During his senior year, Carey’s undergraduate advisor suggested veterinary medicine. “It was a great suggestion, one that changed the course of my life—well that, and the time I spent in a toxicology and research laboratory for the Environmental Protection Agency while I completed my prerequisites for vet school.” Carey envisioned himself working in a small animal hospital. But that vision changed when he was encouraged by his vet school mentors to consider specialization. “That’s when I landed at MSU for my rotating internship,” Carey adds.

Dr. Erica Ward embraced that change. Just days after her 2013 graduation from MSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine DVM Program, she moved from the United States to Thailand, a country she already considered her second home, thanks to several months of externships and volunteering during school breaks.

That experience helped Ward secure a job as a veterinarian at an elephant sanctuary outside of Chiang Mai, the same one she had worked with during veterinary school.

“While at the sanctuary, I worked with an extremely talented and inspirational elephant trainer, Chrissy Pratt, who now has her own non-profit, Elephation,” Ward says. “She taught me so much about elephant behavior and how to make elephant care less stressful by giving them the opportunity to voluntarily participate in medical care through positive reinforcement in protected contact.”

Ward developed a passion for teaching and mentorship, especially in promoting animal welfare and conservation. In 2016, her interests led her to a position at Loop Abroad, a veterinary-based study abroad company. In her current roles as academic director and head veterinarian, she helps develop and expand study abroad programs in Thailand and around the world.

At the National Institutes of Health, Moore examines slides of miniscule tissue samples from animal models for signs of disease. He creates hundreds of slides from a single quarter-inch sample, and each slide has the potential to tell him something different.

“Every slide is like a new page of a book. You see another part of the story,” says Moore. “You section the tissue thin and it’s like pages in the story that tell you where the virus was and which cells it was infecting.”

As a general pathologist, Moore’s work focuses on a wide range of tissues from all throughout the body; his norovirus research is focused on the gastrointestinal system, and his COVID-19 work focuses on lung tissue. But regardless of tissue type, Moore is focused on telling the whole story.

“You want to reproduce what you would see in a person if they were infected with that disease. If it doesn’t cause the same clinical disease in the animal model, there’s a break in the story; you’re missing pages,” says Moore.

One of Moore’s recent publications hones in on which cells are infected by human norovirus, a highly contagious viral agent that causes vomiting and diarrhea in people; it can be life-threatening, especially for immunocompromised individuals.

This discovery means Moore and his collaborators are one step closer to finishing this chapter of norovirus’ story.

“If you know the cells a virus targets and how it works in causing disease, then you can start making a plan for targeted vaccines, other preventatives, and improved therapeutics,” says Moore.

Expert scientists and storytellers aren’t just born; they’re shaped by those who lead them. As a PhD candidate and pathology resident at MSU from 2006 to 2009, Moore had no shortage of strong mentors. He studied in the College of Veterinary Medicine’s Department of Pathobiology and Diagnostic Investigation, and completed a residency at the MSU Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory. Moore says Dr. Kurt Williams, Dr. Dalen Agnew, and Dr. Tom Mullaney each were critical in helping him become the pathologist he is today.

“Teaching and encouraging are different things. I can tell you something, but if I encourage you to use it, pursue it, you become deeper in it. And because you’re interested, I go deeper, and because I’m interested, you go deeper,” says Moore.

“The pathologists I trained under who really made me—those people encourage you. That’s why I’m doing what I’m doing now, and I’m trying to give the same thing back to students. It’s funny to look back and try to think about how people shape you. It’s really apparent in my case.”

Moore says his path hasn’t been easy, but it’s doable and worthwhile for those who put in the work. “If it were easy, everybody would do it. You have to see something at the end of the road that really makes you want to go through it. As long as you have the right motivation, you can move through it. And if you haven’t had that moment of doubt, you’re not doing it hard enough.”

Hengesbach grew up on a dairy farm, where she helped take care of her family’s cows, horses, dogs, cats, and rabbits. Beginning in elementary school, she was active in 4-H and enjoyed hunting a variety of wild animals. “I always wanted to help the veterinarian in any way I could while they were treating our animals,” Hengesbach remembers. “I liked to feel as if I had a part in helping them get well. I knew that veterinary medicine would be something I would be passionate about as a career.”

While enrolled in the Veterinary Nursing Program, Hengesbach took the necropsy rotation elective at the MSU Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, and greatly enjoyed the Service’s environment and purpose. At the time, she thought it would be something she would enjoy as a career. After college, she took a veterinary nursing job dealing with large animal emergencies at the MSU Veterinary Medical Center. But when a position opened in the Laboratory’s Necropsy Service, she jumped at the opportunity.

“The education and hands-on training through the Veterinary Nursing Program allowed me to hit the ground running and excel in my job. The knowledge I gained in medical terminology, venipuncture, anatomy, and overall organ systems was especially useful,” says Hengesbach.

Part of her job involves teaching and training the Veterinary Medicine and Veterinary Nursing students how to perform a necropsy properly and safely. “I enjoy when the lightbulb comes on and the students say, ‘That’s what we’ve been reading in the textbook. This makes so much sense now!’” Hengesbach explains.

For many people, working with deceased animals might be a hard thing to do. But Hengesbach says she really enjoys playing a role in finding answers for the Necropsy Service’s clients.

“The clients who have large animals may have a herd problem going on that is causing multiple animal losses. These animals are the farmer’s lifeline. If the animals do well, the farmer does well. There are several diseases that can spread through a herd if the correct treatment is not given,” explains Hengesbach. “I also like trying to find closure for our small animal clients to help them understand why their beloved animal has passed away. I feel there is great purpose to the service we provide, and I take great pride in knowing I am a part of it.”

She has worked with The Iams Company and P&G Pet Care, and is currently a product performance evaluation scientist at the Royal Canin Pet Health Nutrition Center in Lewisburg, Ohio.

Near the start of Raasch’s career, she witnessed the most-extensive pet food recall; the melamine recall of 2007 directly impacted the brands she worked for, and she received numerous inquiries from worried veterinarians about the detrimental situation pet owners were facing. During this unfortunate event, Raasch became more interested in food safety, and was determined to incorporate it into her veterinary career. That’s when she decided to pursue the College’s Online Master of Science in Food Safety (MSFS) degree. “It was the perfect time to pursue a degree in food safety because of what was happening in the pet food industry,” says Raasch. “But to find out my alma mater had a food safety master’s degree program that was geared toward working professionals—it all aligned perfectly.”