The current proposal seeks to build on the University of California, San Diego's (UCSD) existing and successful training program, and provide an intensive and sustained training experience for graduate veterinarians with a DVM or VMD degree in preparation for a career as a Laboratory Animal Medicine veterinarian in translational biomedical research. Funds are requested for the training opportunity of an additional three veterinarians over a five-year period. The first two years of the three-year training program provide general and specialized training in the diverse tasks and duties of a laboratory animal veterinarian. Trainees will gain expertise working with the wide range of species present at UCSD and they are also afforded multiple unique opportunities with the wider range of species present at various zoological collections and research institutions of the San Diego community. The didactic portion of the training program will encompass a minimum of 200 hours with faculty and is delivered through multiple modalities including classes, seminar series, rounds, and intensive review sessions. Candidate training for the development of their ability to perform basic research will be concentrated in the third year. During this year, training will focus on enhancing the participants'awareness of the scientific process, introduction to the concepts for proper conduct of research, conducting research on a mentored research project, developing research techniques, and refining their skills to present and communicate research findings. Participants will be paired with a research mentor who maintains a well-funded research laboratory and is performing cutting edge research into areas such as infectious disease, metabolic disease, cancer biology and treatment, advanced imaging, signal transduction and signaling, and immunology. UCSD's Director of the Animal Care Program (ACP), with over 20 years of veterinary and research experience and a diplomate of the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine, will have primary responsibility for the training program. The UCSD training team also includes four board certified veterinarians (anesthesia, medicine, pathology, and microbiology);four accomplished Laboratory Animal Medicine veterinarians with almost 70 years of combined biomedical research experience;three DVM/Ph.D. veterinarians with ongoing and well-funded research laboratories and;multiple MD and/or Ph.D. degree principal investigators with cutting edge NIH-funded research programs ready to serve as mentors to the postdoctoral trainees in Laboratory Animal Medicine. Participants will benefit from the active participation of 22 veterinarians, mostly from institutions in the immediate vicinity, which provides a breadth of research, species and learning opportunities for LAM veterinarians that may be unmatched in the country.
This proposal seeks to build on the University of California, San Diego's (UCSD) existing and successful training program, and provide an intensive and sustainable training experience for graduate veterinarians with a DVM or VMD degree in preparation for a career as a Laboratory Animal Medicine veterinarian in translational biomedical research. Leveraging UCSD's strong biomedical research environment, selected graduate veterinarians will practice all aspects of laboratory animal medicine under the guidance of UCSD's established professional team and graduate with the preparation and requirements necessary to achieve board certification by the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine. A program to monitor the progress of participants and program effectiveness is included.
