Entry, Life as a Vet Student
Stephanie Silberstang, Cornell

I honestly believed up until the first day of orientation at Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, that I wanted to be a veterinarian. Not a large animal veterinarian or a small animal veterinarian, not an ophthalmologist or a cardiologist, just a plain old veterinarian. I never got the memo that said there were options! Either that or I did not read that memo.

From that day on I began identifying my interests. I had always enjoyed working with horses. I rode as a child and worked at a therapeutic horseback riding camp before attending vet school so there was equine medicine. And of course, I loved dogs. But when I joined the Shelter Medicine Club I realized that I was passionate about animal rescue and adoption. I have also had a cockatiel since I was thirteen and did not realize that avian medicine was a career choice I could make and that peaked my interest. In the early days of vet school I also shadowed in the emergency clinic and loved the thrill. So I gathered all of these interests: equine, avian, emergency, and shelter medicine. When asked my interests, I typically get some funny looks at my reply.

I had to decide where to go from there. What career choice would allow me to pursue all of my interests? During an externship at the Houston SPCA I worked with horses and parrots that were shelter animals and we often saw emergencies, such as, heat stroke and trauma. However, this was a very rare combination and I knew that I would not be able to fully pursue these interests together. I decided to do a small animal rotating internship at a private practice to further my clinical skills, especially in emergency medicine. This practice also has an avian and exotic service that will allow me to hone my parrot knowledge and skills.

My advice to anyone who has numerous interests or does not know what their interests are yet: pursue everything. The amount of general knowledge I gained from taking mixed animal rotations, going on shelter medicine and equine externships, and being a member of a broad range of clubs is indispensable. Although I chose a more specific career, my interests remain the same.

Ithaca's Nightlife

Entry, Creative Corner
Grace Stearns, Cornell

Cats at Peace

Entry, Creative Corner
Cynthia Xue, Cornell

"Cats at Peace" pencil and paper

Poultry Production in Liberia (or lack thereof)

Honorable Mention, Experiences
Chelsea Anderson, Cornell

This past January, I volunteered with Veterinarians Without Borders U.S. for three weeks in Liberia, West Africa on a project to improve their agricultural sector. Specifically, I helped teach a poultry production and health management course to local farmers and Ministry of Agriculture workers.

Liberia’s Background

Liberia is a post-conflict zone, and when Liberians migrated to urban areas or emigrated to avoid the civil wars (1989-1996 & 1999-2003), the agricultural dynamic changed significantly. Liberia is currently more than 90% dependent on imported food, when their climate and landscape could easily sustain livestock and crops to support their own country. Part of this is a negative stereotype associated with farmers or “country” people.

Interestingly, Liberia is one of the only African nations that does not have an ethnic group or tribe associated with raising livestock. Although we are still in the process of establishing a lasting program in Liberia, it was extremely rewarding to teach sustainable (and local) methods to ensure public safety and improve livestock production. Not to mention that the weather was hot and dry, a welcome reprieve from an upstate New York winter.

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Honorable Mention, Life as a Vet Student
Amanda Fischer, Cornell

My first year of veterinary school I never would have guessed that I would be writing an article for the Vet Gazette, let alone from a lab bench (when I should be in clinics).  The tale of my love affair with bench work started when I was an undergraduate at Cornell. In my manic attempts to diversify my resume for veterinary school, I applied for an undergraduate research assistant position.  I interviewed with John Parker, BVMS, PhD for the chance to work at the Baker Institute for Animal Health.  He told me there were other applicants, so when I was hired I felt like I’d won something.  It was the first job I’d applied for on my own.  Once I started, most of my time was spent predictably re-stocking laboratory supplies, but my project is what kept me interested in research.

If anyone reading has done immunofluorescent staining you know how infuriating and rewarding the process can be.  The first time I looked at feline cells that I had successfully stained for feline calicivirus protein, I was enthralled.  I could have stared at those cells forever. I was looking at virus infected cells and was looking at the virus! In the cells! I was seriously impressed with myself.  I tried to continue working in the lab, but there wasn’t funding for me to stay because he had a veterinary student working during that summer.

Fast forward to veterinary school, where I assume it’s common knowledge that the best way to make money over the summer is to conduct research.  With our level of debt, it’s hard to say no to stable income and housing you’ve already paid for.  I participated in Cornell’s Veterinary Investigator Program (VIP) my first summer.  I actually got paired up with Dr. Parker, which was great because I could pretend like I already had an idea about what I was doing.  I greatly enjoyed my incredibly frustrating project where I made no significant findings after 2 months.  The fact that this didn’t deter me from continuing to go to lab and find projects to work on speaks volumes about my personality.  I hope that my persistence will come in handy as a doctor.  But for now it’s serving me well in terms of keeping me gainfully employed as a student.  I also spent my second summer in the Parker lab, as a second year VIP participant.  It was around that time that I learned about an interesting opportunity to take a year off from veterinary school to do research full time...

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