Dean Michael Lairmore welcomed new individuals to the school’s community during the annual Fall Faculty Reception on September 20th and acknowledged those in outgoing and incoming leadership roles. The school also honored faculty members with awards for excellence in teaching and research, along with volunteers honored for their service.
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.
Dr. Susan Stover has been funded frequently by Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation. Her goal in recent research is the prevention of musculoskeletal injuries in equine athletes.
A rescued domestic shorthaired cat named “Lily” has helped prove the efficacy of a game-changing treatment for feline chronic gingivostomatitis (FCGS), or stomatitis for short. The lucky feline, adopted by Cyndi Luke of Davis, California, had been treated unsuccessfully for three years when she was recruited to take part in a stem-cell therapy trial testing a cutting-edge procedure for the painful oral condition.
An undesired consequence of the use of antimicrobial drugs in cattle is the presence of drug residues and/or metabolites in feces and urine, or in the milk of lactating animals. In lactating dairy cattle, this translates into production losses due to withholding of nonsaleable waste milk containing drug residues.
Scientists are developing more effective treatments and cures for diseases, and this innovative research saves and improves animals’ lives — and can lead to treatments for humans down the road.
My summer of 2017 actually turned into winter as I was granted the opportunity of completing a veterinary internship with the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) in Namibia. With funding provided by the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine Office of Global Programs, I was able to spend 8 weeks in Otjiwarango, Namibia gaining experience in research, as well as wildlife and exotic animal medicine. The main focus of my internship was to gain clinical experience with exotic felids.
Shannon Smith - Sri Lanka
Shannon Smith - Sri Lanka
In the first few months of vet school, I developed two criteria for the summer of 2017: 1) an international experience and 2) a non-domestic species. I met with Dr. Woutrina Smith and spoke with Dr. Pat Conrad – both directed me to the fabulous husband-and-wife team that is Dr. Eranda Rajapaksha and Dr. Saumya Wickramasinghe. They received their veterinary degrees at the University of Peradeniya (UP) in Sri Lanka but completed PhDs at UC Davis before returning to UP to lecture in the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine.
Since my first experience in South Africa last year, the wild has been calling. Fortunately, the brilliant people that I met last year while working on my One Health STAR project - Declan Morris and Jeanette Wentzel - were willing to have me return to assist their PhD projects. Declan’s project focuses on comprehensive leopard conservation on Loskop Dam Nature reserve in the Highveld of South Africa. Jeanette’s project focuses on disease dynamics of wild carnivores on Manyeleti Nature Reserve, bordering Kruger National Park in the Lowveld of South Africa.
This last June and July I spent six weeks at the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) in Namibia conducting herd health surveys on the CCF’s and neighboring community goat herds. My project was a baseline assessment comparing herd health and prevalence of brucellosis in the CCF herd compared to community farm herds.
