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William R. Pritchard Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital

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  Large Animal Clinic
  (530) 752-0290

Notice to Candidates: We would like to inform potential candidates that we will not be offering the fellowship program for the 2013-14 academic year.  We plan to open recruitment for the 2014-15 fellowship position in the Fall of 2013.  Please check back at that time for important application information and deadlines.  The opening of the recruitment period will be announced on our Facebook page.

The goals of the fellowship are to produce veterinarians with advanced technical and interpretative skills in this important clinical discipline. The species emphasis is equine but fellows will gain exposure to other large animal species. This position is an 80% clinical appointment with 20% time for off clinic pursuits (see below). Annual salary is $27,756 with medical benefits included. Housing is not provided. The fellowship begins August 1, 2013 and ends July 31, 2014. This webpage is designed to provide potential applicants with detailed information regarding our program, including overall service information, faculty and previous fellow information, case numbers, case distribution and application information. Please check the box at right for important announcements regarding the application process.

UC Davis Large Animal Ultrasound Service

The Large Animal Ultrasound Service provides diagnostic imaging services 5 days per week. The majority of the service caseload is supported by the equine surgery service, therefore, a large percentage of ultrasound exams are musculoskeletal in nature; however, a wide variety of ultrasound exams are performed. The intern will receive training in sonographic evaluation of all areas, including the abdomen, thorax, cardiac, ophthalmologic and high speed treadmill evaluations of poor performance racehorses. The equine caseload consists of a variety of performance horses, including dressage, hunter/jumpers, endurance horses, western performance horses (cutting, reining, roping, barrel racing), pleasure horses and specialty breeds such as Peruvian Pasos. A working knowledge of performance horses is beneficial. There is little to no emergency duty. Emergency colic ultrasound evaluations are performed by the surgery resident on call. The large animal medicine service performs medical emergency ultrasound evaluations.

The UCD Large Animal Ultrasound Service has a full range of equipment available for all aspects of equine, food animal and small ruminant ultrasound. We are fortunate to have two Biosound Technos ultrasound systems that allow us to evaluate 2 patients simultaneously with machines that excel at musculoskeletal and abdominal imaging. Transducers available include two 8-14 MHz linear transducers and a 5-10 MHz linear transducer for musculoskeletal use, a 4-8 MHz microconvex transducer for neonatal and small ruminant abdominal/thoracic imaging and two 2-5 MHz curvilinear transducers for adult equine abdominal and thoracic imaging. We continue to use the GE Vingmed System 5 ultrasound system, primarily for cardiac imaging for its unbeatable color Doppler imaging and excellent depth of penetration (30cm). The Vingmed also produces high quality musculoskeletal and abdominal images. Transducers available for this machine include a 2.5 MHz phased array transducer for cardiac imaging, 3.5 MHz and 5.0 MHz curvilinear transducers for abdominal imaging and a 10 MHz linear transducer for musculoskeletal and small parts imaging. The Ausonics Impact machine shown in the image is no longer used on clinical cases.

 

 

Large Animal Ultrasound Caseload (Academic Years)

Musculoskeletal		00-01		01-02		02-03		03-04		04-05		05-06		06-07		07-08		08-09		09-10		11-12	12-13
	Metacarpal	262		199		155		124		131		118		135		126		110		176		147	157
	Metatarsal	118		102		93		100		77		93		89		92		92		102		98	80
	Pastern	139		126		116		110		136		149		135		124		104		97		118	117
	Tendon Sheath/Joints	212		250		240		232		287		322		255		208		239		206		203	245
Spine/Sacroiliac/Pelvis		47		73		89		68		67		105		125		97		102		100		89	97
Thoracic (includes cardiac)		22		34		34		20		25		34		30		31		9		19		9	12
Abdominal		115		165		122		137		135		146		137		139		137		102		86	103
Ophthalmologic		17		6		---		---
Food Animal		---		---		26		18		49		52		74		49		53		75		73	70
Miscellaneous Exams		60		100		56		72		44		96		110		94		81		96		106	118
U/S Guided Procedures		---		---		37		53		64		93		143		141		158		201		226	196
Total Ultrasound Scans		992		1055		968		934		1015		1208		1233		1101		1085		1174		1155	1195
Acoustic Shock Wave Treatments		321		153		83		114		53		63		51		41		93		95		52	42
Total Annual Cases		1313		1208		1051		1048		1068		1271		1284		1142		1178		1269		1207	1237

