Shaping Veterinary Medicine Around the World
Beyond its role as a teaching facility for DVM students and a leading referral hospital for advanced care, the UC Davis veterinary hospital also serves as the world’s largest training ground for future veterinary specialists.
The hospital’s house officer program—which offers residencies, internships, and fellowships—attracts participants from around the globe.
Currently, there are 140 house officers training in 47 specialty disciplines—44 of whom are internationals who will take their new skills back home to improve veterinary medicine in their native country. Several of those house officers will return to clinical teaching positions, not only improving the immediate care of their patients, but advancing the level of veterinary education for generations to come.
Currently, there are 140 house officers training in 47 specialty disciplines—44 of whom are internationals who will take their new skills back home to improve veterinary medicine in their native country.
Dr. Dennis Woerde (Australia)
Dr. Woerde is completing his fifth year as a house officer. The Australian first came to Davis in 2019 for a 3-year residency in small animal internal medicine. He followed that with a 2-year fellowship in urology/dialysis.
“There aren’t many places in Australia that practice interventional endourology, dialysis, and therapeutic plasma exchange—only one or two in the entire country,” said Woerde. “I learned all of these in my residency and fellowship, so these are great skills to bring back and improve patient treatment in Australia.”
After he returns home, Woerde will practice at a private hospital in Sydney, where he will have a mixture of teaching, research, and clinical duties. In this capacity, he will teach these advanced internal medicine procedures to interns and residents, further extending the reach of specialty care.
There aren’t many places in Australia that practice interventional endourology, dialysis, and therapeutic plasma exchange ... I learned all of these in my residency and fellowship, so these are great skills to bring back and improve patient treatment in Australia.”
Dr. Gabriela Castellanos (Ecuador)
Dr. Castellanos owns an ambulatory equine practice in Ecuador and will be teaching the basics of ultrasound in large animals at two universities in Quito. She explains that the understanding of large animal imaging, especially ultrasound, is deficient in her home country.
“It is certainly performed but with an entire lack of professional technique and knowledge,” said Castellanos. “Students leave veterinary school with few to no interactions with ultrasound. That is something I want to change.”
To improve her imaging skills, Castellanos is participating in a 1-year fellowship in large animal ultrasound at UC Davis, one of the few advanced ultrasound training programs offered anywhere in the world. She knows this opportunity will go a long way toward educating the next generation of equine veterinarians and improving the level of equine medicine in Ecuador.
I want to become the person who improves the standards and expands ultrasound as a specialty in equine and large animal medicine in South America.”
“Considering our limitations, I am proud of the care we provide in Ecuador,” said Castellanos. “I want to become the person who improves the standards and expands ultrasound as a specialty in equine and large animal medicine in South America, starting in my country. The knowledge I am acquiring at UC Davis will allow me to do that.”
Dr. Claudia Valderrama-Martinez (Columbia)
Dr. Valderrama-Martinez says that a lot has changed about medicine since she was in veterinary school 20 years ago. The Colombia native worked in field service for most of her career before recently becoming a professor at Universidad Nacional de Colombia. The teaching position is mostly in a clinical setting, where medical practices and techniques may differ from her field experiences. To gain more clinical experience and improve her skills in a hospital setting, Valderrama-Martinez completed a 1-year internship in equine internal medicine at UC Davis.
At UC Davis, I have learned how to diagnose ... one of the most common neurological diseases in horses. This will save many horses in Colombia.
“We do not have any board-certified internal medicine veterinarians in Colombia,” said Valderrama-Martinez. “So, this knowledge base I am learning from the UC Davis faculty will be new to most veterinarians in Colombia and will be of great benefit to my students.”
In addition to improving her aptitude in performing endoscopies and ultrasounds, as well as interpreting images, she conducted two research studies during her internship and plans to start research projects in Colombia with a grant she won to study neurological diseases.
“We have a lot of neurological cases in Colombia, but we don’t know what is causing these diseases or how to diagnose them properly,” Valderrama-Martinez said. “At UC Davis, I have learned how to diagnose equine protozoal myeloencephalitis, one of the most common neurological diseases in horses. This will save many horses in Colombia.”
Dr. Araya Radtanakatikanon (Thailand)
Dr. Radtanakatikanon graduated from veterinary school at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand in 2010. At the time, it was one of only six veterinary schools in Thailand. Now there are nearly 20, but certain specialties remain nonexistent. Radtanakatikanon aims to change that.
Following graduation, she became a lecturer at her alma mater and earned a scholarship for young academics that allowed her to pursue a Ph.D. at UC Davis in 2013. Following completion of the advanced degree, she returned to her position at Chulalongkorn University, where her interest in pathology continued to grow. While anatomic pathology is well known in Thailand, clinical pathology is not recognized as its own specialty.
“Clinical pathology has a core value in veterinary medicine,” said Radtanakatikanon. “It underpins every aspect of patient care from diagnostic testing to treatment advice, and it deserves more attention from veterinarians in Thailand.”
Clinical pathology has a core value in veterinary medicine ... it deserves more attention from veterinarians in Thailand.”
To improve her clinical pathology skills, Radtanakatikanon returned to UC Davis for a 3-year residency in the specialty. Chulalongkorn University has supported her throughout this advanced education and training and recently promoted her to assistant professor. When she finishes her residency, she will return to Thailand and launch a clinical pathology unit at the university.