FURTHER DETAILS
DEPARTMENT OF PATHOLOGY AND PATHOGEN BIOLOGY
Senior Clinical Training Scholarship
in Veterinary Anatomic Pathology
Ref: CTS/PATAP/13
Summary of the Scholarship:
The three year clinical training scholarship in anatomic pathology provides advanced
instruction in the areas of post mortem examination, surgical pathology,
immunohistochemistry and molecular pathology and also provides adequate time for selfdirected learning. The programme has a track record of training candidates who are
successful in specialist Board and Fellowship examinations.
Objectives of the Scholarship:
The programme’s objectives are to:
 To prepare residents to successfully complete the anatomic pathology certifying
examination administered by The American College of Veterinary Pathologists (ACVP)
and/or the Royal College of Pathologists (FRCPath).
 To educate residents so they obtain a solid understanding of the laboratory methods
and pathologic bases of diseases to prepare them for careers as veterinary anatomic
pathologists.
 To prepare residents to conduct clinical research projects and produce conference and
peer-reviewed journal publications from these.
During this training programme the scholar will be expected to:
 Perform diagnostic work and participate in a shared anatomic pathology rota.
 Undertake a research project in anatomic pathology and produce a publication from
this.
 Enrol for the Master of Veterinary Medicine (MVetMed) degree.
 Participate in Journal Clubs, Rounds and other discussion groups.
 Prepare for publication a case report or case series, as first author, in a peer-reviewed
journal.
 Present a poster or oral presentation in at least one international meeting.
 Contribute to undergraduate training by participation in clinical rotations, small group
teaching and seminars.
Duties of the Scholar:
Residents will have an incremental role in the diagnostic services provided by the clinical
pathology laboratories at the Royal Veterinary College (RVC). Close supervision by
specialist anatomic pathologists will occur throughout the 3 years of the residency, with
more independence afforded to third year residents.
Teaching commitments at the RVC include instruction of anatomic pathology to
undergraduate veterinary students via participation in post-mortem examinations as part
of a rota system, and assistance with practical laboratories.
A small research project forms an important component of the programme. The SCTS will
be provided with supervision and funding to conduct a prospective or retrospective
project in the field of anatomic pathology, which will result in the submission of a
manuscript for publication by the termination of the three year contract.
Finally, attendance at a variety of weekly discussion sessions, seminars is mandatory for
gross pathology rounds and journal club, and highly encouraged for internal medicine
seminars, departmental research seminars, surgical biopsy case reviews, Armed Forces
Institute of Pathology Wednesday Slide Conference slide review sessions. Participation in
a national or international conference on anatomic pathology is also offered (subject to
approval by the anatomic pathology supervisor).
Supervision and Assessment:
At the beginning of the programme, the Scholar will register as a student of the RVC
Graduate School and enrol for the MVetMed degree. The head of the anatomic pathology
residency programme is Dr. Simon Priestnall who will act as the scholar’s overall
supervisor in collaboration with the other anatomic pathology specialists of the
Department. The head of pathology is Prof Ken Smith and the head of department is Prof
Declan McKeever. Progress and planning meetings between the supervisor and the
scholar will occur every 6 months. The formal assessment process is monitored by the
RVC Graduate School, and involves an assessment conducted by senior members of the
College at 6, 12 and 24 months after the beginning of the programme.
Qualifications And Experience Required Are:
A veterinary qualification and Membership of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons
are essential. Recent graduates will be considered for this position.
Please note that to support this training programme, the Department meets the cost of
tuition fees at the RVC Home/EU rate. Applicants from outside the EU or already in
possession of a doctoral degree (PhD or equivalent) are unfortunately not eligible for this
tuition fee support. Further details on eligibility criteria are available from the RVC
Graduate School.
