Veterinary Education at St. George's University in Grenada, West Indies

Donald F. Smith, Cornell University
Posted December 9, 2015

Two decades after Charles Modica established a medical school on the island of Grenada, he added a School of Veterinary Medicine to his thriving campus, which by then included degree programs in nursing, public health, graduate studies and business administration. In 2011, the School of Veterinary Medicine at St. George’s University was accredited by the AVMA’s Council on Education.

St. George’s admits two classes per year of about 100 students each and provides traditional summer breaks. Students spend the equivalent of their first three years at the island location, then complete their fourth-year clinical year at an AVMA-accredited college, usually in the United States.

St. George’s students reflect an unusually robust geographic diversity. A substantial proportion of students is admitted from New York and the Northeastern corridor as well as the other populous states of California, Florida and Illinois, but it is not uncommon to see representation from less populated states without veterinary colleges or contracts with established colleges. There is also a significant contingent from Canada, other Caribbean Islands, South America and Africa. This “global” community is a feature across the university, and is consistently acclaimed by Chancellor Modica in his address to each incoming veterinary class.

When Dr. Ray Sis arrived in Grenada as professor of Anatomy in August 2001, he joined a young veterinary program with inaugural dean, David Hogg, who had established the School in 1999. In 2003, Sis became the second dean of the school. A 1957 Kansas State alumnus of considerable veterinary and administrative experience, he was a perfect fit for the young school, shepherding the DVM and graduate degree program through an impressive period of maturation and growth.

He recruited sufficient faculty so that the veterinary program would provide instruction for all of the first-, second- and third-year curricula, and expanded clinical sites for fourth-year rotations to 24 US and six foreign colleges. He enhanced a system of visiting professors, often distinguished senior faculty from international colleges, who delivered important parts of the curriculum and provided guidance in research and graduate education. They also contributed expert advice toward achieving the goal of accreditation.

A priority that unites the health sciences components of the campus and gains momentum each year is St. George’s interpretation of One Health One Medicine. Seven years ago, a third-year student named Brittany King was performing a community rabies vaccination clinic with other veterinary students when the mother of a child who had brought her dog for vaccination scolded the students for preferentially caring for animals over the community’s children. With the support of Dean Sis, King met with students from the human medical college and together they organized a combined veterinary medical and human medical community care clinic for pets and children. As the program grew, public health undergraduate students were also drawn into the program.

Students from the three health sciences schools began a semiannual community clinic covering several aspects of the human-animal relationship, from animal vaccinations, to common zoonotic disease prevention in children, to nutritional counseling. The program continued after King, now a veterinarian working in a multi-doctor practice in Texas, graduated in 2010. The success of one critical public health aspect of the program (rabies control) was honored in early 2015 by the awarding of the Global One Health Challenge prize, sponsored by the Global Alliance for Rabies Control.

Dean Timothy Ogilvie, DVM, MSc, LLD, Diplomate ACVIM

(Photo by Julie Kumble, 2015)

Canadian Dr. Tim Ogilvie, a graduate of the Ontario Veterinary College and former dean at the Atlantic Veterinary College, is the current dean. An accomplished large animal internist with extensive administrative experience, including serving as president of the Canadian VMA, and blessed with a bright smile and engaging personality, Ogilvie continues the supportive learning environment that was a trademark of the Sis years.

AVMA Presidential Candidates Discuss Governance, Future Scope of the Profession, and Advocacy

Posted July 7, 2014

Donald Smith, Cornell University 

On June 18, the website of the American Veterinary Medical Association (JAVMA news) posted an interview with the two candidates for president-elect of the AVMA.1 Drs. Larry G. Dee and Joseph H. Kinnarney are running for the position that will be decided by the House of Delegates (HOD) July 25th preceding the annual convention in Denver.

After reading the responses to the interviewer’s questions, I decided to invite the two candidates to expand on specific subjects that I thought may be of interest to readers of this site. Both candidates agreed and their written responses follow. I am grateful to both individuals for participating in this request for comment, and to AVMA Senior News Editor, Susan C. Kohler, for her support.2

Regarding Length of Terms in Office:
You have a combined 27 years of service in the House of Delegates (HOD). Admittedly that was a different era when service and time commitment were often measured by longevity, but even during those decades some may have felt it excessive to have such a long period of service. How do you explain this when you both advocate for more active engagement from the membership?

Dr. Larry G. Dee:
The short answer to the question is that we represented our associations in an acceptable, appropriate, and perhaps, exemplary fashion that encouraged our reelection to additional terms in the HOD. When I first entered the HOD 20 years ago, the typical delegate had demonstrated years of service to their association, often as president of that association. Longevity of service in the House allowed a better understanding of AVMA process, and allowed the development of relationships between members. These factors must be compared to the value of increasing opportunities for new representation with its implied increase in activity, vigor, and enthusiasm, as well as increased representation of younger members of the Association.

