William R. Pritchard Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital

Nutrition

Nutrition Support Services - Residency Program

Objectives

To provide advanced post-doctoral clinical training with a primary emphasis on small animal veterinary clinical nutrition and a minor emphasis on veterinary internal medicine.
To provide experience in teaching veterinary clinical nutrition to veterinary students and other residents.
To provide experience in research by designing and executing an investigative project in veterinary clinical nutrition.
To fulfill the residency training requirement for board certification in veterinary nutrition as established by the American College of Veterinary Clinical Nutrition (ACVN).

Justification
Veterinary clinical nutrition, particularly as it pertains to small animal species (dogs and cats), has become a well-developed clinical discipline. There is a need in academic institutions, industry and private practice for clinicians trained in veterinary clinical nutrition.

The small animal clinical nutrition residency program is designed to provide advanced post-doctoral clinical training in veterinary nutrition of two year's duration following a formal internship or equivalent experience. Completion of this residency will partially fulfill the requirements for board certification in veterinary nutrition by the American College of Veterinary Nutrition (ACVN).

The Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital has the physical facilities and clinical case load to support a nutrition residency program.. Two faculty members, both ACVN Diplomates have direct supervision over this residency program.

Qualifications of Candidate
Candidates for residency training in small animal clinical nutrition must have a DVM or equivalent degree from an accredited college of veterinary medicine. Preference will be given to candidates indicating an intent to pursue board certification in veterinary nutrition by the American College of Veterinary Nutrition.

Residency Program

Duration
The residency shall be for two years, with the second year based on merit (written evaluation) and desire of the candidate. A certificate of completion will be awarded only to those candidates completing the two year program.

General Scope and Nature of Training
The resident will spend approximately 70% of the time in the medical practice of the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital with an emphasis on clinical nutrition. Time will be spent receiving cases in the Nutrition Clinic and providing nutrition consultations to other services in the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital. The resident will also participate with veterinarians who are nutrition graduate students in the Nutrition Support Service, a telephone consulting service for referring veterinarians and their clients.

The resident will spend approximately 30% of their time in other activities, including course if needed, investigative work (research), self-study and participation in rounds and seminars, both in the Veterinary School and the Graduate Group of Nutrition at the University of California, Davis. Presentation at the Annual House Officer Seminar Day is mandatory.

Approximately 4 weeks/year of vacation will be allowed, subject to approval of the Service Chief.

Written evaluation of the resident's progress and performance will be made by the Service Chief at 6 month intervals during the program. The resident will be required to submit a written evaluation of the residency program at its conclusion.

Responsibilities and Activities

Clinical Responsibilities

Residents will participate in the Clinical Nutrition service at the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital, providing nutritional recommendations and evaluations for clinical cases.
Residents will participate in the Nutrition Support Service that provides nutritional consultations for all services within the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital, referring veterinarians and their clients.
Residents are required to participate in Nutrition Support Service rounds and journal club.
It is anticipated that residents will attend hospital rounds with other clinical services.

Teaching Responsibilities

Assist in the supervision and instruction of professional students in their clinical training in veterinary nutrition at the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital.
Residents are required to participate in the didactic teaching of pre-clinical students by preparing and presenting at least one lecture in the Advanced Clinical Nutrition course.
Residents are encouraged to participate in nutrition continuing education reviews for other services in the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital and local veterinary associations.

Courses

* Depending upon the applicant's background, attendance in some graduate level nutrition courses may be recommended.

* Individuals wishing to pursue an academic program (MS, PhD) following the residency may apply to do so. It will not be possible to pursue an advanced degree during residency training. However, course work completed during the residency training in fulfillment of ACVN requirements may be applied toward completion of a graduate degree in the future.

Research

Each resident is expected to initiate and complete at least one research project during their residency under the direction of a faculty advisor. The resident must be the principal investigator on this project.
The goals are to become acquainted with clinical research, to publish an abstract, to present new material orally to peers, and finally, to publish these findings in a refereed scientific journal. The project may be laboratory/experimental or clinical, depending on the experience and interest of the resident and availability of resources and funding.
The results of the investigation will be presented at the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital House Officer Day Seminar and prepared for presentation at a national meeting and/or for publication by the end of the residency.

Clinical Nutrition Faculty

Andrea Fascetti, VMD, PhD (Service Chief, Associate Professor ofNutrition)
Diplomate, ACVN and ACVIM
Interests: Trace mineral and amino acid metabolism, feline nutrition, clinical nutrition, improvement of pet foods

Jennifer Larsen, DVM, PhD (Assistant Professor ofClinical Nutrition)
Diplomate ACVN
Interests: Clinical nutrition, assisted enteral and parenteral feeding.

Other Faculty
There are at least 2 board certified specialists in each of the following clinical or para-clinical areas of interest: Cardiology, Dermatology, Oncology, Neurology, Anesthesia, Emergency/Critical Care, Ophthalmology, Surgery, Clinical Pathology, Dentistry, and Radiology.

General Information About Residency Training Programs at the University of California, Davis Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital
A large and complete Health Sciences Library is located adjacent to the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital for support of the resident's clinical training and research activities. This library facility is one of five on the Davis Campus. Collectively, these libraries contain more than 2.3 million volumes and receive more than 51,000 periodical and journal titles annually.

Selection will be made in accordance with the guidelines of 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 includes timely communication with referring veterinarians and clients.

The University of California, Davis, and the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital are interested in candidates who are committed to the highest standards of scholarship and professional activities, and to the development of a campus climate that supports equality and diversity.

ALL RESIDENTS ARE STRONGLY ADVISED TO OBTAIN A CALIFORNIA LICENSE WITHIN THE FIRST YEAR OF RESIDENCY IN ORDER TO WRITE PRESCRIPTIONS.

-top-

UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine