Department of Medicine and Epidemiology

About VME

Welcome to the web site for the Department of Medicine and Epidemiology, School of Veterinary Medicine, UC Davis. The discipline of medicine within veterinary medicine encompases the art and science of diagnosis and treatment of disease and maintenance of health for all species of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish except humans. Epidemiology is the discipline of science concerned with the study of factors determining and influencing frequency and distribution of disease, injury and other health events and the causes in a defined population, and with establishing programs to prevent and control the development and spread of disease.

Faculty

Emeritus Faculty

Affiliated Faculty

Buffington, Tony
Oates, Rhonda
Sparger, Ellen (Liz)
Speer, Brian
Stern, Joshua
Stockinger, Diane

Staff

Pamela Mazanet

Office: (530) 752-7818
pmazanet@ucdavis.edu

Jenny Chen

Contracts & Grants Analyst
Office: (530) 752-9314
jichen@ucdavis.edu

Crystal Sandoval

Financial Analyst
Office: (530) 752-1363
csand@ucdavis.edu

Jeanie Vukas

Payroll/Personnel Assistant
Office: (530) 752-3083
jvukas@ucdavis.edu

Nicole Warren

Contracts & Grants Analyst
Office: (530) 752-9174
njwarren@ucdavis.edu

VME Contact Information

School of Veterinary Medicine
Department of Medicine and Epidemiology
One Shields Avenue
Davis, CA 95616

Telephone: (530) 752-1363
Fax: (530) 752-0414
Location: 2108 Tupper Hall

Chairperson
John Angelos - email

Vice Chairperson
Catherine Outerbridge - email

Department Manager
Pamela Mazanet - email

VME Faculty Laboratories & Grad Groups

Companion Animal Gastrointestinal Lab
Hyperkalemic Periodic Paralysis (HYPP) Testing
Infectious Disease Ecology Lab
Real-time PCR Research and Diagnostics Core Facility
Graduate Group in Epidemiology
MPVM Program

VME Programs - Click Below to Expand Blocks

Behavior

The veterinarians in the Clinical Animal Behavior program focus on behaviors in a wide variety of species including dogs, cats, birds, small mammals, horses, and cattle. The service includes veterinarians board-certified in both Veterinary Behavior and Veterinary Welfare along with resident veterinarians, in the nation's largest veterinary behavior program. Common problems that are treated are aggression, anxiety behaviors, repetitive behaviors, separation anxiety, and housesoiling, as well as species-specific problems, such as feather-picking in birds. We derive our humane behavior modification techniques from the fields of applied animal behavior and veterinary medicine, and apply these scientific principles to help solve problem behaviors. Our goal is to help clients understand an animal’s behavior as they strive to reach their goals.

Specialty areas include:

Dogs:
- Aggression toward people or other animals
- Anxiety-related problems, such as separation anxiety and noise phobia
- Housesoiling
- Repetitive behaviors, such as light-chasing or tail-chasing
- Intolerance of handling or of veterinary procedures
Cats:
- Inappropriate elimination, including urine marking
- Aggression toward people or other animals
- Pica (eating of inappropriate objects)
- Scratching
Birds:
- Feather-destructive behavior and self-mutilation
- Aggression toward people or other animals
- Screaming
Small companion animals (rabbits, rodents):
- Aggression toward people or other animals
- Repetitive behaviors
Horses:
- Aggression toward people or other animals
- Intolerance of handling or of veterinary procedures
- Trailering problems
- Repetitive behaviors, such as cribbing and weaving
- Foal rejection
Cattle and other production animals:
- Welfare and husbandry issues related to veterinary procedures, handling, and production

Research areas include:

Clinical animal behavior:
- Relationship of coat-color and behavior in cats
- Risk of illness in puppies attending socialization classes
- Effect of medications on urine marking in cats
Human-animal bond:
- Owner attachment and problem behaviors related to relinquishment of dogs to shelters
- Relationship of the terms guardian and owner to the human-animal bond
Welfare:
- Effect of enrichment on cats in shelters
- Use of pheromones to decrease stress in weaned foals
- Relationship between cribbing and colic in horses

Epidemiology and One Health

Epidemiology and One Health programs focus on the population health of domestic animals, wildlife and people, using analytical approaches and tools that facilitate diagnosis, control, prevention, and eradication of diseases, and address challenges that impact health, sustainability, and productivity of populations.

Specialty areas include:

Disease reporting and surveillance systems
Development of diagnostic technologies and diagnostic test evaluation
Population diagnostic pathology, immunology, and disease ecology
Epidemiologic modeling, survival analysis, network analysis, and disease dynamics
Risk analysis, risk characterization, and spatial epidemiology
Wildlife epidemiology
Endangered species conservation
Ecosystem health
Public health
Molecular epidemiology

Research areas include:

Equine health
Livestock health
Wildlife health
Food safety
Application and optimization of diagnostic tests
Disease ecology
Vector-borne pathogens
Zoonotic disease detection and surveillance
Endangered species conservation and extinction risk
Anthropogenic stressors
Pathogen pollution
Transboundary and emerging infectious diseases
Risk characterization
Disease forecasting and epidemiological modeling
Aquatic epidemiology
Ecosystem health
One Health

Equine Medicine

Equine teaching and clinical programs at the School of Veterinary Medicine are diverse. Faculty within the Department of Medicine and Epidemiology with an equine focus have a variety of interests that include the pathophysiology, diagnosis, treatment, control and prevention of infectious and non-infectious diseases involving all body systems of the horse. Clinical services include equine field services, emergency, critical care, and neonatology, internal medicine and dentistry, and ophthalmology.