While I was in the House, the FVMA elected the alternate delegate to a four-year term, automatically becoming delegate for an additional four years. In the absence of a superior candidate for the position, I was reelected alternate delegate at the end of my term as delegate. During my tenure in the House, I was able to introduce resolutions that resulted in the current State Advocacy Committee, and the AVMA position on standardization of microchips. In addition, through debate on the House floor, I was able to convince the House to refer to the Animal Welfare Committee a resolution which had been approved by the Executive Board, the HAC, and the reference committee, that, if passed, would have embarrassed the Association and the profession.

My terms in the House were frustrated by my inability to identify Florida veterinarians who would run for the various councils and committees, a frustration that continues. I believe the goal for the HOD should be to have delegates in the House who actively address the challenges of our profession and are willing to act as catalysts for change. I do not believe that longevity, in itself, is completely good or bad, nor do I believe that youth and inexperience, in themselves, should be gatekeepers for service.

Whether the changes in governance structure are approved or not, I believe they have invigorated the House to have a more active role in leading the Association.

Dr. Joseph H. Kinnarney:
I was fortunate to be a young leader in AVMA. At 35, I was elected alternate delegate to AVMA. At 45 I was elected AVMA Vice President and then went back in the HOD as delegate. While I agree it is important to involve younger members in leadership positions, we must also have a governance structure that allows advancement of more seasoned members.

Regarding Women’s Leadership in the AVMA:
In your combined reports, there is only one oblique mention of gender and that is in reference to “the nonpractice obligations of many women veterinarians.3 How would your appointment as president create opportunities for women’s leadership in the profession? More specifically, how would you propose helping to close the leadership gap in the AVMA?

Dr. Dee:
Ask them to serve.Offer expanded leadership training, like the Veterinary Leadership Conference to younger members of the profession. Clearly state that you have expectations that the women and men entering the profession will serve in leadership capacities. Understand the economic challenges of recent graduates and define leadership opportunities in time and economic costs so that they are attainable by this generation.

The Association is continuing to add places on various councils and committees for student representation and could expand this to include other young representatives. We may find that stipends may be required for some positions, such as the Executive Board, because of the costs incurred in time and money when serving in this capacity.

Dr. Kinnarney:
Gender issues in our profession need to be addressed as well as the make-up of our profession. Do we reflect the society we serve? No. Does our leadership reflect the membership? No. AVMA must address both of these issues. During the last 10 years both state association leadership and HOD Makeup has become more balanced. However, at the AVMA Officer and Executive Board level there have not been enough female members. We, as the current leaders must look at those positions and ask why there is this imbalance. Then work to make effective changes. With the current schedule of Board members, it eliminates over 99% of our members from seeking these positions. We must look at how the Board functions and make it doable for more of our members to seek these positions.

Regarding the Future Scope of the Profession:
One of you is quoted in JAVMA, “A hundred years ago, I am sure veterinarians thought the profession was over when cars replaced the horse and mule. Instead, we grew and adapted to the changing needs of the American public.”4 Yes, many thought the profession was in crisis when the remainder of our city colleges closed in the 1920s and the veterinary colleges retreated to the country where we clung to the land grant priority. A few of our leaders adopted public health priorities, but the majority of us learned how to treat cows and pigs and chickens, and a few farm horses. We left behind cities largely devoid of veterinarians interested in caring for the growing small animal population and we left the medical profession without the benefit of as many colleagues interested in comparative medicine.

We now live in a world where animals are considered to be an important contributor to human health, even one of the factors that could help slow the escalating cost of medical care. How do you think the AVMA could have a role in helping the veterinary profession develop a 21st century partnership with human medicine, one that we began to have a century ago when some of our veterinary colleges were aligned with major medical schools like Harvard, New York University, Columbia, and George Washington University? On the topic of pet health care, do you also think we have the capacity to expand the role of the academic veterinary community in the major urban areas of the country?

Dr. Dee:
These multiple issues are challenging. I think the primary gatekeeper in the One Health Initiative is the human medical profession. We must through advocacy and legislation expand our roles in this arena. Much of this challenge is economically driven. To expand our role in One Health I would consider supporting and expanding the National Academies of Practice in Veterinary Medicine by increasing the number of nominated individuals and giving financial and staff support to their initiatives. Expanding the financial support of veterinarians working in basic science and public health would be an initial step in improving our standing in the eyes of the human medical community.

“Expanding the role of the academic veterinary community in the major urban areas” is unclear. If you mean having “the capacity to open university administered or owned clinical facilities in urban areas,” while we may have the capacity, it would be opposed by most AVMA members in private practice. It would be seen as a non-profit competing against tax-paying small business. I believe there are an adequate number of specialty practices in urban areas to serve the needs of the public. One could consider these specialty practices as representing “the academic veterinary community.”

