Student will be exposed to all areas of lab animal medicine under the direct supervision of DCM veterinarians and facility management. Activities will involve animal health and diagnostic procedures; participation in weekly rounds, journal club, and didactic lectures; and evaluating diagnostic test results such as radiology, clinical pathology, histopathology. Student will be directly observed and supervised at all times during internship
The UNC-CH is a major research university and one of 17 campuses of the consolidated UNC system. In 2016 UNC-CH ranked 8th nationally in
NIH extramural funding to institutions of higher education, and grants and contracts constitute approximately one third of the University’s annual revenue. Thus, animal-related research and teaching programs are important to the mission of UNC-CH and animal care and use activities. The animal care and use program is centrally managed by the Division of Comparative Medicine (DCM). Animals are used by faculty in the Schools of Medicine, Dentistry, Public Health and Pharmacy, in the College of Arts and Sciences in the Departments of Biology, Chemistry and Psychology, NRI and the IMS. There are twenty-one (21) buildings with 26 animal facilities managed by DCM. The average daily population of all species approaches 40,000 rodent cages, dogs over 180 and pigs approximately 50 and annual animal use totals over 150,000. DCM contains over 170 full-time employees including 7 ACLAM diplomates, 2 ACVP diplomates, 4 Laboratory Animal Medicine residents and 10 veterinary technicians. In addition to all facilities and equipment needed to provide daily husbandry and health monitoring to all species housed DCM resources include a dedicated USDA compliant surgical suite, radiology suite including digital radiology, ultrasound and fluoroscopy, complete necropsy laboratory and complete veterinary Diagnostic laboratory with a full time Medical Technologist and two Diagnostic Laboratory technicians.
Student will be expected to be present on average 8 hours/day 5 days/week and will work with veterinarians, residents, veterinary technicians, facilities management staff and diagnostic lab personnel. They will be fully supported and supervised at all times during the rotation. Student will be expected to actively participate in diagnosis and treatment of disease, offer ideas on decision-making for facilities issues, and participate in weekly rounds, journal club and didactic lectures during the rotation. There is no regularly scheduled after-hours or weekend hours but these may come up on occasion based on activities in the program.