STUDENT EXPERIENCE: URUGUAY AND BRAZIL

Mary Clarke Worthington, North Carolina State University

"My international externship took place in Montevideo, Uruguay and Porto Alegre, Brazil with their public universities (Facultad Veterinaria and UFRGS respectively). This externship was a solo trip self-designed as part of my schools “Special Topics in Theriogenology” rotation, which proved to be an excellent way to push myself out of my comfort zone.

My first two days in Montevideo started with a conference with talks from vets from all over South

America on a wide range of topics including field C-sections, dystocia anesthesia, subfertility in stallions, and metabolic disease in pregnant mares. The rest of my stay was split between reproductive management (ultrasound, collection, AI, embryo transfer) at a local military breeding farm and the hospital managing post-partem complication mares and injured foals.

While at UFRGS I was able to assist with collection and semen analysis for the university stallions, as well

as do daily reproductive tract ultrasounds on their teaching mares. Additionally, I spent one day with a local reproduction specialist visiting several large breeding farms where we would complete ultrasounds, lavages, collections, embryo transfer, and AI. I also toured the school’s swine reproduction lab, and a local bovine genetics center.

I learned so much during this externship and saw a wide variety of cases with an equally wide range of

resources with which to manage them. Everyone at FVet and UFRGS was so welcoming and encouraging of me as a total outsider, that it gave me a lot of faith in the bonds that tie us all together as veterinarians. I was able to practice my Spanish language skills, form valuable new relationships, and see different approaches and perspectives to reproductive case management. I am incredibly grateful for the funding which made this amazing experience possible."

International Veterinary Experience Scholarship Cycle 1 Winner

My International Veterinary Experience: Costa Rica

Rachel LeMont, KSU CVM c/o 2024

As a veterinary student working towards a career in zoological medicine and conservation, I knew that I would need to get creative in gaining experience with a wide variety of species throughout my education. Most veterinary schools do not include exotics in their core curriculums (I mean, there really isn’t any room to squeeze it in there anyway), most zoo’s don’t take first year students as externs, and nothing beats seeing animals in their native habitats along with all of the struggles they face in those environments. These are the things that led me to apply to the internship program at Rescate Wildlife Rescue Center in Alajuela, Costa Rica. Rescate is a non-profit foundation dedicated to conserving Costa Rica’s wildlife, and they accomplish this by rehabilitating wildlife (the area I was able to help the most with), breeding endangered species, preserving habitat, and providing lifetime care.

 

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IVEC International Veterinary Experience Discussion Forum

The IVEC International Veterinary Experience Discussion Forum is now available to join for this year! The forum is a resource for SAVMA students to share information regarding internships, externships, jobs, events, experiences, and any other opportunities pertaining to veterinary medicine abroad. The link to the forum can be found here. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to IVEC at ivecscholarships@gmail.com. 

Scholarship Winner: Singapore Zoo

Congratulations to Thia Yu Han, a winner from this past cycle of the International Veterinary Experience Scholarship!  Thank you so much for sharing your experiences with us!

Axis Deer recovering from anesthesia post-vasectomy2020 was a difficult year, especially for final year vet students like myself whom had multiple placement cancellations due to COVID guidelines. However, I was one of the lucky few who managed to secure a 5 week placement with Singapore Zoo and it was one of the best placements I’ve completed thus far. Set in a rainforest environment, Singapore Zoo is world renowned for its “open concept” enclosure design and has a strong reputation for conservation efforts and breeding programmes. It is also a designated wildlife rescue centre and frequently works with local authorities to process displaced and/or injured wildlife. In order to better address the healthcare requirements of the zoo animals and for research purposes, the Wildlife Healthcare and

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SAVMA IVSA Excellence Award

Final SAVMANewsletter highlight: The IVSA Excellence Award brought to you by the International Veterinary Experience Committee SAVMA’s International Veterinary Experience Committee is now calling for nominations for the 2021 International Veterinary Student Association Excellence Award. This award can be given to an IVSA member who has excelled as a leader or significantly impacted their chapter. The Excellence Award is given in an effort to recognize both the time and determination put into advancing local chapters and their members towards accomplishing the IVSA mission. Please nominate anyone you believe has excelled in their efforts to make IVSA great.  Deadline for nominations is March 1st at 5 PM EST and the winner will be announced at SAVMA Symposium 2021.  Please contact the IVEC Committee Chair, Katarina Fielding, at ivec.chair@gmail.com for any questions/concerns.  Nomination form can be found here.