Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
This proposal is to request funding to establish the Veterinary Microbiology Residency Program (VMRP) at the University of Illinois Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (UI VDL). The primary aim of this program is to provide opportunities for veterinarians to receive professional training in clinical microbiology and further increase the members of microbiologists certified by American College of Veterinary Microbiologists (ACVM). Board-certified veterinary microbiologists help to guard U.S. animal and public health through sentineling foreign animal diseases, identifying the emergence of antimicrobial resistance in bacterial pathogens, and expanding our knowledge in potential zoonotic disease spread. The UI VDL is located in central Illinois, an agriculturally-rich region of the U.S. with a critical priority (IL215) for the veterinarian shortage situation. The UI VDL serves veterinary practitioners, livestock producers, public health officials, and researchers and educates professional students, graduate students, anatomic and clinical pathology residents. In addition to the main laboratory in Urbana, the UI VDL has a Zoological Pathology Program and a satellite clinical pathology laboratory in the Chicago area. These three laboratory facilities provide a large number of food animal cases and training materials for the proposed VMRP. Moreover, university researchers will provide collaborative research opportunities for VMRP. The microbiology residents will be trained by two ACVM diplomates, with additional support from one microbiologist, one virologist, twelve veterinary pathologists, and one board-certified veterinary practitioners in the food animal field. This project will train the clinical veterinary microbiologists to fill the needs in veterinary diagnostic discipline.
Animal Health Component
100%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
The primary aim of this program is to provide opportunities for veterinarians to receive professional training in clinical microbiology and further increase the members of microbiologists certified by American College of Veterinary Microbiologists (ACVM). We will train 2 Veterinary Microbiology Residents as part of a 2-year residency program over the 3 years of the granting period. Training will primarily occur at the UI VDL, which is located in central Illinois.
Project Methods
We propose to train 2 individuals during three years' time period with 1-year overlapping to enhance individual training. This will be a non-degree veterinary microbiology residency training program at the UI VDL.Training of ACVM residents will take place in the VDL under the direct supervision of two faculty members certified by ACVM. Each resident will be assigned a faculty advisory committee consisting of at least three members listed in this proposal. The training is interdisciplinary and accomplished by training in four major subjects 1) virology 2) bacteriology/mycology 3) serology (immunology), and 4) molecular diagnostics at UI VDL to meet the requirement of ACVM Board Examination and curriculum.Case responsibility:The resident has case responsibility set forth by ACVM: the resident will be expected to participate in routine daily basis diagnostic responsibilities to develop comprehensive knowledge in clinical microbiology, including sample receiving, sample preparation, performance of essential tests, client communication, result reporting, and case interpretation. Additionally, the resident will work with the program supervisors in case consultation, trouble shooting, and leadership development. As UI VDL frequently receives request from researchers to provide service contract on vaccine efficacy evaluation study using serological or pathogen detection by PCR or culture, the residents will participate in related projects to gain experience on infectious disease control and prevention. Furthermore, the resident will participate in field case investigation with veterinary practitioner certified in food animal specialty to earn the clinical experience in food animal disease diagnosis.Presentations:In addition to spending time on the bench learning traditional and contemporary clinical diagnosis and field case investigations, the resident will also be required to give professional presentations in formal rounds, resident seminars, journal clubs, student lectures and focused presentations in an area of the recognized veterinary specialty. A minimum of four (4) presentations of at least fifteen (15) minutes duration in a formal setting during their residency, and one presentation of at least 60 minutes after the first year of their residency are required. The residents will be required to present at the Illinois Fall Conference for Veterinarians, which is held in Urbana each year for veterinary practitioners. Additionally, the residents can present in Annual Carthage Veterinary Service Swine Conference held in Macomb, Illinois and Annual Meeting of Illinois State Veterinary Medical Association held in Tinley Park, Illinois. Each year the residents will participate in a national meeting: either American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians annual meeting or Conference of Research Workers in Animal Diseases.Publications:This training program will require the resident to earn at least one publication as the first author in peer-reviewed journals. Acceptable peer reviewed publications include: 1. Original research, 2. Comprehensive retrospective studies, 3. Case Reports, 4. Short/brief communications, or 5. Comprehensive Review Article.Approaches for recruiting residents:The UI VDL is located 135 miles south of Chicago, 124 miles west of Indianapolis, Indiana, and 178 miles northeast of St. Louis, Missouri, where located in Midwest of US, a well-known agriculture thrive area (in total 12 states with a population 65,377,684). This provides a geographical advantage for this proposed program to recruit local or nearby state candidates with enthusiasm in animal disease prevention, detection, and diagnosis.We will recruit students though a proven, multiprong approach. The college and specifically the UI VDL have an expansive and active clinical research program for veterinary students though our Applied Livestock Epidemiology Laboratory. This program has proven to be a fertile recruiting ground for veterinary students seeking further training by exposing them to the use of advanced molecular, virology, bacterio and immunology techniques in clinical practice. In addition, the UI CVM is the recognized leader for intensive knowledge transfer programs in food supply veterinary medicine. The college has an extensive ongoing marketing program for its applied post-graduate training, both the Master of Veterinary Science Degree and the Executive Veterinary Program, which produce a significant number of contacts with veterinarians interested in post graduate training. We will offer the residency as part of the menu of offerings available at Illinois which will complement our current offerings for our wide range of post graduate learners. Finally, we will conduct specific recruitment efforts for the residency by promoting it on announcements on university (UI) and veterinary professional websites (e.g. AAVLD, ACVM and AVMA) and through specialty electronic mailing lists (e.g. ACVM diplomate group, American Board of Veterinary Practitioners group, American Association of Swine Veterinarians group, American Association of Bovine Practitioners group, clinical pathology residents' group, and Illinois State Veterinary Medical Association).Selecting resident candidates:Applicants must have a DVM or equivalent degree. Residents will be chosen by the UI VDL ACVM board certified faculty members. Criteria used for selecting the residents may include academic records, three reference letters, and overall interest for the position including potential for the candidate to enter into a career providing diagnostic service to livestock sector in a rural/food animal area in US. Interview will be implemented via video-conferencing, phone or onsite interviews. A survey of candidates' career goals will be conducted during the interview process. The applicant who possesses strong interests and passion in providing services in agricultural or livestock sector and plans to work in the US governmental or state-funded diagnostic lab in the future will be considered as a potential candidate. The selection process will follow the HR guidance of University of Illinois to match the requirement of equal opportunity.