Selection Criteria
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Holds a veterinary degree which is registrable by the RCVS
EU Citizen or right to abode in the UK
Meets English language requirement
Experience of anatomic pathology (e.g. an intercalated degree, extern visits to
pathology laboratories etc)
Experience of research (e.g. research projects, publications etc)
Personal statement (please describe your motivation to undertake anatomic
pathology training, your expectations for the training programme and your future
aspirations)
Application procedure:
For further information and to apply online, please visit our website: www.rvc.ac.uk/cts
or email: jobs@rvc.ac.uk quoting ref: CTS/PATAP/13
Terms and Conditions:
You should note that:
 Closing date for the applications: 17 May 2013
 Interviews for the shortlisted candidates are scheduled for 3 June 2013
 The earliest date the scholarship can commence is the 1st of July 2013 and is of 3 years
duration.
 The tax-free stipend will start at £16,902 per annum, increasing by annual increments
to £18,222. National Insurance contributions are the responsibility of the individual
scholar.
 Continuation of the programme is subject to the Scholar attaining satisfactory
performance in the review process.
 Stipend/PG fees will only be paid for Home/EU applicants who satisfy residency
criteria
 The College has a “no smoking” policy and smoking is only permitted in certain
designated areas of the College.
 Non-Home/EU fee eligible applicants are welcome to apply for any Scholarship. We are
keen to find the best candidates regardless of their nationality and currently have
several non-Home/EU fee eligible SCTS; however, the funding model for these posts is
weighted towards Home/EU fee eligible applicants, hence when candidates are equal,
Scholarships are offered to Home/EU fee eligible applicants
For further information on fee status please visit the RVC website:
http://www.rvc.ac.uk/Money/PostgraduateStudents/FeeStatus.cfm
Further Information:
For further information on this position please contact Dr Simon Priestnall
(spriestnall@rvc.ac.uk) or Prof Ken Smith (ksmith@rvc.ac.uk).
Residency Programmes
Department of Pathology and Pathogen Biology
Background
The Royal Veterinary College is the oldest veterinary school in the English speaking world
and is the largest veterinary school in the UK. A detailed history of the College and details
of all facilities can be found by visiting the web site: http://www.rvc.ac.uk. The College
was awarded top gradings in both the Research Assessment Exercise, 2001, and in its most
recent Teaching Quality Assessment exercise. It is the only veterinary school in England
that has received Accreditation from the American Veterinary Medical Association. The
College offers not only a course of study leading to the award of Bachelor of Veterinary
Medicine but also a range of other undergraduate courses including Bachelor of Science
degrees in veterinary science, veterinary nursing and an intercalated BSc degree in
comparative pathology (see below) and bioveterinary science. In addition, the College
runs a wide range of Masters degrees (including those in pathology-related subject areas),
has many PhD students, and has over 40 Residents in the clinical and pathology
departments.
The College is situated on two campuses, one at Camden Town in North London (the
Camden campus) and the other on a 230 hectare site in the attractive Hertfordshire
countryside near Potters Bar (the Hawkshead campus). The two campuses are about 15
miles apart and both accessible by road and rail. Pathology residencies are based at the
Hawkshead campus.
The Hawkshead Campus mainly houses the Department of Clinical Sciences and Services
and the Department of Production and Population Health, which two departments
encompasses the following sections: small animal medicine and surgery, equine medicine
and surgery, population medicine, the reproduction unit and the divisions of
epidemiology and public health. Part of the Departments of Pathology and Pathogen
Biology and Comparative Biomedical Sciences are also based at the Hawkshead campus.
The campus is also home to The Sefton Equine Hospital, The Queen Mother Hospital for
Animals (currently being expanded), the Large Animal Practice and the Mill Reef
Pathology Building. A Learning Resources Centre (The Eclipse Building) which includes
an improved library facility and houses the College’s administrative offices was
completed in September, 2003 and the Large Animal Clinical Centre was completed in
October, 2003. The LIVE! Centre for veterinary education was opened in 2006 and the
College’s Centre for Emerging, Endemic and Exotic Diseases (CEEED) opened in 2008. An
adjacent site at Boltons Park houses the College’s working farm.
