Residency Programs
RESIDENCY PROGRAM IN LIVESTOCK REPRODUCTION
AND HERD HEALTH
Upon completion of this three year residency program, veterinarians should be well prepared for progressive practice, leadership in regulatory positions, or clinical academic positions. The residency program provides an opportunity to obtain the Master's of Preventive Veterinary Medicine degree and develop expertise in reproduction, epidemiology, and herd health. This residency program is not specifically designed to prepare residents for any specific board certification, but the residency will meet some or all of the requirements for certification in boards relating to theriogenology, preventive medicine, and food animal practice (ABVP).
Objectives
- To provide advanced education and training
in livestock reproduction and herd health
involving mainly dairy cattle, with less
emphasis on beef cattle, sheep, and goats.
- To provide clinical teaching experience.
- To provide experience in design and implementation of investigative projects in a clinically related area.
- To develop expertise in herd and flock health management, including reproduction, transgenics, neonatal health, udder health, food safety, diagnostic methods, and metabolic and nutritional health.
- To develop working relationships with faculty who have expertise in these areas.
- To develop knowledge, skills, and abilities in application of methods of population medicine, epidemiology, statistics, and enterprise economics involved in the delivery of health services to herds and flocks.
- To develop and apply technology in herd health management, including that related to computers, advanced diagnostics, and reproductive technology.
- To develop critical assessment and problem solving skills related to herd health management, including endemic and epidemic disease investigation.
Justification
Livestock veterinarians are increasingly
being called upon to act as advisors and consultants,
to expand productivity, promote well-being, and
improve the health of livestock, while enhancing
the quality and minimizing the cost of food animal
products to consumers and society. To accomplish
these objectives, practitioners need to develop
new approaches whereby the herd or flock is considered
the patient, and health management of the patient
incorporates such issues as market and enterprise
economics, risk assessment, and societal needs
for environmental and public health protection.
These new approaches will require epidemiologic
and statistical methods in measuring and managing
herd health, as well as providing new means of
enhancing herd health. The clinical training
program described herein is designed to produce
veterinarians with a wide scope of skills and
abilities aimed at problem solving at the food
animal population level.
General Scope and Nature of the Training
The residency program is intended to prepare
veterinarians for a career in herd health practice,
regulatory veterinary medicine, or livestock
research and teaching.
First Year Program
- During the first year the resident will
spend 8 months in the Livestock Reproduction
and Herd Health (LR/HH) service, 2 months
in the 'in house' Livestock Medicine Service
involving internal medicine and surgery of
food animal species, 2 weeks at the California
Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, and 2 weeks
at the Veterinary Medical Teaching and Research
Center in Tulare. The resident is also provided
one month of scheduled paid vacation yearly.
- The resident will have primary patient care responsibilities under the supervision of a senior clinician. Responsibilities will include management of routine cases, where a case may represent an individual animal, herd or flock. Training will include supervised experience in both routine (breeding soundness exams, ultrasound, embryo transfer) and advanced reproductive techniques (embryo transfer, transgenics), use of commercial computerized records, large commercial dairy, sheep, and goat production medicine, including computer database and ultrasound pregnancy diagnosis, commercial beef production medicine, and food animal internal medicine.
- Rotating duty into after-hours
emergency duty is required and shared with
the 3 other livestock residents. The resident
will be on livestock emergency duty one
night and one weekend out of every four.
- Residents will develop expertise in evaluating reproductive problems, in assessing reproductive performance, and in the management of reproduction programs with large herds and flocks. Residents will acquire improved skills and abilities at rectal palpation, use of ultrasound, in assessment of male breeding soundness, and in embryo transfer and transgenics. Residents will develop skills in use of computers and of computer software aimed at managing and analyzing animal health data, including that related to reproduction, udder health, production, neonatal health, etc.
- Residents will have a significant role
as clinical instructor of students in the
Livestock Reproduction and Herd Health service
and related clinical instruction. Instruction
also may include assisting in teaching of
students in all 4 years of their veterinary
education, and in conducting and participating
in rounds and seminars.
