This summer, my fellow UC Davis student Maddie McDougal and I had the opportunity to visit the large animal clinic at La Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Bogotá, Colombia. We completed a combined clinical and research externship, incorporating clinical experience at the hospital and investigation into local seroprevalence of Equine Protozoal Myeloencephalitis.
Traveling to Ireland was an experience I had never anticipated for myself. Nor was it a location for a clinical externship I would have ever considered without the assistance of Global Programs. During my time externing at the Dublin Zoo and University College Dublin, I had exposure to zoo medicine, livestock medicine, and genetic research investigating disease outbreaks.
This summer I spent about 7 weeks as a veterinary intern at the Cheetah Conservation Fund located near the town of Otjiwarongo in North-Central Namibia. For me, this experience was surreal as I remember coming across a previous student’s summer experience at CCF as I was applying for vet school and learning more about UC Davis. I thought this opportunity looked incredible, but I was unable to imagine myself in their shoes.
My experience in Paris is one that I will surely remember for the rest of my life. When I arrived, I was happily greeted by mentor Minh Huynh who graciously let me stay in his home over the summer. During my initial day he took me to the market to pick up groceries where he informed also about how high-quality foods had to come through France before being distributed throughout Europe. It was amazing for me to see the market and how it served the immediate community.
This summer I traveled to South Dakota with Equitarian Initiative as part of my Global Programs externship. EI is a nonprofit that partners with communities to improve the health of working horses, donkeys, and mules by mobilizing volunteer veterinarians, providing training, and delivering basic care where it’s needed most. It was my first time outside California and my first time working with horses, so I arrived excited and a little nervous.
Similar to previous summers, this summer I traveled back to my hometown, Guangzhou, China. Unlike previously where I spent the majority of the time traveling with my family and visiting relatives, this summer I gained insights on shelter medicine and animal welfare in China, and improved my scientific literacy.
Over the summer, I externed at National Taiwan University Veterinary Hospital for 5 weeks, rotating through 4 different departments.
In my first week, I was in rehabilitation and integrative medicine, where I learned about the intersection between eastern and western medicine, such as the use of acupuncture with laser therapy, or prescribing eastern medications in conjunction with western medications.
This summer, I participated in the Vets Go Wild program on Amakhala Game Reserve in South Africa, an immersive experience that integrated veterinary medicine, conservation, and community engagement. Over several weeks, I worked alongside wildlife veterinarians and conservationists, gaining hands-on experience with some of the world’s most endangered species. I assisted with the immobilization, monitoring, and sample collection of various antelope species, buffalo, giraffe, big cats, and white rhinoceros.
This summer, I completed a three-week veterinary externship at Utrecht University’s Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in the Netherlands through UC Davis Global Programs, supported by a generous scholarship. It was a deeply transformative experience that combined clinical learning with cultural immersion, and gave me a much broader view of what veterinary medicine can look like across the globe.
This summer, I had the privilege of traveling to the Eastern Cape of South Africa. My goal was to gain hands-on experience with wildlife to help me in my future career as a zoo veterinarian. I chose South Africa because I would be able to see animals roam freely in their natural habitat. I spent my first two weeks doing a course called Vets Go Wild on Amakhala Game Reserve. My last week was spent at Tanglewood Reserve where I learned about the ecological restoration projects in place to create a conservation corridor in the area.