The Department of Pathology and Pathogen Biology is one of four academic departments
in the College, the others being Department of Comparative Biomedical Sciences,
Department of Production and Population Health and Department of Clinical Sciences
and Services. The Head of Department of Pathology and Pathogen Biology is Professor
Declan McKeever MVB PhD MRCVS. The Department has over 30 members of Faculty
staff and a similar number of post-doctoral assistants. It has several extensive and active
research programmes in areas that include bovine viral diseases (BVD, FMD), human and
animal rotavirus disease, canine, porcine, ovine and equine respiratory diseases (viral and
bacterial), human tuberculosis, Newcastle Disease in chickens, protozoal and helminth
parasitology, new strategies for parasitic detection and control, innate and adaptive
immunology, and prion diseases. The diagnostic services provided by the Department
include the full range of clinical and anatomical pathology services and it receives
submissions from the College’s own hospital services, general and referral practitioners
and various zoological and wildlife centres. Farm animal submissions are made through
the RVC-VLA Veterinary Surveillance Centre. The service conducts around 3000
cytologies, 6000 haematologies, 7000 clinical chemistry cases in the clinical pathology
section and around 1000 necropsies and over 3500 biopsies in the anatomic pathology
section per year.
Currently (April 2013), the academic pathologists are:
Anatomic Pathology:
Ken Smith BVM&S, PhD, FRCPath
Norelene Harrington BSc (Vet Path), MVB, MVetMed
Henny Martineau BVMS, MVM, PhD
Simon Priestnall BSc (Vet Path), BVSc, PhD, FRCPath, DipACVP
Sonja Jeckel DVM, DrMedVet, PhD
Clinical Pathology:
Balazs Szladovits DVM, Diplomate ACVP
Kate English BSc, BVetMed, FRCPath
Pippa McLaren, BVMS, MASVCP (from June 2013)
Michael Waters BVSc, MSc (Wild Animal Health)
All of the RVC pathologists contribute to Resident training.
DEPARTMENT OF PATHOLOGY AND PATHOGEN BIOLOGY
Facilities
The Departmental laboratories at Camden conduct research on bacterial, viral and TSE
pathogenesis. Established Category 3 containment laboratories are available for research
into diseases such as BSE and Mycobacterium tuberculosis. There is also access to modern
FACS analysis of normal and infected tissues, and thus appropriate immunological clinical
parameters may be developed for use in research or clinical assays. A range of
monoclonal antibodies for many of the cellular sub-populations of the different veterinary
species is available.
At Hawkshead, there has been considerable investment in the building and staffing of
veterinary pathology. The Mill Reef Pathology Building provides the most advanced
facility for morbid and anatomical pathology within the UK. It was provided through a
single donation to the college of £2.2 million by Mr Paul Mellon and is named after his
favourite horse. It was officially opened in May 1995 by the Chancellor of the University,
the Princess Royal. The building comprises a state-of-the-art post mortem hall with
annexed containment and specialised areas, a 200 seat lecture theatre that has both direct
and video links with the main hall, and houses the clinical pathology laboratories
(cytology, hematology, biochemistry), and further diagnostic pathology service
laboratories (histopathology, immunochemistry and molecular pathology). The first floor
of the building is dedicated to both undergraduate and postgraduate level teaching with a
microscope room with an image analysis suite and a facility that provides a dedicated
seminar room for the BSc in Comparative Pathology and also for post-graduate pathology
tutorials and CPD.
A further building provides the link between the Mill Reef Pathology building and the
existing clinical block. Within the link are Molecular Pathology research laboratories
providing fully equipped laboratories for immunopathology, molecular biology and high
containment rooms for tissue culture/virology. The provision of these laboratories and
associated offices has been a considerable boost to establishing molecular pathology
research at Hawkshead. There is also a dedicated demonstration room, with a 14-headed
microscope and LCD/video projection, for clinical and anatomic pathology case
presentations and diagnosis or research discussions, presentations and clinical research.
Teaching
The Department teaches veterinary students in all five years of the course. In Year 2,
Foundation courses in immunology and general pathology are taught through lectures
and small group directed learning and practical classes. Year 3 and 4 teaching comprises a
similar format with all pathological and microbiology disciplines taught through
Foundation courses (bacteriology, virology and parasitology) and through integrated
modules based on systems (e.g. respiratory, enteric etc).
