The University of Virginia is a nationally ranked public university located near the Blue Ridge Mountains in Charlottesville, VA. In recent years, the hospital has been ranked as one of America's Best Hospitals and currently ranked #1 in the commonwealth of Virgina. The University’s Office of Research is dedicated to advancing knowledge and to serving the Commonwealth, nation, and world through research, scholarship, creative arts, and innovation to enable discoveries that enrich and improve lives. The Center for Comparative Medicine provides care and housing of animals utilized by the clinical and research faculty in these programs, as well as a variety of research support services.
The Center for Comparative Medicine (CCM) at the University of Virginia is an AAALAC-accredited, OLAW-assured, and USDA-registered animal facility. CCM provides the care and housing of animals utilized by the University faculty and partners. The department encompasses two ACLAM board-certified veterinarians and over 100+ staff. The animal program facilities include a total of ten vivaria with >100,000 square feet of dedicated animal housing, procedural space, and a BSL-3/ABSL-3 biocontainment facility.
Species onsite: mice, rats, swine, small ruminants, aquatics (zebrafish, xenopus, electric fish, cichlids, wrasse, clownfish), rabbits, ferrets, tree shrews, prairie voles, zebra finches, sparrows, snakes, lizards, salamanders, and woodchucks.
Students will participate in daily clinical duties alongside laboratory animal faculty veterinarians/technical staff, including handling, physical exams, and common diagnostic and therapeutic techniques in a variety of laboratory animal species. The extern will also gain exposure to research technical support, surgery, anesthesia, animal enrichment/behavior, SOP writing, ACUC functions, facility design and management, biosecurity, and cost accounting for laboratory animal facilities.
A project will be assigned for the extern to complete during their externship. The project topics are varied and are tailored to the externs areas of interest. Some projects may lead to development of a poster and or publication in a peer-review scientific journal.
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