www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/mpvm December 2018 Ranked 1 st in the World- 4 years in a row MPVM Today: the twice yearly newsletter of the Masters in Preventive Veterinary Medicine Program at UC Davis Educating Future Leaders in Veterinary Population Health ADMISSION FOR NEXT YEAR IS OPEN NOW! For priority admission and consideration of financial aid, apply by Jan 15 2019. More information at https://www2.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/mpvm/prospective_students/index.cfm. All applications received by June 1 2019 will be considered. Professionals who hold a DVM or equivalent degree allowing you to practice veterinary medicine in your country; hold an MD or equivalent; or have considerable professional experience in an allied field with at least a bachelor’s degree can apply! Our classes are small, engaged in active learning, multi-cultural, international, and stimulating. They feature a strong emphasis in statistics and epidemiology and prepare you for leadership roles in everything from shelter medicine to food safety to public health, herd health, regulatory medicine, academia, and a long list of other great fields. Students complete a mentored, publishable research project, and our small program offers one-on-one assistance with career planning, research development, relocation and visas, and other professional needs. Apply today! ================================================================================= LATEST NEWS ON OUR CURRENT MPVM COHORT Dr. Ana Flávia Figueiredo Basto, DVM (2017) at PUC-PR, Brazil has interests in Wildlife and conservation medicine. Ana is a Brazilian veterinarian who has worked with wildlife in zoos, wildlife rescue centers and research projects. Ana’s interests are diverse and focus on population health and conservation medicine. During the MPVM her desire is to study wild mountain lions in Northern California and how environmental factors can interfere in their response to medications used during capture procedures.
As part of the “Global Feline Health and Underserved Community Research & Experience fellowships program”, I travelled to Sri Lanka in summer 2018 to conduct research on domestic geriatric cats with the mentorship of Drs. Woutrina Smith from UC Davis, and Eranda Rajapaksha and Saumya Wickramasinghe from University of Peradeniya. Our study, entitled “Evaluationoftheeffectsofenvironmentalenrichmentandgeneticsonbehaviorofgeriatriccats” was aimed at behavioral and genetic variations of geriatric domestic cats aged more than 7 years, along with the three different treatments: provision of a stuffed plush cat toy, a stuffed plush toy embedded with roots of the Acalypha indica plant, and no toys, in a balanced study design. During each treatment period of 15 minutes, each cat was placed in a separate room with visual isolation. Behavioral changes of cats were video recorded, and cheek swabs were collected to identify genetic variation of five candidate genes that are responsible for the sense of smell in cats.
As next steps, we are planning to evaluate the videos to quantify cats’ specific activity levels (chewing, rolling, rubbing, grooming, locomotion etc.) associated with each enrichment device and the data will be statistically analyzed to make inferences on benefits of enrichment for cats. Five candidate genes in cats will be studied using extracted DNA with regard to the behavioral changes for each enrichment status. Furthermore, I am expecting to extend this study to California. Engaging in this summer research provided me a lot of great experiences which are important as a veterinarian, research scientist and for my personal life. I am grateful to UC Davis Office for Global Programs and all of my mentors of this project for providing me this precious summer experience. Ruwiniwithstudyparticipant
Dr. Beatriz Martinez Lopez (UC Davis-CADMS) and Dr. Yingjuan Qian (NAU) attendance to IPVS 2018, June 11-14th 2018
CADMS-NAU collaboration team
CADMS-NAU collaboration team, led by Dr. Beatriz Martínez-López (UC Davis-Center for Animal Disease Modeling and Surveillance, CADMS) and Dr. Yingjuan Qian (Nanjing Agricultural University, NAU) participated from June 11-14th in the 25th International Pig Veterinary Society Congress (IPVS) and 2018 International PRRS Symposium in Chongqing Yuelai International Convention Centre, China. Two CADMS-NAU students presented their MPVM thesis in an oral presentation and two posters.
Kathleen O’Hara’s oral presentation about Network analysis of swine shipments in the IPVS 2018 - Chongqing, China June 11-14th 2018
Kathleen O’Hara presentations, June 11-14th 2018
Dr. Kathleen O'Hara, DVM, MPVM candidate at UC Davis, recently traveled to Chongqing, China, where she presented her MPVM project results conducted under the CADMS-NAU collaboration with the supervision of Dr. Beatriz Martínez-López (UC Davis-CADMS) and Dr. Yingjuan Qian (NAU). Her plenary talk titled "Network analysis of swine shipments in China: the value for animal health, food safety and security" was presented in the Epidemiology and Clinical Diseases section of the International Pig Veterinarians Society Congress (IPVS). This conference is attended by thousands of veterinarians from around the world, and Kathleen was one of only a handful of student presenters out of over 200 talks given. This visit was the culmination of an internationally collaborative project between CADMS-UC Davis and Nanjing Agricultural University, and has laid the groundwork for ongoing joint efforts to improve swine health in China and worldwide.
Yitong Huang’s poster presentation about the Risk of African Swine Fever introduction in China in the IPVS 2018 - Chongqing, China June 11-14th 2018
Yitong Huan poster presentation, June 11-14th 2018
Dr. Yitong Huan, DVM, MPVM candidate at UC Davis presented her MPVM project results in her poster entitled “Modeling the risk of potential introduction of African swine fever into China through illegal pork products introduced by air passengers” conducted under the CADMS-NAU collaboration with the supervision of Dr. Beatriz Martínez-López (UC Davis-CADMS) and Dr. Yingjuan Qian (NAU). Her poster was presented in the Emerging and Re-emerging swine diseases section of the International Pig Veterinarians Society Congress (IPVS). Yitong research will contribute to the estimation of the risk of ASF introduction into China and the risk-based, more cost-effective allocation of border inspections and other mitigation strategies to prevent this introduction into the largest swine producer country in the world.
Specialists in cooperative extension at UCD vet school are the link between the university and industry. Veterinarians in these positions focus on certain species of livestock such as poultry, beef or dairy cattle, a certain clientele, such as small scale and diversified farms or a particular problem, such as waste water management or waterborne diseases and many are MPVM alumni. Gaby Maier recently filled the position of assistant specialist in cooperative extension for beef cattle herd health & production. She is expected to develop a research program that will help the beef industry in California to manage some of their challenges, such as infectious diseases as well as reach out to ranchers and educate them on best practices. After reading about the MPVM program, Gaby knew even before entering vet school at UC Davis that she wanted to pursue this degree to be able to focus on population health. Two years as a veterinary medical officer with CDFA, an internship and residency in livestock herd health and reproduction exposed her to various production systems and types of operations in California and Florida. A PhD in epidemiology focusing on bovine respiratory disease in dairy calves gave her more exposure to field research and analytical tools. Her new position is a perfect opportunity to put all the past experiences to good use. "The MPVM program was a great way to spike that interest in epidemiology and field research and I recommend it to anyone wanting to go down that route."