After this time in Year 4 and 5, all the clinical teaching is on a small group, problemsolving or case-orientated basis with the students moving through a series of rotations,
including pathology. Students in their clinical years specialise in an elective subject; the
Department presently offers elective courses in Pathology/Clinical Pathology (general
pathology and equine and farm animal specialities) and small mammals, birds and
reptiles, and zoo and wildlife species. The department also offers a Tracking option in
Pathology to undergraduates.
The Department is re-launching, in 2013, an intercalated degree in veterinary and
comparative pathology. It is anticipated that this course will attract 10 or more veterinary
and bioveterinary undergraduates from UK and European veterinary schools and will
engage the students’ curiosity in the pathology and pathogenesis of disease through
lectures, small group seminars and a research project.
Within the Department of Pathology and Pathogen Biology, there is a commitment to
providing professional expertise in pathology to the teaching of undergraduates, to the
clinical departments and to outside referral requests. There is a team of established and
excellent veterinary pathologists within the department who undertake clinical and
teaching responsibilities, with some engaged in original and/or collaborative research.
The present undertaking of the department is to enable pathology residents to integrate
closely with the clinics and with clinical and/or basic research. Existing and newly
appointed residents are crucial to the post-graduate pathology training programme.
Residency programmes in Veterinary Pathology
The Department of Pathology and Pathogen Biology offers residency programmes in both
clinical pathology and anatomic pathology. Currently (April 2013) there are two Residents
in Clinical Pathology, and three Residents in Anatomic Pathology, in addition to one
current and two imminent part-time training programmes in these specialities.
The principal resources available to anatomic pathology residents at RVC are:
 One week induction course organised by the RVC graduate school (e.g. research,
communication, presentation, writing skills).
 Postgraduate courses offered by RVC (e.g. statistics, immunology, communication
skills).
 Anatomic pathology rounds are held regularly each month including slide rounds,
journal clubs and book clubs.
 General and systemic pathology seminars are run on a termly basis.
 Interdepartmental rounds at RVC:
o Weekly oncology rounds for clinical and pathology staff/residents
o Bi-weekly histopathology rounds for surgery staff/residents
o Monthly
cytology/haematology
rounds
for
medicine/surgery/ECC
staff/residents
o Monthly dermatopathology rounds for dermatology staff/residents
 Teaching slide sets including a cytology vs. histopathology comparative set. Several
years of AFIP Wednesday Slide Conference mystery slide material is available and
continually purchased.
 Biweekly college and departmental seminar programmes.
 Book library with relevant reading material and the library of the RVC (including
numerous online subscriptions for relevant journals).
 International conference presentation (cases in first and second year, and research
abstract in the third year of the residency) are expected from the residents at the annual
meetings of the American or European College of Veterinary Pathologists or other
appropriate conferences. Presentations at CPD meetings are also strongly encouraged.

The RVC has a large histopathology archive of farm, companion and zoo/wildlife
cases, houses several themed, peer-reviewed slide sets provided from various sources
and is a C.L. Davis DVM Foundation Independent Study Centre, with on-site access to
the full range of learning materials available through the Foundation (videos, DVDs,
further slide sets).
Masters in Veterinary Medicine
The resident will enrol for a Masters in Veterinary Medicine (MVetMed) that is
undertaken on a modular basis over three years and involves attendance and examination
in modules covering general and systematic pathology and accumulates credits for
attendance at and participation in small group seminars, journal clubs, book clubs and
slide rounds. The Masters training has been designed simultaneously to prepare the
resident for the specialist examinations of the American College of Veterinary Pathologists
and the Royal College of Veterinary Pathologists, which are undertaken in the final year of
the training.
Assessment of Residents
Each Resident has a formal appraisal at the end of each year. This is a College-wide
scheme and the Resident’s progress is assessed by the supervisor, one other academic
member of the Department and an academic from one of the College’s other departments.
Recommendations are then made to the supervisor and Head of Department of Pathology
and Pathogen Biology, as appropriate. The Resident is less formally appraised through
their ability and skills in their daily diagnostic work and through their progress and
contribution to the weekly slide seminars and journal clubs.
Departmental Research
Research on infectious disease of animals is a major theme of the Department’s
programme. This is undertaken at both Camden and Hawkshead campuses. Most of these
research groups have an international reputation as leaders in their fields:
Professor Declan McKeever’s group is interested predominantly in individual variation in
the specificity of cellular immune mechanisms and its impact on pathogen diversity.
Research is focused primarily on Theileria parva, a tick-borne protozoan parasite of cattle
that infects and transforms lymphocytes, and on Mycoplasma mycoides, the causal agent of
contagious bovine pleuropneumonia.
Professor Joe Brownlie heads a strong, internationally-renowned research group
investigating bovine pestiviruses, particularly Bovine Viral Diarrhoea Virus (BVDV). The
group has considerable expertise with molecular pathology and the use of probing
techniques such as in situ hybridisation and PCR amplification within tissues and cell
culture. Furthermore, there is strong emphasis on vaccine development and novel
approaches to new ‘marker’ vaccines. More recently, a close relationship has developed
between this group and those at the Institute for Animal Health investigating the
pathogenesis of exotic viral diseases.
Dr Simon Priestnall is part of a group investigating the pathogenesis and causal agents of
canine infectious respiratory disease (CIRD). The group has defined both the pathogenesis
and some novel agents that appear critical to the aetiology of the syndrome such as canine
respiratory coronavirus (CRCoV). Other research interests include inflammatory bowel
disease in dogs and equine Borna disease.
Professor Ken Smith has a broad portfolio of active research collaborations with colleagues
at the RVC and elsewhere (e.g. he has maintained strong links with the Animal Health
Trust in Newmarket that facilitate collaborative research into infectious diseases of
horses). His currently funded research includes projects on contagious bovine
pleuropneumonia, vascular remodelling in portosystemic shunts, feline hypertrophic
cardiomyopathy and mammary neoplasia in dogs and cats.
Professor Andrew Rycroft’s group is investigating the genetic basis of pathogenicity in
Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae and continuing to develop conventional and third
generation vaccines against porcine respiratory disease. Additional areas of current
interest include the identification and expression of immunogenic components of
Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae and investigations of the role of bacteria in canine respiratory
disease, the physiological effects of anaerobes in post-partum cattle and the role of caecal
bacteria in the aetiology of equine laminitis.
The Clinical Immunology Laboratory (Prof Dirk Werling and Dr. Brian Catchpole) studies
the innate immune response and how this might be manipulated to prime adaptive
immune responses. This research is being applied to a range of infectious diseases,
autoimmune diseases, novel forms of cancer therapy in companion animals and diabetes
mellitus. The aim is to obtain greater understanding of the genetic and immunological
events that trigger the immune system in order to develop new therapeutic strategies.
THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
There are over 350 postgraduate students at the RVC as studying as follows
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

Research students (MPhil, PhD, DVetMed)
Junior and Senior Clinical Training Scholars
MSc students studying Wild Animal Health and Wild Animal Biology (in
collaboration with the Institute of Zoology, London), Veterinary Epidemiology (in
conjunction with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine) and both
an MSc and Diploma in Control of Infectious Diseases in Animals and in Veterinary
Physiotherapy
MSc and Diploma students studying Livestock Health and Production or
Veterinary Epidemiology and Public Health (by Distance Learning, University of
London External Programme)
All the above students are registered and tracked during their courses by the Graduate
School and student progress is monitored. Short courses to develop student generic skills
are organised through the Graduate School. Students have access to Postgraduate Tutors
and through the Postgraduate Student Society (PGSS) have representation on many
College committees. Social events are also organised by the PGSS.
The Graduate School was established in 2000 to ensure best practice in graduate
education, to ensure effective administration of graduate affairs, to present a strong
corporate image in graduate affairs and to maximise recruitment of graduate students.
The Head of the Graduate School, Professor Fiona Cunningham, is supported in the
central office on the Camden Campus by two full-time administrators. An induction day
provides an introduction to postgraduate training at the RVC and the opportunity to meet
with other students.