- Residents will develop the ability to critically evaluate information such as that published in the literature, presented in seminars and classroom, and presented in the lay press. Residents will become familiar with use of the library and with computerized searches of the literature.
- Residents will begin to develop the research project, which is required as part of the residency and will be implemented during the 2nd year of the residency, while enrolled in the MPVM Program. Submission of the research project results to a refereed Journal will be required for completion of the residency.
- Attendance at the Annual House Officer Seminar Day in March is mandatory. Final year VMTH residents from all Services present their research results at this event.
- Toward the end of the first year, residents will spend a 2-week rotation at the VMTRC/CAHFS at Tulare to view a variety of management systems, and at the CAHFS at Davis to participate in laboratory diagnostic process.
Second Year Program
- Between August and June, of the second
year, the resident will be enrolled in the
Masters of Preventative Veterinary Medicine
Program. In addition to required core courses,
the resident will take courses specifically
tailored to each resident's background and
need, including, but not limited to enterprise
economics, interpretation of tests, advanced
statistical methods, nutrition, herd health,
and food safety. Residents will not be required
to pay tuition for the MPVM Program.
Residents will continue to have on-call emergency duty during the MPVM instruction period, but it will not be scheduled during exam periods and university quarter break periods (Winter break and one week in March).
- Residents are expected to complete and
present the findings of their research project
and the final approved MPVM thesis, which
should be based on a clinical problem being
addressed in the LRHH service, by August
of the second year.
- The other 2 months (approx.) will be engaged in similar clinical and instructional activities as described for the first year, allowing time for other residents to take out-of-clinics time.
- Attendance in the Annual House Officer
Seminar Day is mandatory.
Third Year Program
- Residents will be expected to assume primary responsibilities for selected herds. Residents will be expected to apply knowledge, skills, and abilities developed while in the MPVM Program to the development and implementation of herd health services.
- The resident will be responsible for overseeing and introducing activities of the first-year resident and for scheduling and coordinating emergency duties, and ensuring appropriate resident coverage at all times. The third year resident will continue to share in emergency duty coverage.
- Presentation in the Annual House Officer Seminar Day is mandatory, as is one presentation per quarter at herd health rounds. Residents will be strongly encouraged to present findings of a project at a major outside meeting or conference.
- The resident will be scheduled a month out-of-clinics to prepare a research project for publication.
- With prior approval of a proposal, residents may be scheduled an elective month to pursue a specific training objective, either on or off-site.
Qualifications Required of Applicants
Applicants must have a DVM or equivalent degree,
and completion of a minimum of one-year internship
or one year in food animal practice. Resident
selection considers academic achievement, career
objectives, letters of recommendation, skill
in communications and interpersonal interactions,
and relevant experience. Please note:
Foreign nationals must be eligible for either
a TN or J1 visa with no bars or home country
requirement.
Duration
The duration of the residency program will be 3 years, with one new resident selected each year. Renewal for the second and third years will be contingent upon satisfactory performance. The MPVM degree will be awarded upon successful completion of the requirements for the degree and upon completion of the third year. Successful completion of the program also confers a Residency Certificate.
Costs
Residents will not be required to pay tuition
for the MPVM Program.
Application Procedure
Selection will utilize the Veterinary Internship/Residency
Matching Program. For application procedures,
salary and benefits, and other information
about the residency program, please see General
Information on the VMTH web site.
The VMTH is committed to building strong relationships with its constituents. A major part of the residents' duties, therefore, includes timely communication with referring veterinarians and clients.
RESIDENTS MUST BE ABLE TO ARRIVE AT THE HOSPITAL WITHIN 15 MINUTES OF AN EMERGENCY CALL, THEREFORE, RESIDENTS MUST PLAN TO LIVE WITHIN 15 MILES OF THE HOSPITAL.
ALL RESIDENTS ARE STRONGLY ADVISED TO OBTAIN A CALIFORNIA LICENSE WITHIN THE FIRST YEAR OF RESIDENCY IN ORDER TO WRITE PRESCRIPTIONS.
