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A Day in the Life of a Clinical Laboratory
Animal Veterinarian
Research Opportunities
Fun Facts

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Provide for the health and well-being of animals used in research and testing
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Study of biology and disease in animal models to improve human and animal health

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Research
Clinical Medicine
Pathology and
Diagnostics
Surgery
Teaching and
Training
Administration
Diverse and interesting jobs
Clinical
Medicine Research
Pathology
Surgery

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No two days are the same!
Multiple components to a clinician’s job
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Veterinary Care
Husbandry Oversight
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Model Development/Refinement
Investigator Collaboration/Support
Training
Compliance
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Protocol Review
Post-Approval Monitoring
Training

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Wide variety of species

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Herd Health
Preventative Medicine
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Dog/Cat
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NHP
Rodent
Outbreak Management
Research Outcomes vs. Treatment Options
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Will a treated animal still be a useful research model?
Model related disease vs. spontaneous disease

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You are the “Expert”!
Wide variety of species
Regulatory Component
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Cage size – USDA, The Guide for Care and Use of
Laboratory Animals
Changing/Sanitization frequency
Animal Wellbeing
Diet
Bedding Types
Breeding Concerns
All must be kept in the context of the research they are supporting!!!!!!!

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“Hey Doc, I want to study heart disease in…
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Mouse
Rat
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Pig
How do I do it?”
“Hey Doc, I have this mouse that gets heart disease, but it doesn’t show the signs I need it to.
Any thoughts?”
How can you help?
This is where you can really help investigators by standing in the hallway and talking to them.
Communication is the KEY!

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Alternatives to animal models
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How can you help?
3 (4) R’s
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Reduce the number of animals used
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Refine methods
Replace animal models with other systems
(Respect/Responsibility)

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Model Development/Refinement
Model Support
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Surgical Model Development (VAP placement)
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Specialized Veterinary Needs (DMD)
Technical Support/Training
Breeding Colony Problems
Training

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PI and their staff
Graduate students
Veterinary students
Public at large

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Animal Care and Use Committee (ACUC)
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Animal Use Protocols
 Pre-review
Animal Care Quality Assurance
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Post-Approval Monitoring
Compliance
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Animal welfare concerns
Best cure for most compliance issues is an ounce of prevention (lots of communication and training!)

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Coupling of interests
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Veterinary medicine
Research
Post-DVM programs devoted to training in research and veterinary specialties
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Examples of research-oriented specialties
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American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine (ACLAM)
American College of Veterinary Pathology (ACVP)
American College of Veterinary Anesthesiologists (ACVA)
American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM)
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High demand / good pay
Variety of career opportunities

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Develop hypotheses
Perform investigations
Observe and interpret outcomes
Establish conclusions
Prepare grants and manuscripts
Become experts in their fields
Peter Doherty, DVM, PhD
Nobel Laureate, 1996

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Basic
Clinical / Applied
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Translational
Research
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Veterinary Questions
Human Health Questions
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One Health
One Medicine
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Primary Investigators
Collaborative Scientists

One health initiative http://onehealthinitiative.com/index.php

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Technology development for organ transplantation

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Development for mouse models of cancer metastasis

CTI-Concorde LLC
MicroCAT II ™
Micro-CT
Micro-CT Coronal
Section
Volume rendering of Micro-CT image data.

Day 21
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0.75 mm
Day 27
1.4 mm
Day 35
2.3 mm
Day 43

0.75 mm
Day 27

Day 21

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Anywhere biomedical research is performed
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Universities
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Pharmaceutical companies
Biotech companies
Government
All over the country / world
Travel!

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Great!!!
Future still bright

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Average Lab Animal Vet Salary (2011) = $162,336
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Highest = $500,000
Lowest = $53,000
Consulting to supplement
 Average = $17,154
Residency Salaries
 Start at $36,996
Post DVM/PhD training (SERCA)
 Up to $75,000 http://www.aclam.org/

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Independent and Collaborative
Research
Improving human and animal life
Veterinary Care
Development and refinement of animal models
Development of alternatives to animals

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Externships / electives
Comparative Medicine Clubs
Student member of ASLAP, ACVP, etc
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Meeting opportunities
Talk to Comparative Medicine Scientists and Laboratory Animal Veterinarians
Post-DVM training programs

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What?
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3-12 weeks
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Summer research programs
Flexible
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Many are paid!!!!!
Where?
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Academia – training programs
Biotech & pharmaceutical companies
NIH, USDA
Primate centers
How to find?
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Visit the web

http://cvm.msu.edu/research/summer-research-program-1/merck-merial-veterinary-scholars/merck-merial-veterinaryscholars-national-and-canadian-research-opportunities-for-veterinary-students

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Research
“Residency”
 hands on
 no internship required
Various combinations
Each program has it’s strengths

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Advantages
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Perspective to research
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Comparative
Clinician scientist
 Research teams
Coupling of interests
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Dedicated funding sources for training
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Disadvantages?
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Time well spent!

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Visit the web
Talk to Comparative Medicine Scientists and
Laboratory Animal Veterinarians
Do an externship!!!!!!

Research
DVM
Practice
Residency
Combined programs
(DVM/PhD)
Graduate training
(MS, PhD, postdoc)
Combined programs
(resident/grad)
Research

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Exciting careers
Great job market
Neat toys
Great environment