Island, where we spotted many wild wallabies, kangaroos, echidnas, and of course, the iconic little blue penguins. Witnessing the daily Penguin Parade was one of the most incredible experiences, and I am so grateful that I was able to admire the native wildlife that Australia has to offer. 

Overall, this experience was extremely eye-opening and I learned a ton about international aquatic veterinary medicine. I would definitely go back to Australia in the future if I could, and highly recommend all veterinary students to take on an international experience if they can! I’d like to thank The Aquarium Vet for hosting me, especially Dr. Brett De Poister, and SAVMA’s International Veterinary Experience Committee (IVEC) who provided me substantial funding for this trip through their International Veterinary Experience Scholarship."

STUDENT EXPERIENCE: BELIZE

Submitted by Atalani Jackson, Tuskegee University

"In the spring of 2023, I got to fulfill my long-time goal of externing at the Belize Wildlife and Referral Center (BWRC). I had been following this wildlife center since 2015 and had always been inspired by its mission and work. Upon my arrival to a quiet and tropical town located outside the city of San Ignacio, I received a warm welcome from the staff. I would be working in a modest building with an enormous impact. This is the only wildlife clinic in the country- run by the only wildlife veterinarian in the country. The clinic saw both domestic animals and wildlife and it housed one of the only veterinary radiography machines in the city. 

Every day I would wake up to a choir of parakeets right outside my kitchen and had the opportunity to view a number of native parrots and toucans on my daily walk to the center. We would begin the day with feedings and treatments. And during my time there our patients included a variety of aquatic turtles, green iguanas, and a native opossum, falcon and fawn that all required care. In the afternoon we would carry out various husbandry activities and perform any lab work that needed to be completed.  We would commonly perform blood draws and manual white blood cell counts on hospitalized animals. This provided me with an opportunity to observe species differences in red and white blood cell morphology. In the late afternoon, we would perform procedures and see domestic animal referrals- which typically came in to receive radiographs. We would end the day with evening treatments and feedings.  

Working under Dr. Isabelle Paquet-Durand, I learned about native wildlife and the many issues they face, including illegal wildlife trafficking, poaching, human-wildlife conflict, habitat destruction, and the seasonal wildfires that plague the countryside. The center was very involved in the community through its various programs including its wildlife ambassador program. I was honored to be able to participate in their ambassador program and it was inspiring to see so many community members express interest in wildlife welfare and one-health issues. They also partnered with several local conservation nonprofits including a nearby green iguana conservation center that focused on the captive rearing of green iguanas with the goal of releasing them back into the wild. A few iguanas from the conservation center, as well as wild iguanas, were being treated at BWRC for abscesses and wounds they developed from fighting during mating season. And one of the most memorable moments during my time there was learning about and performing anesthesia on a green iguana during a successful abscess removal. In addition to this, I also had the opportunity to practice various methods of venipuncture in turtles and iguanas and bottle feed an orphaned red brocket fawn. 

Outside of community educational activities and clinical work, anytime there was downtime I was able to perform necropsies. I have a strong interest in pathology, and it was exciting to be able to fine-tune my necropsy technique while simultaneously learning about the various infectious diseases that were common in Belize wildlife. In addition to necropsies, I was also able to practice loading and shooting a blow dart. This method of chemical immobilization is commonly used to remove animals from unsafe environments or to safely capture injured wildlife that is difficult to capture otherwise. The clinic typically used it for the chemical immobilization of monkeys which are difficult to reach in trees. And finally, to top off my time there we were able to release a number of the clinic’s aquatic turtle patients back into the wild.

Overall, I am so glad I got to spend time at BWRC and immerse myself in the culture and history of the country. I was able to better understand the difficulties and joys that come with running an international non-profit focused on conservation medicine. It left me inspired and more determined than ever to pursue a career in this field."