Donald G. Low-CVMA Practitioner Fellowship

The fellowship provides unique opportunities for practitioners to learn (1) in the clinical setting of the William R. Pritchard Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital (2) in other school programs, laboratories and centers such as the Veterinary Medical Teaching and Research Center (VMTRC) and (3) through interactions with faculty, residents, and students.

The Donald G. Low-CVMA Practitioner Fellowship program is designed to meet practitioner needs in ways not available within residencies or other current programs.

The fellowship is intended to provide intellectual stimulation, interaction, and discussion between the practitioner, faculty, and students within an area of interest to the practitioner. For example, the fellowship could be designed to improve general knowledge of ophthalmology through interaction within the clinical teaching environment, rounds and patient care.

The fellowship is not intended to provide specific training opportunities necessary to make the fellow proficient in a particular skill, such as cataract surgery. The development of specific task-oriented skills, such as mastering a surgical procedure, endoscopy, ultrasound, etc., are best met through residency training and continuing education programs, and are not the goal of this program.

Selected practitioner fellows are expected to spend 20 days in the program. Candidates select one of the services, centers, or laboratories (such as anesthesia, equine surgery & lameness, ophthalmology, small animal ultrasound/radiology, etc.) that have indicated sufficient case load and faculty resources to sustain a fellow in the coming year.

Because of the fluctuation in case load and faculty demands, all services, programs, and laboratories are invited annually to voluntarily participate in the following year's fellowship program based on their ability to meet the additional demands of such a program. The available fellowship areas are announced each year and listed on this site.

A committee of CVMA representatives and faculty members reviews applications and select finalists, who then develop an in-depth proposal in partnership with a faculty mentor in their area of interest. Fellowships are awarded on the basis of competitive merit.

Endowment earnings provide the financial resources to support the fellowship. Participating service units, programs, and laboratories receive support from the endowment at approximately the rate paid by veterinary students to offset additional costs associated with the fellow and to support the educational program of the unit.

No direct financial support for fellows is available. Fellows do not pay registration fees or tuition.

Upon completion of the program, fellows are awarded 72 Continuing Education credits.