Upcoming Events
Public Health Careers Series
The goal of this series is to bring speakers in from different areas of the public health arena to expose students to a cross-section of the public health career paths open to veterinarians. The talks will aim to focus on “showing through example”, and wherever possible speakers will be encouraged to walk students through investigations they’ve been on or cases they’ve worked.
"Vets in Public Health" by Dr. Robyn Stoddard
October 26, 2012
Dr. Robyn Stoddard, a current veterinary microbiologist for the CDC's Bacterial Special Pathogens Branch is back to offer students an introduction to the very diverse career options and pathways toward veterinary public health careers. She discusses key organizations and government branches involved in veterinary public health, provides biographical insight into the career paths of several public health veterinarians, and is a valuable contact at the CDC. Her email is frd8@cdc.gov.
Download
"Opening the Window on Public Health to Veterinary Students" Stoddard 2009
Wet Labs/Tours/Events/Exercises
"Field trip to California Animal Health and Food Safety Lab on UC Davis campus"
November 6, 2012In the fall, VPHO is offering CAHFS, the University's California Animal Health and Food Safety diagnostic lab. CAHFS offers support services in livestock & poultry animal disease control and health management, animal-origin food safety, protection from zoonotic disease, equine health and performance, and public health education and dissemination of knowledge. Club members will see the various departments and technologies encompassed within CAHFS, including: Microbiology (where they do testing for things such as anthrax), Immunology (where they do things like AGID testing for EIA), gross Pathology, Toxicology (you can put anything organic in front of their DART mass spectrometer and it will tell you what it is; i.e. almost all dollar bills have traces of cocaine), Microscopy ( how to make TEM and direct EM images seen in our various classes for looking at viruses or parasites in tissues), Histopathology, Cell Culture, BioTech/Virology (PCR machines and machines that can test for multiple diseases at once i.e. to test a sample for all vesicular diseases). Tour of the Bio Security Level 3 - isolation facility where research and diagnostics is performed on suspect or high-risk samples that may involve anything from foreign animal diseases to highly contagious pathogenic matter.
"Cargill and McDonald's "Farm to Fork" Fieldtrip"
November 12, 2012Students will tour the Fresno Cargill Meat Solutions plant which slaughters and processes cull dairy cattle. Students will observe the entire process, from arrival of animals at the facility to the production, packaging, and shipping of meat products to clients such as McDonald's. The tour emphasizes public health and the regulatory procedures, including how cattle are screened for Brucellosis, the role of the on-site USDA-FSIS veterinarian, how cattle are determined safe for human consumption vs. condemned (either ante-mortem or post-mortem), various on-site and laboratory tests for disease and antibiotic drug residues, and all of the antimicrobial and safety measures employed by Cargill in their production processes. Afterward, students will visit a local McDonald's restaurant to see how the restaurant works behind the scenes, including all of their food safety protocols and procedures.