Dr. Kinnarney:
The AVMA president has not only been the spokesperson for the association, but also to our members and other veterinary associations. It is the time for our president to go to the public and profess the value of a veterinarian not only in terms of clinical practice, but public health, food safety, research, bio-security and human animal bond. The association must be considered the premier expert in these areas.

Regarding Advocacy for the Profession:
You both talk about communication and advocacy. If you had 30 minutes one-on-one with each of three prominent people (of any profession or position) to discuss one issue of the veterinary profession, who would they be and what issue would you address with each person?

Dr. Dee:
• President Obama: Veterinary medicine in biological terrorism events
• Head of FEMA: Veterinary resources and natural disasters
• Head of Parks and Wildlife Service: Feral horses

Dr. Kinnarney:
• Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education: How to address the debt to income problem facing veterinary medicine.
• Dr. Margaret Chan, Director Of WHO: The importance of Veterinary Medicine in protecting the health of the world.
• Warren Buffet: How to get the economics of the profession back on track.

On behalf of all of the readers of www.veritasdvmblog.com, I extend my sincere thanks and appreciation to both Dr. Dee and Dr. Kinnarney.

Dr. Smith invites comments at dfs6@cornell.edu

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1 ] Nolen, R. Scott (interviews). ““AVMA presidential candidates, in their own words. Dee, Kinnarney lay out their visions for the profession and AVMA,” Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association. July 1, 2014. 245(1):16-19.
2 Kahler, Susan C. (AVMA Senior News Editor), email to Donald F. Smith (Cornell University), July 1, 2014.
3 Nolen, “AVMA presidential candidates, in their own words.”
4 Ibid.

A Graduation Gift of a Book for your Favorite Veterinary Graduate

Donald F. Smith, Cornell University

Posted May 14, 2014

If you have a family member or friend receiving their Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree this spring, why not include a great read among your considerations for a graduation gift? Here are three of my favorites, including one out-of-print gem.

First is from one of today’s hottest writers, Sheryl Sandberg. Need I say more? I just purchased her second book, shown in the picture below.1 Because of the overlap with her previous book, “Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead,”2 I’d recommend this later version. HINT: Don’t only get it for women graduates. Men need it just as much, perhaps more. Seriously!

Three Great Reads for Your New DVM Graduate

(Photo by the Author, 2014)

My second suggestion was written by recently-deceased veterinarian, Dr. Jeanne N. Logue, called “The Wonder of it All.”3 Though it has been out of print for years, I recently purchased three copies on Amazon for gifts, and they are all in wonderful condition (and at a great price).

In preparation for my recent post on this site about Dr. Logue, I re-read her emotionally-charged and exquisitely-penned chronicle of the middle portion of her veterinary career. Once again, I fell in love with her story.4 A 1944 DVM graduate, she writes about what it was like being a veterinarian, mother, and wife in general practice during an era where you could go for months without having a family meal that wasn’t interrupted by a sick dog at your door, or a bovine emergency ten miles away. Admittedly, other veterinarians over the years have chronicled books of this sort and, apart from losing her wedding ring in the womb of a cow while trying to help deliver a calf, their stories are not all that dissimilar.

The Logue difference, however―and this is why I recommend her book to accompany “Lean In”—is that she talks with personal authenticity of the struggles of being a solo-practitioner woman with all the attendant pulls of a busy veterinary practice, while being a mother and wife of a mid-20th century professional man who seems unable to make the requisite accommodations to meet her halfway.

I knew both her and her husband during the twilight years of their lives, and in reading her stories describing her work 30 years earlier, it struck me again how devoted and loving she was to her husband and her children. Her reflection on the pre-dawn morning, while returning home from yet another emergency farm call, when she parked in a familiar field overlooking a lake, and quietly and emotionally made the decision to sell her practice is, by itself, worth the trouble of locating and buying the book.5

[At my special quiet spot overlooking the lake], Orion was reflected in the lake again, and there being something about this particular constellation from which I would gain strength and regain my equanimity, I studied his stars for a while in an effort to center down, query myself and perhaps organize my harassed emotions and troubled thoughts.

As she contemplated what to do as the collisions of her personal and professional lives grated across each other like a steel-bristled broom on concrete, the personal side took precedence.

I turned my mind to the present. I reevaluated all of the complaints Joe had hurled at me at bedtime [the evening before] and I tried very hard, with both love and understanding, to see his point of view. …for the first time in my life, I began to feel a bit uncertain about myself.

Of one thing, however, I was still certain. One thing was firm, it was absolute and it was enduring. It was also very simple: I loved the man with all my being.

