In this report, we highlight aspects of the important work of the College, plus the financial support and business end of making these contributions possible. While the data illustrates the make-up of our College, the stories that accompany that data represent just a few of the accomplishments and programs that we are proud to share with you.
Preparing our students to be practice- ready upon graduation requires more than medical knowledge and technical ability. Core skills, such as client relations and communication, are vital. The College is fortunate to have the Learning Assessment Center (LAC) as a part of our education model. The LAC represents a collaboration between the Colleges of Veterinary Medicine, Osteopathic Medicine, Nursing, and Human Medicine. This collective project provides hands-on training in everything from client communications to clinical skills in cardiology. The hands-on clinical simulations use high-fidelity models with advanced monitoring equipment and programmed results of diagnostic tests.
The Orthopedic Team at the Veterinary Medical Center offers the best treatments and technologies to serve our patients. Among their many services, Dr. Loïc Déjardin’s joint replacement surgery stands out as a premiere program. As the only veterinary medical care facility to offer comprehensive join replacement—knee, hip, elbow, and ankle—for small animal patients, Dr. Déjardin’s extensive patented equipment, research, and experience is supported and enhanced by the orthopedic legacy that has always been an integral part of the College.
The architectural design of the Veterinary Medical Center’s new Emergency and Critical Care Unit draws from “evidence based design.” The new unit’s open floor plan and natural light draw directly from these principles. The renovated facility was funded almost entirely by gifts from friends of the College.
Research is the foundation of these diagnostic and therapeutic approaches, teaching methods, and architecture. The College has trained generations of bench and public health scientists, veterinarians, pathologists, and leaders in a range of other disciplines. Our longstanding research training program has been central to this success. Funding, and some of the finest faculty members in the country, has helped forge our leadership in this training.
Funding also makes possible the education of constituencies that benefit from our research, including research that helps to improve food security. That is the case with a USDA-funded project led by Dr. Ron Erskine. The project brings together the expertise of bench researchers, sociologists, extension educators, and multimedia educators who are all working to bring current science of mastitis to dairy parlors around Michigan and throughout the country.
Research, outreach, and collaboration that protect our food system are some of the contributions of the College’s Diagnostic Center for Population and Animal Health. Our groundbreaking and continuing contributions to emerging and zoonotic diseases are examples of this. In the current avian influenza outbreak, we were one of only five laboratories in the country invited by the USDA Wildlife Services to participate in heightened surveillance of wild birds.
The faculty, staff, and students whose exceptional work are recognized by these accomplishments is a great source of pride for the College and for me personally. I consider it a privilege to lead such a talented group of people in an institution that is committed to supporting the missions of our College: research, education, and outreach that make the world a better place.