Early February is always a tense time for future clinicians as they anxiously await the national match results. The nation’s top veterinary candidates and programs wait to hear how well they have fared in the very competitive matching process. It is just as exciting a time for the institutions and faculty who are on the other side of the match. Massive faculty effort goes into evaluating the many fine applicants and choosing which will be the best for our programs training leaders in zoological health. The EMC has always enjoyed excellent results from the match and this year was no exception. What better way to welcome the temptation of warmer weather than to extend our warmest welcome to our newest veterinary residents & intern. This year is a particularly important year because it sees 3 rather than 2 new house officers joining us.
Dr. Michelle Whitehead, a 2014 DVM graduate from Western College of Veterinary Medicine will joining us as the first ever Zoological Companion Animal resident in the newly established position to focus on privately owned zoological species. She will be coming to us after completing her internship in zoological medicine & surgery at Texas A&M. Dr. Whitehead was heavily involved in the Wild and Exotic Animal Medicine Society (WEAMS) during her time at Western and served as president of that organization which is similar to our WAAZM. She has also studied at the Vancouver Aquarium and at the Assiniboine Park Zoo in Winnipeg, Manitoba, as well as at the the Wildlife Center of Virginia in Waynesboro. Her passion for education and teaching will surely shine during the small exotics anatomy and physiology wet lab she will be instructing at Texas A&M this spring, and we are excited to have her join us as a resident at NC State.
From a cursory glance it might seem that this year was a sweep for Texas A&M University, and in a sense it was as joining the Exotic Animal Medicine Service as a new intern this July will be Dr. Jane Christman, who will be joining us fresh from a small animal rotating clinical internship at Texas A&M University. Dr. Christman, however, is a dedicated Spartan, having earned her DVM in 2015 from Michigan State University. She is excited to be joining the EAMS team and has long held a career in zoological medicine as her long-term goal.
Last, but certainly not least, returning to the NCSU fold this year as the new Zoological Medicine first year Resident will be Dr. Kate Archibald, NCSU DVM class of 2014. After graduating from NC State, Dr. Archibald completed a small animal rotating internship at VCA West Los Angeles before joining the team at the Omaha Zoo as a zoological medicine intern. Dr. Archibald is well known to us and is an outstanding clinician and an active researcher having published with many of the EMC faculty and others on a wide array of species including bullfrogs, blue crabs, waxy monkey frogs, and tarantulas.
During her time at NCSU, Dr. Archibald was also an active participant in the creation of ZTAU masterplan for the College of Veterinary Medicine’s emerging Zoological Teaching Animal Unit. She was among the first pioneering veterinary students that collaborated with graduate students from the College of Design to create a plan to bringing NC State’s emphasis on experiential education to the teaching of zoological medicine. We are excited to have her back and not just because of all of the work that is available to be done on further implementing the ZTAU master plans that started with the completion of the first ZTAU installment, Wolf Prowl.