“A Way of Life”6 is my third recommendation. It is about William Osler (1849-1919), the best-known and highly-regarded MD of the time, the man who is often considered the father of modern clinical medicine. Osler had a close connection to veterinary medicine. He was even a member of the Faculty of Comparative Medicine at McGill University’s veterinary college (a subject written about previously on this site).7

As a spokesperson for the medical profession, Osler’s words are as fresh today as when he addressed students at Yale in 1913, advising them to stay focused on the present day, and not be overwhelmed by the successes or failures of yesterday, nor the looming concerns of tomorrow.8

In his address to the graduating students at the University of Pennsylvania in 1889, Osler talked about the need for imperturbability and equanimity in all their actions. Imperturbability, referring to physical self-control, is necessary to ensure clear judgment, he argued, emphasizing that it must be based on a wide knowledge of disease and of what needs to be done. Equanimity, he explained, is necessary for physicians to maintain presence of mind by being patient and persistent in working with patients.9

In my teaching on veterinary history, whether to veterinary students or to national audiences, I always pay tribute to Osler. His legacy in animal medicine and his enduring commitment to One Health are as relevant in the present as they were a century ago.

Whether contemporary or legendary, consider a book as a gift. Perhaps purchase two, and treat yourself to a good read.

Dr. Smith invites comments at dfs6@cornell.edu

 

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1 Sandberg, Sheyl, Lean In for Graduates. (New York. Alfred A. Knopf, 2014)
2 Sandberg, Sheryl, Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead. (New York. Alfred A. Knopf, 2013)
3 Logue, Jeanne. The Wonder of It All.. (New York, Hagerstown, San Francisco, London, Sydney: Harper & Row, 1979).
4 Smith, Donald F. Jeanne Neubecker Logue: The Veterinarian who Understood the Wonder of it All. Perspectives in Veterinary Medicine. May 13, 2014.
5 Logue, Jeanne. The Wonder of It All. 166
6 Osler, Sir William. A Way of Life and other Addresses, with Commentary and Annotations (Durham and London, Duke University Press 2001)
7 Smith, Donald F. A Dual DVM/PhD Program is Established in Montreal, Canada. Perspectives in Veterinary Medicine. April 4, 2014
8 Osler, Sir William. A Way of Life and other Addresses, with Commentary and Annotations, 3-7.

9 Ibid. 21-29

The Critical Role of Mentors for Veterinary Students

Donald F. Smith (Cornell University)

and Julie Kumble (Women's Fund of Western Massachusetts)

May 9, 2014

Mentoring is widely considered to be an essential ingredient in the success and future leadership of students. Nearly all of the women deans of veterinary colleges with whom we’ve spoken point to the absolute influence that mentors had on their trajectories.1 The belief, confidence and support of their mentors fostered for these women a sense of belief and confidence in them.

We took their lessons to heart and asked each of the 35 students in our course, “Women’s Leadership in Veterinary Medicine,”2 to identify a potential mentor and to interview her (or him) as a means to establish a first-time connection, or to further cultivate an already existing relationship.

Nurturing is a close cousin of mentoring, and some of us are fortunate enough to find people in our academic years who offer a good dose of each. New York Times Op Ed columnist, Charles Blow, defines the concept of nurturing as it relates to his professors and how pivotal they were in his college years.3 He also cites a new study that points to the fact that students report feeling like they’ve had mentoring or nurturing far too infrequently.4

While we believe that mentors within veterinary college are important to career development, we also stressed to our students the critical importance of reaching beyond the academy. However, there was a time in veterinary educational circles that mentoring was considered the exclusive provenance of veterinary college faculty. In the early days of the profession, one prominent academic, Dean Leonard Pearson5 who chaired the AVMA’s Committee on Intelligence and Education, insisted that just as “water runs downstream from its source … No profession can rise higher than the schools in which its members are trained, as these are the sources of the special knowledge…” Reporting on behalf of his committee in 1907, Pearson inferred that knowledge emanates from the veterinary colleges and that practitioners in the field would always be less informed than their teachers and only by having well-educated faculty could veterinarians ever be expected to be able to practice effectively.6

By the 1930s (if not before), that concept had been turned on its head and veterinarians outside of the universities were developing some of the major advances in clinical medicine and feeding them back into the universities.7 More recently, and especially since the development of the clinical specialty boards in the last half century, some of the most progressive practitioners and scholars can be found in private practice, research institutes, governmental agencies and nonprofits, as well as in academia.

We instructed the students in our course to reach outside the university to find potential mentors for their class assignment―because they have regular access to faculty here at Cornell, we insisted that they broaden their network. Some took a comfortable, but still valuable, route of interviewing veterinarians who had been instrumental earlier in their career, as they developed their credentials for applying to college. Others were venturesome, contacting people whom they had only heard about, or whom they identified through the AVMA member data base (a marvelous resource, by the way).