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Acoustic Shock Wave Therapy

Acoustic shock wave treatments are also performed by the large animal ultrasound service. Shock wave therapy is thought to stimulate healing and potentially reduce layup time in horses with musculoskeletal injuries such as stress fractures, bucked shins, suspensory ligament desmitis and distal sesamoidean ligament desmitis. Treatments are generally performed by the ultrasound fellow. We are currently using the Duolith Vet shock wave machine manufactured by Storz Medical. The Duolith has both focused and nonfocused capabilities. Focused shock wave is most commonly used to treat musculoskeletal injuries. Nonfocused shock wave has been used to break up cystoliths (bladder stones) to facilitate their removal during surgery.

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Fellow Clinical Responsibilities

Perform and interpret ultrasound examinations on patients presenting to the Large Animal Ultrasound Service under the direction of faculty from the Department of Surgical and Radiological Sciences.

• The fellow will be involved in the clinical instruction of fourth year veterinary students during their senior year rotations.
  
• The fellow will be involved in the laboratory instruction of third year veterinary students in VSR 416L - Equine Ultrasonology and various other veterinary courses.
  
• The fellow will assist with weekly Combined Imaging Rounds in conjunction with the large animal radiology resident(s) and students.
  
• The fellow has the option to complete a 2-3 week small animal ultrasound clinical rotation in the final months of their fellowship. This rotation will give exposure to comparative ultrasonographic anatomy.
  
• The fellow will attend weekly Known Case Conference (KCC) with the Radiology Service, and will interpret one Large Animal Ultrasound case weekly.

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Fellow Off-Clinic Time (approximately 20%)

• Off clinic time is provided to allow the fellow to pursue his/her individual research interest(s) under the guidance of faculty in the Department of Surgical & Radiological Sciences with the expectation of eventual publication in a refereed journal.
  
• The fellow will also have the opportunity to rotate through other departments, according to the fellow's interests.
  
• Attend veterinary courses in small and large animal ultrasound.
  
• Vacation - fellow accrues 16 hours per month (24 days in a one year period)

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Requirements for Application

• DVM or equivalent degree from a school of veterinary medicine (AVMA accredited preferred)
• At least one year of equine related private practice or internship experience
• Working knowledge of performance horses
• Demonstrated interest in large animal ultrasound
• Application materials (see below)
• Visitation is strongly recommended for qualified applicants. Visits are limited to 1-2 days and are arranged by Dr. Whitcomb during the recruitment period only (September through December).
• Foreign nationals must be eligible for J1 visa with no bars or home country requirement.
• NAVLE is not a requirement of the program

Application Materials - Not currently recruiting for 2013-14. The following information is provided for future reference to potential 2014-15 candidates.

• Application Form - Application
• Curriculum vitae
• Letter of Intent
• Three letters of recommendation
• Veterinary Academic Transcript(s)
  

By email:

All application materials including letters of reference (on letterhead, with signature), may be emailed to the Resident Affairs Coordinator at dcgomez@ucdavis.edu.

By mail:

Send applications to:
Diana Gomez, Resident Affairs Coordinator
Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital
University of California
One Shields Ave.
Davis, CA 95616-8747

Successful candidates are notified before the VIRMP applicant withdrawal deadline date which typically falls in the 2nd or 3rd week of January.

Additional information regarding large animal ultrasound and the fellowship program may be obtained by contacting Dr. Whitcomb at mbwhitcomb@ucdavis.edu.

Related page: Diagnostic Ultrasound & Musculoskeletal Injuries in the Horse

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