Summary:
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 Virginia. 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.
Extern involvement:
Externs (or visiting residents) 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.
Rotation Project:
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.
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.
Requirements to Apply:
1) Complete the CCM externship questionnaire (CLICK HERE)
2) Email copy of CV, letter of intent (1-page limit), and letter of recommendation (only one required) to pqm4ns@virginia.edu
This must be completed at least 8 weeks prior to the scheduled externship
Externship Coordinator:
Toi Collins, DVM, MS, DACLAM (pqm4ns@virginia.edu) / Phone: 434-924-2090
Externship Coordinator:
Toi Collins, DVM, MS, DACLAM (pqm4ns@virginia.edu) / Phone: 434-924-2090
Health & Safety Requirements:
Prior to starting their externship, students must submit a health history questionnaire along with proof of negative PPD and current measles and tetanus vaccination to UVA WorkMED. Regulatory and safety training sessions must be completed before entering animal facilities and will be provided prior to or shortly after arrival. Students must also have proof of health insurance through their college or private company.
Stipend: not available (unpaid externship)
Benefits: not available
Availability of housing: not available
Program Overview:
The residency program offers qualified veterinarians the opportunity to obtain postdoctoral training in laboratory animal medicine while pursuing a graduate degree in biomedical research (MS). The primary aim of the program is to provide thetrainee with the knowledge and technical skills necessary to develop a successful career in academia, government, and or industry.
UVA is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion in all aspects of the veterinary profession, so that we can best serve the research community and animals under our care. Our goal is to mirror the growing diversity of the communities weserve and promote an understanding of their varied needs. To this end, we are committed to using our residency programto actively champion diversity, equity, and inclusion in our department, leadership, and organization. This commitment includes (but not limited to) race; ethnicity; physical and mental abilities; gender; sexual orientation; gender identity orexpression; parental, marital, or pregnancy status; religious or political beliefs; military or veteran status; and geographic, socioeconomic, and educational backgrounds.
Animal Facilities:
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 animal program facilities include a total of ten vivaria with >100,000 square feet of dedicated animal housing and procedural space. Animals routinely housed within the vivarium include swine, small ruminants, aquatics (zebrafish, xenopus, electric fish, cichlids), birds, rabbits, ferrets, mice, rats, tree shrews, prairie voles, zebra finches, white crowned sparrows, and several other laboratory rodents.
Resident Training:
The 3-year program is focused on providing trainees high level engagement centered around 6 core objectives through didactic, hands-on experience and mentorship:
- Clinical Medicine and Laboratory Animal Behavior
- Facility & Operational Management
- Regulatory Oversight & Animal Welfare
- Research Training (Resident Project & Publications)
- Professional & Leadership Development
- Diversity, Equity, Inclusion
- Clinical Medicine and Laboratory Animal Behavior:
Residents participate in weekly clinical rounds with large animal, rodent, and aquatic populations within the facility under guidance of veterinarians and technical staff. Rotations occur on a quarterly basis and residents serve as theprimary clinician. The final 6 months of the program (year 3), residents participate in externship rotations at partnering institutions and hospitals.
- Facility & Operational Management:
Residents participate in monthly facility/operational rounds with the attending veterinarian and facility managers. Objective is to expose the trainee to all components of the operation for the UVA CCM (facility management, facility design, cost accounting, husbandry, cage wash).
- Regulatory Oversight & Animal Welfare:
Residents participate in monthly Regulatory and Animal Welfare Roundtable discussions with institutional leadership (i.e., IACUC Director, OAW Director, Attending Veterinarian). Residents also routinely attend IBC, radiation safety, and IACUC meetings. IBC/IACUC activity includes reviewing protocols; reviewing and developing IBC/IACUC policies and procedures; participating in semiannual inspections of animal facilities and laboratories. Additionally, residents participate in announced and unannounced site visits undertaken by regulatory and accrediting authorities (i.e., AAALAC and USDA site visits).
- Research & Graduate Training (Resident Mentored Project):
Residents have dedicated time during the program to conduct a research project in collaboration with a UVA scientist. Expectation is for residents to have the project completed and manuscript submitted by the start of year 3 for the program. This provides residents with an opportunity to apply the scientific method in a biomedical research project and develop an appreciation for the process of scientific discovery.
- Professional & Leadership Development:
Residents participate in quarterly institutional leadership/professional development roundtable discussions. Topics include (not limited): workplace civility, resiliency, diversity & inclusion, executing difficult conversations, cost-accounting, facility management, facility design, team building, and promoting wellness in the workplace.
- Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion:
Residents are obligated to participate in at least one DEI activity within the institution and University partners on an annual basis (i.e., outreach within local schools, career days, DEI continuing education/training workshops). The training program works closely with the Division for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the University of Virginia (https://dei.virginia.edu) to create community partnerships for pipeline building into laboratory animal medicine.
The residency program at UVA is a recognized training site by the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine(ACLAM). It was developed in 2023 and the very first program of its kind in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The program is named in honor of Sanford H. Feldman, DVM, PhD, DACLAM, former Director & Attending Veterinarian for the University who dedicated over 30+ years to the field.
Contact:
Raphael A. Malbrue, DVM, MS, CertAqV, DACLAM
Director & Attending Veterinarian, Center for Comparative Medicine
University of Virginia
Email: Raphael Malbrue