MARVET: Marine Veterinary Workshop

Entry, Experiences

Vera Kazaniwskyj, Ohio State

MARVET is a marine veterinary animal workshop run every year in 3 different locations, Florida, Mexico and the Cayman Islands.   This past summer I participated in one of the MARVET workshops in the Grand Cayman, British West Indies.  It was hosted by St. Matthew’s University School of Veterinary Medicine and taught by a wide range of aquatic and marine animal veterinarians.  The purpose of this workshop was to give students an introduction into the field of marine veterinary, conservation and wildlife medicine.  I am pursuing a career in zoo/wildlife animal medicine, with a specific focus on veterinary medicine.  Since we do not learn much about this field at school, I thought it would be a great opportunity to get a more well-rounded education and meet those interested in similar goals.  

 

Every morning we would attend lectures that ranging from anatomy and physiology of marine species and emerging diseases, to wildlife ecotoxicology and diagnostic surveillance.  We also learned about conservation of coral reefs and mangroves.   These lectures and discussions gave us an overall understanding about all the different facets to get involved in as a marine animal/wildlife veterinarian.  It was interesting to see all the ways veterinarians are connected not only to medicine, but also conservation and preservation of environments as a whole.

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