Your Animal Health Care Team

The goal of the Veterinary Teaching Hospital (VTH) is to provide front-line animal health care while building the future of the veterinary profession through hands-on training of residents, interns, and students in the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) program. The faculty, staff, and students who care for your pets, sporting animals, and farm animals are compassionate, dedicated, and committed to professional excellence. The equipment and technology used to diagnose and treat your animals is similar to those used by physicians in human hospitals. While the VTH provides routine care to small animals through its Small Animal Community Practice, animals with challenging ailments are referred to the hospital to receive the best care that modern veterinary medicine can offer.

Board-certified faculty

VTH clinical faculty members certified by such organizations as the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine and the American College of Veterinary Surgeons are among the most highly trained veterinary specialists in the world. Their expertise assures the best possible results for your animals. To achieve board certification in a specialty area, veterinarians typically complete four years of advanced study through post-DVM internship and residency programs, followed by the successful completion of rigorous examinations.

A translational medicine approach

The VTH aims to function at the leading edge of clinical care. Clinical faculty members work closely with basic scientists in college laboratories to develop new medical and surgical treatments for managing disease in your animals. By helping develop promising new treatments and collaborating with scientists at other academic medical centers, VTH clinicians ensure that your animal receives the highest-quality care.

Residents and interns

Residents and interns work closely with clinical faculty members to provide you and your animal with an excellent health care experience.

• INTERNS are DVMs who, in addition to having completed a four-year veterinary training program, have chosen to pursue an additional year of advanced clinical training.
• RESIDENTS are DVMs who, in addition to having completed a four-year veterinary training program, have at least one year of advanced post-graduate training as an intern or have years of practice experience. Residents embark upon a three-year training program that qualifies them to pursue board certification in a veterinary specialty, such as internal medicine, surgery, ophthalmology, or radiology.
• CHIEF RESIDENTS are promoted to this prestigious rank in the last year of their training program after having demonstrated to the faculty that they are skilled, knowledgeable, and competent to serve in this role. The promotion requires nomination by their section, a two-thirds majority vote by the department, and approval by the Veterinary Teach Hospital Board. A chief resident may see patients without direct supervision; however, board-certified faculty clinicians are always available for consultation or backup.

All residents and interns are highly competent clinical professionals who also assist in training the veterinary college's DVM students.

Licensed veterinary technicians

Trained and experienced professionals who play an important role on the hospital's animal health care team, licensed veterinary technicians (LVTs)  are like registered nurses in clinical veterinary medicine. Working under the supervision of a veterinarian, LVTs provide specialized nursing care and can assist in a variety of diagnostic, medical, and surgical procedures. In addition, LVTs can specialize in such areas as emergency and critical care or anesthesia.

Veterinary students

While functioning as a major medical center, the VTH also serves as a training ground for future veterinarians. Students in the veterinary college's DVM program complete clerkships designed to give them hands-on experience in medicine, surgery, radiology, and other areas of clinical care. When you bring your animal to the VTH, a clinical-year student will welcome you, take a case history, and conduct an initial examination prior to consulting with the supervising veterinarian. Our students will continue to work closely with you while your animal is under our care.

Our partnership with you

Our clients play a pivotal role in ensuring that our patients receive optimal care. While our veterinarians learn much about your animal during an examination, they depend on you to provide detailed information about your animal's behaviors and signs. Similarly, we will depend on you to carefully follow our doctors' instructions and to properly administer any medications. Working closely with you, we strive to achieve the best possible outcome for your pets and animals.