Externship Experience

Submitted by SAVMA Externship Grant Recipient Rachel Busselman, Texas A&M University

I had the opportunity to spend four weeks at the USGS National Wildlife Health Center (NWHC) in Madison, Wisconsin as a Veterinary Student Extern in Wildlife Pathology during my fourth year of veterinary school. As someone interested in infectious diseases, wildlife, and wanting a career as a researcher in academia, this gave me the opportunity to interact with amazing scientists and learn more about government research careers. The veterinarians, scientists, and researchers at the USGS NWHC were incredibly welcoming and happy to share their expertise in their varied fields. As an extern, I performed necropsies on wild bird species and other wild animals under BSL3 conditions because of the risk of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI). When I wasn’t on the necropsy floor, I reviewed histopathology slides from cases we had seen and prepared a presentation on HPAI in humans and dairy cattle. My externship was during January-February 2025, when the cases in dairy cows were still spreading across the country and associated human and bird cases were increasing. Additionally, my mentor arranged several meetings with center scientists studying virology, epidemiology, wildlife disease ecology, and veterinary pathology, where I learned about incredible research projects ongoing at the NWHC, including chytrid in amphibians, white nose syndrome in bats, growing HPAI in chicken eggs, a rabies vaccination in bats, and a plethora of other disease systems relevant to wildlife health. The staff at the center were incredibly welcoming and supportive of me as an extern and while I was in Madison, and I am so thankful for the experiences I had and connections I was able to make during this externship.