PHOTOGRAPHY

Submitted by Skylar Moiseeva, Virginia-Maryland CVM

STUDENT EXPERIENCE: INDIA

Submitted by Ethan Elazegui, University of Wisconsin-Madison

"In January 2023, I traveled to India for a two-week One Health field experience as a part of my Global Health Certification. The experience was supervised by the Global Health Certificate director and consisted of seven students across the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s graduate schools including Veterinary, Pharmacy, Medicine and Public Health, and Engineering. My goal was to better understand the interface of human, animal, and environmental health.

During the first week, I resided in Hyderabad, India and stayed at GVK EMRI, the largest ambulatory care service in the world that provides emergency services to both humans and veterinary species across multiple Indian States (estimated 800 million population). While there, I was introduced to the public and private Indian health care system; engaged in a participatory rural appraisal of a remote village to limit zoonotic disease risk; and shadowed a veterinary mobile ambulance during point of care visits to farms around the state.

Following Hyderabad, I stayed at the Sariska Palace for two days. During this time, I toured the Sariska Tiger Reserve and discussed their tiger conservation efforts. I learned extensively about the reserve’s native flora and fauna, the people-wildlife interface and potential issues, tiger monitoring, and radio-telemetry studies. I also had the opportunity to speak with a local community within the reserve and learn about their interactions with wildlife and how it has impacted their livelihoods.

Finally, for the remainder of my experience, I stayed at the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) for the remainder of my field experience. The WII’s mission is towards wildlife science and conservation. WII faculty lead training courses at many levels and a large number biodiversity, conservation, water quality, endangered species restoration, and animal forensics programs throughout India, especially the Ganges River Basin and North Indian States. While here, I met with many WII faculty to discuss their academic and research programs as well as Indian biodiversity conservation issues. Additionally, I toured their wildlife forensic laboratory; this was a unique opportunity as I learned about illegal animal parts trafficking, wildlife forensics and biological/ecological aspects of crime scenes.

Of course, time was allocated to exploring Indian and Tibetan culture and society. I visited iconic landmarks and points of cultural significance such as Golconda Fort, Charminar, the Buddha Statue of Hyderabad, the World Peace Stupa, and the Tibetan Children's Hospital. I absolutely loved visiting the Tibetan Children’s Hospital in particular as I got to socialize with the kids and get to know a little bit about their hopes and aspirations. We ended up singing Ed Sheeran songs and playing basketball (they swept us).

Through my previous academic, research, and veterinary experiences, I have developed keen research interests on the intersection of zoonotic disease origins, pathogenesis, One Health, epidemiology, and public health education. My One Health experience in India solidified these interests and, as such, my primary employment goals are to pursue international veterinary medicine, epidemiology, public health, and zoonoses research."

PHOTOGRAPHY

Submitted by Savannah Whitecotton, Auburn University

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!"