Aziza Glass, who is interested in a career in biomedical science, tracked down and interviewed four-time space traveler, Dr. Richard Linnehan, who told her that veterinary schools need to find ways to move beyond their classical mindset to include One Health as a crucial part of veterinary theory, education and practice sets.8

Because of her interview with Dr. Karen Bradley, founder of Women’s Veterinary Leadership Development Initiative, Jordan Daniels was energized at the increasingly active role that dynamic and courageous practitioners can play in transforming organized veterinary medicine and making it more responsive in the 21st century. She took that verve and, together with several other students in the course, launched the first student chapter of the Women’s Veterinary Leadership Development Initiative.

Yet another student interviewed Dr. Valerie Ragan, director of the Center for Public and Corporate Veterinary Medicine. Another interviewed a women who is one of the most creative and skilled deans in the country.

These are not just insightful and helpful interviews, but they represent introductions to some of the truly great leaders of our time with the potential for these people (both women and men) to affect the careers of students in a meaningful and sustaining manner.

We agree with Mr. Blow that mentors are important and they are often available in the students’ college environment. But as educators of future professionals we must insist that more of our educational offerings tie directly to experts and leaders outside the academy. To be competitive in today’s veterinary environment, our students should develop strategic networks and mentoring relationships that include the breadth of the profession.

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1 Smith, Donald F and Julie Kumble. Mentoring as a Career Factor: Six US Women Deans Reflect. Perspectives in Veterinary Medicine.Sept 12, 2013.
2 Smith, Donald F and Julie Kumble. Women’s Leadership in Veterinary Medicine: A Course for Veterinary Students. Perspectives in Veterinary Medicine. April 2, 2014.
3 Blow, Charles M. In College, Nurturing Matters. New York Times, May 7, 2014.
4 Ray, Julie and Stephanie Kafka. Life in College Matters for Life After College. Gallup Economy, May 6, 2014.
5 Leonard Pearson VMD was the third dean of veterinary medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (1897-1909).
6 Pearson, Leonard, Report of the Committee on Intelligence and Education. Proceedings of the American Veterinary Medical Association 1907. (Philadelphia, J.B. Lippincott Company), 1908.101-102.
7 Smith, Donald F. 150th Anniversary of Veterinary Education and the Veterinary Profession in the United States. J Vet Med Educ 37(4) 2010, 322-323.
8 Glass, Aziza. A Student Interviews a Veterinary Astronaut. Perspectives in Veterinary Medicine. April 28, 2014.

Dr. Smith invites comments at dfs6@cornell.edu

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A Veterinary Student Interviews a Veterinarian Astronaut, Dr. Rick Linnehan

Guest author:  Aziza N. Glass, Cornell DVM Class of 2015

Editor’s Note: As a class project, third-year Cornell DVM student, Aziza Glass, interviewed one of the only two veterinary astronauts in history. Before coming to Cornell, Aziza graduated from one of the earliest and most historically-important public colleges in the state of Texas, Prairie View A&M University. I chose her paper because of its connection to One Health and because Aziza demonstrated that even prestigious and time-challenged veterinarians will almost always take time to talk to an interested student.

Donald F. Smith

As a veterinary medical student, I appreciate comparative medicine and the promotion of animal health and well-being. As a research scientist, I appreciate the scientific method and the process of creating new knowledge. Recently, I was able to combine both of my passions by attending the National Space Biomedical Research Institute Apprenticeship at NASA’s Johnson Space Center.  While participating in the program, I became aware of the fact that veterinarians had been to space. One in particular was of interest to me.

Author Aziza Glass, Cornell University DVM Candidate

(Photo by Julie Kumble during Women’s Leadership Symposium, Cornell University 2014)

Rick Linnehan graduated from The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine in 1985. He entered private practice, and then completed a joint internship at the Baltimore Zoo and Johns Hopkins University in zoo medicine and comparative pathology. In 1988, he entered the US Army Veterinary Corps and was appointed the chief clinical veterinarian and Officer in Charge for the Navy’s Marine Mammal Program. He completed the Army Medical Department (AMEDD) training at Fort Sam Houston. Four years later, Linnehan was accepted by the National Space and Aeronautics Administration (NASA) and began a year-long training program as an Astronaut Candidate (ASCAN) working with flight software, payload development, and flight support in preparation for future assignments as a mission specialist aboard the space shuttle. Although he is not training for missions these days, Dr. Linnehan has flown into space four times, logging 58 days and six space walks.

