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Helping lawmakers better understand the galaxy of opportunities associated with comparative research was the focus of an AAVMC Legislative Briefing held on July 19 in the Rayburn Building on Capitol Hill.

As a 2018 AAVMC Faculty Fellow, Dr. Christine Kreuder Johnson’s days were jam-packed. During her fellowship, June 30-July 21, she might typically spend her day on Capitol Hill meeting face-to-face with four or five members of Congress or other government officials.

Since 2012, the Veterinary Institute for Regenerative Cures (VIRC) at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine (SVM) has been committed to transforming the SVM into a national leader for veterinary regenerative medicine. VIRC has established laboratory techniques and animal models that have been used to study regenerative therapies for veterinary and human medicine. It has characterized equine, canine and feline stem cells isolated from different tissues with a focus on adult-derived mesenchymal stem cells.

Spending the day learning about surgical procedures or animal behaviors sounds like the typical schedule for a graduate student at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. But this summer, elementary-aged kids were the ones finding out what it takes to become “animal doctors,” thanks to the first-ever Youth Vet Med Camp.