Modern Careers in Veterinary Medicine Jobs of a different stripe…

What do veterinarians do? Prevent disease Diagnose disease Treat disease

The Traditional Veterinary Works in a clinic Keeps our pets healthy –Vaccinations –Surgery But there is SO much more!

The Modern Veterinarian More career options than ever Still centers around the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of disease

Preventing Disease An ounce of prevention is worth…. –A pound of cure! Veterinarians work to prevent disease in both animals and people –Academia –Government –Private industry –Non-profits

Academia University settings –Training the vets of tomorrow –Research - discovering the causes and prevention of disease –Educate the public

Private Industry Employ veterinarians to ensure the safety of products –Quality control contaminated food issues –Lobbying or influencing policy on behalf of industry

Government Agencies Food and Drug Administration US Department of Agriculture Centers for Disease Control Department of Health & Human Services State Health Agencies State Animal Health Agencies

Government Agencies Disease eradication programs –Reduction of an infectious disease in the global host population to zero Diseases eradicated from all or part of the US: Classical Swine Fever, Foot and Mouth Disease, Screwworms, Texas Cattle Fever, Bovine Brucellosis, Bovine Tuberculosis

Military Protect troops from zoonotic and foodborne diseases Care for service animals Frontline of defense against foreign and emerging diseases

Preventing Disease Zoonotic diseases? Foodborne diseases? Foreign and emerging diseases? What does it all mean???

Volunteerism Public, non-profit, or non- governmental organizations. –Volunteer time and resources to work in other countries –World Health Organization, Food and Agriculture Organization, and the World Organization for Animal Health

Volunteerism Veterinarians that volunteered to go to Mexico. They offered free parasite control and vaccinations.

Diagnosing Disease Develop diagnostic tests to help identify sick or diseased animals in a population Research is done at government, university, and private laboratories around the world

Example: Diagnosing Disease Cattle tuberculosis - caused by the bacterium, Mycobacterium bovis Tests to find cattle infected with M. bovis also test positive from exposure to M. avium and M. paratuberculosis. Dr. Janice Miller, US Department of Agriculture, developed a new test using PCR that can distinguish between these bacteria.

Diagnosing Disease Veterinarians are critical in discovering and diagnosing new diseases Can you think of any diseases that have been recently introduced into the US? –West Nile Virus, 1999 –Monkeypox, 2003 –Swine Flu (H1N1), 2009

Treating Disease Veterinarians research new ways to treat diseases –Vacuum-assisted closure for treatment of a deep shell abscess and osteomyelitis in a tortoise Published in JAVMA, Oct. 15, 2007 by M. J. Adkesson, et. al.

Severe infection following an injury to the shell Treatment is usually very long, complicated, and expensive Veterinarians wanted to find a better way to treat this turtle Treating Disease

Even after cleaning out the wound, it looked pretty bad. The veterinarians decided to use a vacuum-assisted closure system to help the turtle heal. The veterinarians cleaned and bandaged the wound for the first 19 days. Then they filled the wound with a special pad, covered it with plastic, and applied negative pressure with a special suction hose. The pad still had to be changed regularly.

Treating Disease After just nine days (picture A), the wound looked much better and was beginning to heal. After 55 days (Pic. B), the vacuum-assisted closure system was removed. The wound had healed so much that all it needed was a scrub once every few days to help keep it clean. The turtle recovered completely. These veterinarians wrote about their treatment in a research journal so that other veterinarians could learn about it too.

Beyond Vet School Working as a veterinarian is only one of the many exciting career opportunities available in veterinary science today. –Veterinary technicians –Research assistants –Business administration

Veterinary Technician Work under the supervision of a licensed veterinarian to treat or to help veterinarians diagnose the illnesses and injuries of animals

The Career Field Small and large animal clinics Exotic and zoo animals Research and laboratory settings Educational setting Animal shelters or rescue organizations Disaster and emergency response Food Safety

Specialization Anesthesia Surgical Internal medicine Dental Behavior Emergency & critical care Zoo Equine Clinical practice Nutrition

Any Questions?