Dr. Linnehan during one of his several Extra-Vehicular Activities (space walks).
(Photo by NASA)

Contacting an astronaut is a big deal, and being able to get on his schedule for a class assignment is practically a long shot. However, something told me to go for it, and I did. Countless emails later I finally got a response. Anxious would be the best way to describe my mindset as I called Dr. Linnehan (yes, it was on his cell). I immediately relaxed as he answered the phone and introduced himself and proceeded with small talk.

Taking a deep breath I moved forward with my first question: “What was your easiest transition from veterinarian to astronaut.”

It’s best not to categorize the transition as easy or hard. It was on a whole different level. You’re being stretched to the limit, learning new things that a veterinarian would never normally have to learn. Essentially the training was massive memorization—sometimes mind numbing—training your mind to recall and operate almost automatically, something akin to “muscle memory.” You’re trained to respond, immediately and operationally, to real time emergencies that literally can be life or death if not acted on correctly and with alacrity. It’s a new level of learning that’s in a category all to itself.

Though Dr. Linnehan had many mentors during his veterinary career, he went through the
“pressure cooker” of the astronaut corps training like everyone else, including mission specialists and pilots alike. “It’s easy to give up when things get hard. I was constantly told you couldn’t do this or that. But you have to learn not to write yourself off too quickly. Be somewhat stubborn. Stick to it. Sometimes just being the last person standing means you win.”

I told him, “My Dad says, ‘Sometimes you gotta win ugly, but it’s still a win.’” He replied, “…Tell your Dad he’s a smart man.” “Thanks, I will” I said.

Dr. Linnehan’s background as a veterinarian taught him to rapidly identify and diagnose apparent programs, follow correct procedures, and to “fix things.”  He reminded me that the veterinary mindset and training prepares you by spanning multiple species, differing physiologic facets and diagnostic regimes. “Vets are already extremely well-prepared for being astronauts by how we are taught to operationally think—and take action.”

When I inquired how he has been able to use his platform to advance the field of veterinary medicine, Dr. Linnehan responded that he has not been able to do as much as he would have liked. Then he became candid, saying that part of the reason is that the veterinary medicine status quo has become refractory to change.

We have to get away from the mindset that the practice of “traditional” veterinary medicine is bounded. Historic perceptions of what and who we are as a profession must change, and this “expansion” must start at the veterinary colleges and also with the public health sector.

The One Health global veterinary initiative must be given more than lip service and embraced as the next stage in the evolution of the veterinary profession as we enter the new millennium. Currently veterinarians are under-represented and under-utilized and are not in the necessary leadership roles we are best suited for—of any of the health professions—in the complex and critically-important global health forum. We, as a profession, are the ideal people to guide these conversations and enact positive public health change and quality of life benefits for all species that share the planet.

My goal is to find a way for veterinary schools to expand from the classical mindset and include the global One Health Initiative as a crucial part of veterinary theory, education and practice skills sets. Emerging Infectious Diseases (EIDs)/zoonoses, conservation and sustainability, agriculture/mariculture, toxicology, genomics, public health, etc.; veterinarians are better trained and possess the diagnostic armamentarium to handle these vanguard issues. We have the potential to redefine the perception and definition of what it means to be a veterinarian. We need to be at the top of the global health infrastructure pyramid to perturb how the private and public sectors perceive our value as veterinarians.

Being the only veterinarian in the astronaut corps, it was difficult for other more traditional astronaut recruits to understand why a veterinarian was there.  For that matter, it was equally as confusing for some members of my own profession to grasp why I wanted to become an astronaut. For the most part, I had to give up my clinical life and passion for exotic/marine veterinary medicine in order to do it. But, it was important to prove what veterinarians could do it and how well prepared they are to delve into any presumable untraditional field and succeed.

To round out the interview, as well as satisfy my own curiosity, I asked Dr. Linnehan which one animal he would most like to take with him on his next space flight, and why.  “I think it would be the dolphin,” he answered.

Cetaceans evolved and live their entire lives in neutral buoyancy, and that’s the closest thing on the planet in terms of emulating the microgravity environment of space. In fact, we do our Extra Vehicular Activities task training in a giant water pool called the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory to simulate the microgravity of space with all its difficulties in adapting and working in a space suit outside the space shuttle or International Space Station. It would be interesting to see how quickly dolphins adapt to the space environment as compared to land mammals – us.  Actually, a great si-fi novel, “Startide Rising” by David Brin, posed the same question, and it’s stuck with me ever since. Yeah, I’d take a dolphin.

After he answered my last question, I grinned from ear to ear. This had been awesome.  I’m most grateful for Dr. Linnehan’s candidness and honesty. I thanked him for the interview, and he congratulated me on making it to my third year of vet school. His advice? “Enjoy it.”

Then he left me with this tidbit. “You know, I always wanted to go to Cornell, but I didn’t get in. I grew up in the New England area, and we had only one New Hampshire contract available. So I’m sort of jealous right now.”

