Philanthropy at Work

by Carolyn Sawai
October 14, 2022

Providing Unparalleled Training Opportunities

UC Davis is home to the world’s brightest students studying to become the next generation of veterinarians. As the leading veterinary school in the country, we are committed to providing them with the highest caliber of training and access to the latest technology.

Thanks to Ethicon Inc., our students are receiving critical hands-on experience using innovative surgical equipment. Ethicon provided electrosurgical units, carts and generators to the Gourley Clinical Teaching Center where approximately 1,500 surgeries are performed annually. Animals from more than 20 shelters and rescue organizations receive much needed treatment at no cost and begin their journey to finding loving homes for adoption.

“The addition of electrosurgical equipment to the tools available for pre-clinical teaching allows us to introduce modern surgical technology to our students and also enhances our ability to solidify basic surgical principles,” said Dr. Lane Johnson, professional education veterinarian at the Gourley Center.

Surgeons are able to minimize blood loss during procedures using electrosurgery to quickly and efficiently seal blood vessels before they bleed or as soon as any bleeding is noted. It also helps to reduce surgical time for patients by efficiently cutting and coagulating tissue, decreasing the incidence of complications and surgical site infection.

“We are very grateful to Ethicon for providing equipment, allowing our faculty to expose veterinary students to the exciting world of electrosurgical energy which now forms part of everyday best practice in modern veterinary surgery,” said Dr. Philipp Mayhew, professor of Small Animal Soft Tissue and Minimally Invasive Surgery.

“Our graduates are able to transfer their experience of using this latest surgical technology into their practice to benefit all of their surgical patients.” –Dr. Phillipp Mayhew

Ethicon and DePuy Synthes, both Johnson & Johnson MedTech companies, have been serving the surgical and orthopedic needs of veterinary customers and patients for many years and have also supported the UC Davis Fracture Program. Their vision is to increase access to surgical innovation and solutions within the veterinary community.

From left, Dr. Matthew Prator and fourth-year students Anett Szczepanek and Allison Shannon perform surgery using an electrosurgical unit provided by Ethicon. Photo: Don Preisler

Preparing Future Veterinary Scientists

Veterinary pathology is undergoing a major digital transition. Researchers have moved from examining tissue sections through a microscope to interpreting digital images on a computer—and are now adopting artificial intelligence to help improve detection and accuracy. UC Davis is committed to preparing the next generation of veterinary scientists in this specialty through a leading-edge fellowship, thanks to Charles River Laboratories and the school’s Officeof Research.

“At Charles River, our mission, science and strong sense of purpose help to improve the health and well-being of many across the globe,” said Dr. Kevin McDorman, corporate vice president of Global Pathology.

“We are able to bring practical and impactful life science experience to future thought leaders through our partnerships and are delighted to work with UC Davis to forward progress in digital pathology.”

The fellowship’s first recipient is international scholar Dr. Judit Magnusson Wulcan, who recently completed her anatomic pathology residency at UC Davis. She received her education in Denmark and the West Indies, and clinical training in Sweden and Switzerland.

“It is an amazing honor to receive the Charles River Laboratories Fellowship award,” Magnusson Wulcan said. “My interest in anatomic pathology started during veterinary school when I realized how much information there can be in tissue and how it can help you better understand pathogenesis.”

Magnusson Wulcan published four manuscripts during her residency—including three as primary author—on infectious disease in a multitude of species.

“Judit is the ideal candidate for this position because she has a strong background in veterinary pathology and a keen interest in data science and computing,” said Dr. Stefan Keller, her faculty advisor and assistant professor of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology. “She has already developed a machine learning algorithm to help interpret intestinal biopsies from cats as her residency project, which was funded by the UC Davis Center for Companion Animal Health.”

The fellowship provides graduate research support under the guidance of the Graduate Group in Integrative Pathobiology, a multidisciplinary graduate program for students interested in disease processes and biomedical research. It covers a broad spectrum of areas, including cancer biology, clinical chemistry and toxicology, genetics/genomics, global health, immunotherapy, infectious disease, neuroscience, biomechanics, pathology, virology, reproduction, respiratory biology, stem cell biology and vision science.

“We are incredibly grateful to Charles River Laboratories for facilitating the training of exceptional veterinarians in the scientific workforce,” said Dr. Sara Thomasy, professor of Comparative Ophthalmology and co-chair of the Graduate Group in Integrative Pathobiology.

“This fellowship exemplifies the mission of the integrative pathobiology graduate group to be a translational program for the health of all.”

Intestinal biopsy of a cat with weight loss and diarrhea (left). An artificial intelligence-based algorithm has been trained to identify different layers of the intestine (middle) as well as inflammatory cells (right). This alleviates the pathologist of counting cells manually and provides rapid and objective data to aid in the diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease.