Cultural Diversity Awareness Grant Winner

Spectrum at Colorado State, SAVMA Scholarship Winner

Written by Lani Bower, Spectrum Vice President

This is a scholarship awarded by SAVMA's Integrative Communications and Diversity Committee.  If you are interested in applying for this scholarship, check out the details here

Spectrum had the great opportunity of participating in the First Annual Northern Colorado Diversity Conference hosted by Fort Collins High School. This event was open to high school students and community members. The conference was aimed towards raising cultural awareness and acceptance through workshops and a resource fair. Spectrum members assisted with logistics and information distribution at the conference. 

 

Spectrum is a new veterinary club established for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and allied veterinary students and faculty. Our mission is to promote awareness and acceptance of the LGBT populations within the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and within the community. 

 

We are very grateful for the funds provided by the ICDC Cultural Diversity and Awareness Grant. Currently we are unfunded, the grant provided will help us build our foundation to meet the mission of the club. We will be making button’s and safe zone stickers to raise awareness and provide support. We will also use the funds to reserve spaces to participate in community events such as the Fast and the Furriest 5k and local farmer’s markets. Spectrum also plans on participating in a more substantial role at next years Northern Colorado Diversity Conference.

Spectrum had the great opportunity of participating in the First Annual Northern Colorado Diversity Conference hosted by Fort Collins High School. This event was open to high school students and community members. The conference was aimed towards raising cultural awareness and acceptance through workshops and a resource fair. Spectrum members assisted with logistics and information distribution at the conference.  Spectrum is a new veterinary club established for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and allied veterinary students and faculty. Our mission is to promote awareness and acceptance of the LGBT populations within the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and within the community. We are very grateful for the funds provided by the ICDC Cultural Diversity and Awareness Grant. Currently we are unfunded, the grant provided will help us build our foundation to meet the mission of the club. We will be making button’s and safe zone stickers to raise awareness and provide support. We will also use the funds to reserve spaces to participate in community events such as the Fast and the Furriest 5k and local farmer’s markets. Spectrum also plans on participating in a more substantial role at next years Northern Colorado Diversity Conference.

Primate Research Center Externship

Entry, Experiences
Keiko Petrosky, Tufts 

During my externship at the New England Primate Research Center Division of Comparative Pathology and Primate Resources at the Harvard University, I had the opportunity to work with Dr. Andrew Miller, a veterinary pathologist who is an expert in experimental and diagnostic pathology. Along with four Kyoko Okabe (Osaka City University) and Keiko Petrosky (Tufts University), both STP Travel Award winners.summer students in the department, I attended gross and histology rounds, observed a necropsy, and interacted with residents and scientists. Dr. Miller also lead us through mystery slide readings, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology slide readings, and slide examination of classic lesions in the non-human primate.

 

The highlight of my summer was working with Dr. Miller directly on a project to describe more thoroughly lesions found in the brains of SIV-infected rhesus macaques. For this project, I worked closely with a histologist to learn immunohistochemistry and to perform this task independently. I was also able to attend the Society of Toxicologic Pathology Annual Symposium that was held in Boston with Dr. Miller and the veterinary pathology residents at Harvard, where I interacted with students from all over the world!

Fun activities included an ice cream social and a pool party with Gregory Miller’s lab (no relation). The NEPRC is located in an idyllic forest, worlds away from the nearby residential and industrial areas of the city of Southborough. I saw a white-tailed deer en route to the NEPRC, and Dr. Miller illustrated bracken fern toxicity during rounds by going outside and harvesting a frond! Dr. Miller and his team make pathology entertaining and after my experience, I would highly recommend that anyone curious about veterinary pathology, non-human primates, or research in general spend some time at the NEPRC.

Forum: not enough jobs?

Entry, Forum

Jennifer Drew, Oregon State

There are proposals/plans for new veterinary education programs in several places including Utah, Arizona, and New York.  There is still controversy over whether there is a shortage or excess of veterinarians to fill the workplace demands.  Weigh in with your opinions, comments, or suggested solutions.

I don’t think the voices of current veterinary students are loud enough.  We are a generation in fear for our future.  Will there be a job for me in the field of veterinary medicine that I love?  Will there be a job for me at all?  How will I pay off all this student debt if I can’t find a job?  

 

When I was a little girl my dad sat me down and told me that the secret to financial success is a three step process.  1. Find something that you truly love to do.  2.  Turn it into a career.  3. Be the best that you can be in that career.   I’m not sure I totally understood what he meant back then, but today I know exactly what he was trying to say.  For the next twenty years of my life I watched my dad turn something that he loved into a successful and ever-growing corporation.   He wakes up every morning and he can’t wait to get to work because he loves what he does.  How many people can say that about their job?  I want to be one of the lucky few, that’s why I chose veterinary medicine.