Yeah, this had to be the highlight of my week.

Dr. Smith welcomes comments at dfs6@cornell.edu

This blog is also available at www.veritasdvmblog.com

A Dual DVM/MD Program is Established in Montreal, Canada

By Donald F. Smith, Cornell University

Posted April 4, 2014

See also https://www.veritasdvmblog.com/dual-dvmmd-program-established-montreal-canada/

Montreal, Quebec

Veterinarians can now become physicians with just one year of extra study!! To emphasize the growing understanding that human and veterinary medicine are complementary and that they are founded upon the same scientific principles, the dean of the Montreal Veterinary College has joined forces with a leading physician who has just returned from a tour in Europe. The two renowned academics also share the same avant-garde philosophy of medical teaching. With the veterinary dean’s consent, Canada’s foremost physician, will initiate a research program in comparative medicine and also develop a joint teaching program for medical and veterinary students.

Under the program, veterinary student instruction in physiology, pathology, chemistry and microscopy will be shared with physicians from the McGill University Faculty of Medicine.  In these courses, the content will be the same as that for medical students, and the examinations will be identical.

Students who complete the veterinary curriculum in good standing will be able to take one additional year in the McGill medical curriculum and will qualify as physicians as well as veterinarians.[i]

As you may have guessed if you read this far, the above report is not contemporary. Rather, it is from the 1880s when novel strategic thinking about the health sciences was more prevalent that it is today. And it was only made possible because it was between two of the most brilliant and opportunistic medical minds of the late 19^th century.

The physician of the duo was William Osler, then still at McGill (before he went to Philadelphia and from there to Baltimore where he helped establish the Johns Hopkins Hospital). Osler was America’s first comparative pathologist and he even convinced the dean of the Montreal Veterinary College to rename his institution the Faculty of Comparative Medicine.

The veterinarian is someone whose name few will recognize. Many more people know the reputation of his classmate, Andrew Smith, who also graduated in 1861 from the renowned Edinburgh Veterinary College.  Others will know of Cornell’s first veterinary professor, James Law, also a contemporary student from Edinburgh. This third member of the distinguished Scottish trio, and the man with whom Osler felt such a close affinity, was Duncan McNab McEachran.

Duncan McNab McEachran

(Photo from Dictionary of Canadian Biography, see reference 1, below)

Though McEachran was probably the most brilliant of the three veterinarians, and certainly had the career with the greatest versatility, the college he founded in Montreal would only last until 1903 when the continued decline in public funding, and McEachran’s continued insistence on very high academic  standards, led to fewer and fewer students. Though he arranged for teaching sections in both English and French (actually that was another challenge because of the need for faculty in each language), the enrollment continued to fall until McEachran was forced to close. 

Nonetheless, a total of 315 students graduated from the college that many considered one of the best, if not the best, veterinary institution in North America at the time.

McEachran had a multifaceted career in additional to his role as an educator.  He developed the first animal quarantine system for Canada at a time with increased transatlantic movement of livestock was increasing and foot-and-mouth disease was present in Britain. In 1876, he was appointed the chief livestock inspector for Canada and set up quarantine stations that later become a model for the US system. Four years earlier, New York City authorities had invited McEachran to find ways to combat the severe influenza outbreak in horses that had paralyzed the city in what was often referred to as the great equine epizootic of 1872.

By the 1890’s, McEachran branched into controlling tuberculosis through tuberculin testing.  Twenty years before the practice was accepted, he recommended a system for producing and distributing milk in Montreal. Within the professional organizations for veterinary medicine, he worked with Andrew Smith to improve the training of graduate veterinarians, and to reduce the possibility of charlatans from plying their trade. His writings and political action were instrumental in creating the Board of Veterinary Surgeons for the Province of Quebec.

In later life, his entrepreneurial spirit led him to areas of financial profit as a stockbreeder, when he helped establish two of the largest ranches in western Canada.

Like so many other events in veterinary history, sometimes programs close and other times the full expression of peoples’ talents and passions are never realized for other reasons. I think of the untimely closure of Harvard’s Veterinary College in 1901, the dismissal of Daniel Salmon from the Bureau of Animal Industry in the same decade, the death (was it really of natural causes?) of Pennsylvania’s Dean Leonard Pearson, the decision to keep Cornell’s veterinary college in Ithaca, rather than have it join its partner medical school when it moved to New York City, the tragic rule of anti-Semitism over rationality in the closure of Middlesex University in the 1940s. The list goes on.