Specialty areas include:

Neonatology
Advanced dentistry
Infectious diseases and preventive medicine
Immunology
Exercise physiology
Clinical pharmacology
Pulmonary medicine
Hematology and clinical biochemistry
Neurology
Muscle diseases
Critical care
Equine rescue

Research areas include:

Infectious diseases
Clinical pharmacology
Genetic diseases
Preventive medicine
Neuromuscular disorders
Pulmonary diseases
Neonatology
Thermoregulation during exercise
Fluid/electrolyte balance during exercise

Laboratory Animal Medicine

Laboratory Animal Medicine refers to the specialty of veterinary medicine that addresses clinical medicine, anesthesia, surgery, and research-related support and procedures on both traditional (ie. rodents) and non-traditional laboratory animal (ie. primate, livestock, and aquatic) species. It is one of the only truly “mixed animal” specialties. Its focus is on animal welfare and humane use of animals within biomedical research and teaching.

Specialty areas include:

Large animal models
Mutant mouse national resource
Rodent phenotyping
Medical Primatology
Zebrafish biology
Avian and feline nutrition

Research areas include:

SPF derivation and immune response
Biology of aging in rhesus macaques
Evaluation and prevention of pain in domestic and laboratory animals
Epidemiology of infectious diseases
Microbiome in laboratory animals
Regenerative medicine
Environmental toxicology

Livestock Medicine

Livestock Medicine is the synthesis of internal medicine, population medicine and epidemiology to improve the health and well-being of livestock, including dairy and beef cattle, swine, goats, and sheep. The ultimate goal is to maximize health, which results in high quality and safe food products for consumers throughout the world.

Specialty areas include:

Advancing the standard of care for livestock species by improving diagnostics and treatment of diseases affecting livestock species
Investigating infectious disease and methods for disease prevention in livestock
Development of new management strategies to maximize livestock health and productivity

Research areas include:

Neonatal calf health
Colostrum and colostrum management
Infectious diseases
Innate immune mechanisms
Bovine respiratory disease complex
Pharmacokinetics
Pathogenesis of bovine pinkeye
Pinkeye vaccine development

Outreach program:

FARAD (Food Animal Residue Avoidance Databank) is a congressionally-mandated risk-management program that is supported by the United States Department of Agriculture. The primary mission of FARAD is to provide science-based expert advice to help mitigate unsafe chemical residues (drugs, pesticides, biotoxins, etc.) in products derived from food animals. The program is maintained by a consortium of universities, including University of California-Davis, University of Florida, Kansas State University and North Carolina State University.

Small Animal

Companion/small animal programs focus on animal wellness and disease diagnosis, treatment, prevention, and control of diseases in a wide variety of species including dogs, cats, birds, fish, and small mammals. Within the disciplinary umbrella of small animal medicine, further specialization occurs within species and along organ systems. Organ systems specialization has led to the development of sub-disciplines in nephrology, urology, endocrinology, gastroenterology, dermatology, cardiology, and behavior. Additional programs in immunology and infectious diseases span both species and organ system specialization. Within all of these diverse disciplines both teaching and research emphasis is placed on disease diagnosis, treatment, prevention, and control.

Specialty areas include:

Nephrology
Urology
Endocrinology
Gastroenterology
Infectious disease
Respiratory medicine
Dermatology
Cardiology
Behavior

Research areas include:

Small animal internal medicine:
- Chronic kidney disease
- Hemodialysis
- Urolithiasis
- Urinary microbiology
- Urinary incontinence
- Hyperadrenocorticism
- Diabetes mellitus
- Thyroid disease
- Esophageal and swallowing disorders
- Chronic enteropathies associated with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)
- Fecal microbiota transplantation for management of intestinal disorders
- Immune-mediated diseases
- Infectious diseases
- Diagnosis and management of respiratory conditions

Dermatology:
- Bacterial diseases
- Auto-immune diseases
- Allergy
- Improvements in therapy

Cardiology:
- Cardiac genetics
- Pharmacogenomics
- Advanced cardiac ultrasonography (echocardiography)
- Cardiomyopathies
- Pulmonary hypertension
- Congenital heart disease

Behavior:
- Aggression
- Separation anxiety
- Housesoiling
- Urine marking
- Repetitive and compulsive behaviors
- Fears and phobias
- Species-specific behaviors (e.g., feather-picking in birds)

Zoological Medicine

Zoological medicine refers to the specialty of veterinary medicine that addresses the care of wildlife species (captive and free ranging), aquatic animals, birds, reptiles and amphibians, and includes non-domestic companion animals (or exotic pets). Zoological medicine incorporates principles of ecology, wildlife conservation, and veterinary medicine, and applies them to wild animals in natural and artificial environments. Faculty in the Department of Medicine and Epidemiology are addressing key concerns associated with these animals.

Specialty areas include:

Service areas include:

Husbandry, nutrition, and management practices
Prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases
- Advanced diagnostic and therapeutic techniques
- Behavior
- Pain management and anesthesia
- Assisted reproduction and gene banking
- Effects of disease and environmental changes on wildlife populations and ecosystems
- Parrot wellness and welfare
- Raptor rehabilitation
- Clinical services for zoological institutions

Research areas include:

Host-pathogen interactions of aquatic organisms
Vaccine development for aquatic animals
Fish immunology
Microbial ecology of aquatic animal pathogens
Avian Analgesia
Animal Welfare
Infectious and non-infectious diseases of raptors
Health effects of environmental plastics
Amphibian conservation
Non-infectious diseases of captive wildlife
Disease and ecology monitoring of wildlife