Donations Allow UC Davis To Increase Nation’s Largest House Officer Program

Thanks to corporate and private donations, the nation’s largest veterinary house officer (residents, interns, fellows) program at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine just got even larger. The advanced training programs for veterinarians range from one year (fellowships and internships) to two-four years (residencies). Following completion of residency programs, veterinarians are able to sit for rigorous testing procedures to seek board certification in a specialty area of veterinary medicine (internal medicine, surgery, dermatology, cardiology, etc.).

Currently, there are 123 house officers participating in 38 programs at UC Davis – 114 residents in 32 programs; seven interns in four programs; and two fellows in two programs (one of which was in jeopardy of being lost). The new or secured house officers will occupy two residencies in one program (the existing radiology residency), two fellowships in one program (a new gastroenterology fellowship), and one fellowship in one program (securing and expanding the existing aquatic animal health fellowship). These new positions will bring the nation’s largest house officer program to 127 positions in 39 advanced training disciplines.

The new or secured/expanded positions are:

• Antech Imaging Services has generously established two additional four-year residencies in radiology. This donation will support the expansion of the existing advanced training program in diagnostic imaging to 10 residents from eight, and provide support for existing positions, expanding the already largest radiology residency in the country. The donation will additionally provide unrestricted programmatic support to the UC Davis veterinary hospital’s Diagnostic Imaging Service, led by Service Chief Dr. Allison Zwingenberger. Antech Imaging Services is a California-based imaging and technology company focused on helping veterinarians through innovative diagnostic, imaging, education, and support services.
   
• Two separate one-year gastroenterology fellowships will be established in the Small Animal Internal Medicine Service at UC Davis. Both fellows will be mentored by Dr. Stanley Marks, one of the nation’s foremost authorities in veterinary gastrointestinal medicine.
       o    Nestlé Purina PetCare pledged $100,000 for one of the fellowships. Nestlé Purina PetCare has previously supported nutritional research studies at the university, as well as support for the clinical Nutrition Service at the UC Davis veterinary hospital.  
       o    The second fellowship will be supported by UC Davis grateful clients Ms. Ann M. Richardson and Dr. Ronald M. Ruff, who also pledged $100,000 in memory of their dog Shokie, a longtime patient at the UC Davis veterinary hospital.
   
• Another grateful client at UC Davis pledged $40,000 to save a fellowship that was in jeopardy of being discontinued due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Normally, the one-year aquatic animal medicine fellowship is a partnership between UC Davis and three other organizations, and the fellow’s time (as well as funding) is split evenly between the four. Because of the pandemic, the three outside organizations were unable to support the fellow. Thanks to the anonymous donor, the fellowship became a full one-year fellowship at UC Davis under the tutelage of Dr. Esteban Soto, an aquatic animal medicine specialist who helped the donor with a crisis at their home koi pond.

House officer programs at UC Davis are hosted by the school’s Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital, the California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory, the Karen C. Drayer Wildlife Health Center at the One Health Institute, the Comparative Pathology Laboratory, the California National Primate and Research Center, the Veterinary Medicine Teaching and Research Center (in Tulare), and the UC Veterinary Medical Center (in San Diego), as well as the Marine Mammal Center (in Sausalito).

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