The closure of McGill’s Faculty of Comparative Medicine is one of the great tragedies in the history of veterinary medicine.  Another way to think of McEachran’s lost impact could be imagined if he had come to the US after the turn of the century, and landed at one of the veterinary colleges in New York City (perhaps Columbia or New York University, for example) or at the University of Pennsylvania, or maybe even in Washington, what a different world veterinary medicine would be today.  One can only dream of the impact he could have had on the development of veterinary medicine and One Health, both as an individual, and through his continued association with physicians like William Osler.

Dr. Smith welcomes comments at dfs6@cornell.edu

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[i] Adapted, with some literary license from the Biography of Duncan McNab McEachran. Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Volume XV (1921-1930), University of Toronto/Universite Laval, 2005

Check out my New Blog at www.VeritasDVMblog.com

Posted August 29, 2013

Donald F. Smith DVM

Please explore my new blog, Perspectives in Veterinary Medicine, produced in conjunction with Cornell and Texas A&M Universities, and Zoetis.  

In celebration of the 150^th anniversary of the American Veterinary Medical Association, I am posting this series of stories to chronicle the events that have contributed to the way the veterinary profession functions today. This is all with an eye to the future, helping us anticipate what comes next in our profession.

Regular readers of this blog will see some overlap but most stories are new and more detailed, with more references and footnotes.

I am deeply appreciative of the almost 100,000 "reads" that you have provided over the past three years. You have been my most loyal support base and I deeply appreciate your readership.  It is my hope that you will also join me now at Perspectives in Veterinary Medicine.

As always, you can reach me at dfs6@cornell.edu.

With all good wishes, Donald Smith.

Arizona's New College of Veterinary Medicine

By Donald F. Smith, Cornell University

Posted January 18, 2013

With the appointment last week of a dean of veterinary medicine for Midwestern University, Arizona is moving forward with plans to open the 29^th veterinary college in the United States in fall 2014. They have already received a State of Arizona License and are scheduled for a site team by the Council on Education of the American Veterinary Medical Association starting January 20, 2013.

Dr. Brian Sidaway is the
dean of veterinary medicine
at Midwestern University
in Glendale, Arizon
(Photo by Midwestern University)

Midwestern University, a not for profit health sciences university in Glendale, Arizona is home to colleges of osteopathic medicine, pharmacy, optometry, dental health and a large number of master and doctorate programs in its health science college.  When I asked President and CEO Kathleen H. Goeppinger, Ph.D. last year why she would contemplate starting a college of veterinary medicine, she gave one of the most compelling rationales I have ever heard by a senior university administrator.  “Quite simply,” she said, “animals contribute to human health and I felt having a health sciences campus without veterinary medicine would be incomplete.”  Apart from the important role that animals play in supporting human health and well-being, she also pointed to the need to educate more veterinarians to serve in rural areas of Arizona.

At the national level, many practicing veterinarians feel that the 25% growth in the number of veterinary graduates in the last decade has created an oversupply of new veterinarians entering clinical practice. However, Arizona is the second most populous state without a veterinary college (1) and the number of Arizona residents who are accepted each year into U.S. veterinary colleges is among the lowest in the country. Similarly, the number of veterinarians per capita practicing in Arizona is much less than the national average.

When it comes to the vast rural areas in Arizona, the need for veterinarians is especially acute for both livestock and horses, but also for companion animals. Midwestern proposes to accept more students from rural areas with the hope that they will fill that critical need.

Another great unmet need for veterinarians across the entire U.S. is in public and corporate practice. This priority is recognized by former surgeon general Rich Carmona, MD, who lives in Tucson, AZ. Dr. Carmona is a strong supporter of the critical role of veterinarians in public health and he shared the following with me in March last year when the first announcement of Midwestern’s plans were made public.

"During my tenure as United States Surgeon General [2002-06], it became very apparent that veterinarians were essential elements not only to the nation's health, but also to national and global preparedness activities, and as leaders of our multidisciplinary teams.

Veterinarians were some of the most sought-after professionals by all branches of the Federal Government. Whether from traditional veterinary practice to research and development, zoonoses, emerging infectious and global health, we were always in short supply of veterinarians."

Midwestern will be just the fourth veterinary college in the U.S. to be established on a non land-grant campus. Though it will fulfill the need to educate students in species of agricultural interest, its urban location (2) and its educational priorities will also reflect the reality that the overwhelming majority of practicing veterinarians are needed in companion animal practice. These veterinarians not only serve the health needs of the family pet, but also promote the concept of one health for all species because of the positive impact pets have for human health and well-being.

1)  Arizona's population is 6.6 million (2012 estimate). New Jersey, the most populous state without a veterinary college, has 8.9 million people.
2)  Midwestern is located in a metropolitan area of over four million people, one of only four veterinary colleges in the country located in the top 15 metropolitan areas in the U.S. Like Midwestern, each of the other three colleges is located on a campus with other health science colleges (University of Pennsylvania, Tufts University and Western University of the Health Sciences).