Research

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.

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.

As I sifted my way through my first year of veterinary school, I heard time and time again that the veterinary degree is one that can lead you down a seemingly unlimited number of paths. While I was unsure of exactly where I wanted my career to take me, I knew that I wanted to learn more about the One Health field and research that extends beyond the clinical realm.

Dr. Doneley popped his head into the student study room. “We’re ready for the wallaby radiographs now,” he said casually. Hardly any of the other students looked up from their records as I scrambled for my camera and notebook, reminding myself that spontaneous hyperventilation is notably off-putting, regardless of what country one is in.