 

I like science and I like medicine, but I love horses.  Horses are the ultimate athletes and I live to play a key role in keeping them in “the game.”  But the truth is I am worried about surviving in this field.  Going into OEPS this year I was hoping for some reassurance that there is still room for me in the equine medical field.  After attending, I was left with mixed feelings.  There were doctors that continued to tell us that if this is something we truly want to do then we need to keep working at it.  There were others that told us stories of their own unwanted changes in career paths because of the economy.  If there is so much uncertainty in post-graduation job placement, why are there plans for new veterinary education programs?   Adding to the competition for the lucrative and limited positions will only make our futures increasingly uncertain.  

 

I’m worried.  I know that many less vocal than me are worried too.  As class sizes at the current schools increase, and new schools open, job placement will continue to be a problem.   Many of us will be forced to take positions we don’t really want just to pay the bills.  Fewer of us will be able to pay off the student loans that will inevitably continue to rise.  Where will we go from there?  I think we need to hold off on the new programs and help the current students secure jobs and eliminate student debt.  

1. I love horses.  2. I have chosen equine medicine as my career.  3. I will do everything I can to be the best equine vet I can be.  I want to wake up every day excited to get to work.   I want a better sense of security for my future in veterinary medicine and I know that adding new programs and churning out more vets each year won’t help.   

Dangers at both ends

Entry, Foot in Mouth 

Jenny Heath, Mississippi State

It was a dark and stormy night in the equine corridors.  The time…3 A.M.

An exhausted vet student is trudging outside in the darkness. She is trying to reach the outer grounds of the complex, set on her mission. (Yes, this is already playing out like Jurassic Park in my mind. Just go with it.)  

As she finally reaches the top of the hill, a long line of dim musty stalls greets her. It is very dark and deserted, the kind of quiet that you can only find in the dead of night, when even the owls have started to sleep. Thunder rumbles in the distance, and the animals themselves seem to sense the impending danger that looms on the horizon. They jitter and snort, stamping their hooves and tossing their manes in a nervous frustration. 

 

The student walks cautiously, every nerve in her body suddenly hyperaware of her surroundings. She is alone, tired, and unexpectedly frightened here in the shadows. She fumbles for the light switch on a long metal post. It clicks up with a loud snap, and after a moment there is a fluttering and flickering of light above her. The bulbs are dim as they try to warm up, and she peers through the faint rays into the pitch black courtyard beside her. There is nothing but stillness. Occasionally a rusty gate creaks in the wind that is blowing in from the distant storm. The eeriness is astounding, and the student shakes herself a little, trying to rid the nervousness that has begun to seep into her bones much like her equine companions.

Have a painted a scary enough picture for you yet? Hmmm? Well get ready cause it’s about to get REAL. 

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American College of Veterinary Pathologists’ Annual Meeting

Entry, Experiences
Keiko Petrosky, Tufts 

 

The Tufts Veterinary Pathology Club sent four students from the graduating class of 2013, all members of the Pathology Club Executive Board, to Nashville, TN to participate in the 2011 American College of Veterinary Pathologists’ Annual Meeting. Drs. Rachel Peters and Jerry Lyons, veterinary pathologists at Above – from left to right – Tufts veterinary students Shannon McCook, Falon Gray, Keriann Casey and Keiko Petrosky explore Nashville at the ACVP meeting.Tufts, also attended. Keriann Casey attended the C.L. Davis Pre-meeting workshop on “Navigating The Vast Pink Wasteland of Neuropathology” on Saturday, December 3rd. Keriann Casey and Keiko Petrosky displayed posters at the meeting and all four of us attended the Student Poster Session on Saturday night.  On Sunday, we had a great time meeting students and faculty from other schools at the Veterinary Student Breakfast.  We attended several lectures Sunday morning, including the Mini-Symposium: Background and Spontaneous Lesions in Non-Human Primate Species Used for Drug Safety Studies and the Diagnostic Pathology Focused Scientific Session I.  During the afternoon, a few of us attended the Natural Disease Focused Scientific Session II.  Sunday night, we attended the Mystery Slide Review and Neuropathology Case Presentations.  

 

Monday morning, we attended the ACVP and ASVCP Joint Plenary Session: Vascular Function and Malfunction.  During the lunch hour, we attended the ACVP Gross and Microscopic Examination Slide Review.  During the afternoon, we attended the Meet the Pathologists: A Discussion of Careers in Pathology event and then headed over to the Veterinary Student – Resident Forum.  Monday night, we marveled at the Mystery Slide Review: Ocular Pathology session.  Three of us traveled back to Boston to catch up with classes and final exams on Tuesday morning, while one student was able to attend talks on Tuesday.

 

Among our favorite events of the meeting were the Mystery Slide Sessions on Sunday and Monday nights and the Veterinary Student – Resident Forum on Monday afternoon. One of our favorite cases from the Neuropathology Slide Session was the Bullnose Ray from the Shedd Aquarium, in which type II astrocytes clued the Human Neuropathologist, Dr. Hannes Vogel, into a problem with ammonia and water quality.  It’s always fun to be stumped by interesting cases, and the Forum was particularly useful, as many of us will be applying to residency next year.  We all felt so lucky to have the chance to speak to current residents and program directors as hopeful future veterinary pathology residents. Every one of us left the meeting reassured of our love for pathology and excited for our future careers!