Vanderbilt University Medical Center offers a 2-year Laboratory Animal Medicine residency program which is recognized by the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine (ACLAM) and offers motivated veterinarians a training environment designed to meet the ACLAM board eligibility requirements. The VUMC Animal Care and Use Program has been accredited by AAALAC International since 1967. The residency program is supported by institutional funds and the Veterinary Resident is a staff position and is eligible for all staff benefits.
Mission Statement:
The primary objective of the Laboratory Animal Medicine Residency Program is to prepare residents for independent careers as professional, productive experts within the field of laboratory animal medicine.
Program Components:
Clinical and Non-Clinical Rotations
Residents rotate through the centralized animal housing facilities managed by the Division of Animal Care (DAC) and work in a variety of facility designs and with multiple caging systems while providing clinical care to a wide range of species including rats, mice, rabbits, guinea pigs, gerbils, dogs, ferrets, swine, sheep, nonhuman primates (multiple species), zebra finches, zebrafish, and amphibians. Residents develop diagnostic and treatment plans while in consultation with researchers and in consideration of experimental constraints and confounds. In addition, Residents participate in the health surveillance and disease prevention programs and have the opportunity to gain surgical experience as part of providing veterinary care and/ or through participating in study-related procedures.
Residents spend a two-month rotation in the Translational Pathology Shared Resource, working with ACVP Boarded Veterinary Pathologists. During this time, Residents perform complete necropsies (includes gross and microscopic examination).
During a rotation with the Vanderbilt University Office of Animal Welfare Assurance (OAWA), Residents gain experience with protocol review, semi-annual inspections, satellite facility inspections, and Vanderbilt’s unique post-approval compliance monitoring program. Attending meetings of the university’s Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) provide residents with opportunities to see the practical application of regulatory requirements.
Interaction with the Business office will give residents firsthand experience with the administrative management of an animal care program including, but not limited to, budget development, per diem rate setting, personnel management, facility planning, construction, and operations.
The DAC works with the Veterans' Administration Tennessee Valley Health System to provide veterinary and husbandry care, as well as IACUC oversight. Through this collaboration, Residents experience working with a government-managed program.
Didactic Courses
Didactic courses are designed to provide residents with the foundation of expert knowledge needed to practice laboratory animal medicine as well as prepare for the ACLAM certification examination. Didactic courses provide residents with formal instruction in clinical medicine, pathology, regulatory compliance, administrative and professional skills, and literary review.
Mentored Research Experience: Residents complete a hypothesis-driven research project that is designed to lead to a first-author publication. The interests of the trainee and the nature of the project determine the selection of the research mentor. Research mentors may be either a DAC veterinarian or a principal investigator from the Vanderbilt research community.
Professional Development: Funds will be made available annually for residents to attend at least one laboratory animal-related course, seminar, conference, or meeting, providing exposure to the latest developments in the field and opportunity to network with other laboratory animal medicine professionals.
Personnel Training
After orientation, the resident will be expected to assist, and eventually lead, DAC and OAWA formal training sessions (didactic and wet lab) offered for DAC and research staff.
About Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC):
Located in Nashville, Tennessee, VUMC is dedicated to research, education, and service. The Vanderbilt School of Medicine consistently ranks in the top 15 out of 125 U.S. medical schools receiving competitive funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Approximately half of the NIH-supported projects at Vanderbilt utilize animals in research.
Major translational research initiatives at Vanderbilt are moving discoveries from the bench to the bedside, transforming health care and health care delivery. Areas of emphasis by the research faculty include pharmacology and drug development, cardiovascular disease, neuroscience, cancer biology, substance abuse, women’s health, diabetes, infectious disease, and aging.
Vanderbilt’s Office of Research has over 50 state-of-the-art core facilities to support cutting edge biomedical research, including:
The Center for Small Animal Imaging within the VU Institute of Imaging Science
The nationally-recognized Mouse Metabolic Phenotyping Core
Transgenic Mouse / Embryonic Stem Cell Shared Resource
Mouse Kidney Physiology and Disease Center
Rat and Mouse Neurobehavior Cores
ZCORE: Zebrafish Aquatic Facility
Translational Pathology Shared Resource
S.R. Light Laboratory for Surgical Research
Faculty:
The Division of Comparative Medicine has nine faculty members, including five ACLAM Diplomates and two ACVP Diplomates.
For more information, please contact:
Printha McCallum
Senior Program Manager, Animal Care and Use Program
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
printha.k.mccallum@vumc.org
615-322-6852
For information on how to apply, click here.