The work of three residents in the Laboratory Animal Medicine Residency Program at Penn State College of Medicine has been recognized at professional meetings. The program has just started sending residents to local branch meetings of the American Association of Laboratory Animal Science.
First year residents Regina Munden and Rebecca LaFleur presented at the association’s QUAD branch meeting held in Uncasville, Connecticut, in May. Second year resident Krista Hernon presented at the Tribranch Symposium meeting held in Atlantic City in early June.
Munden received a first place prize in the clinical poster category for “A Case Series in Dental Disease in Laboratory Animals: Is this a Significant Problem?”
LaFleur placed second in the clinical poster category for “Spontaneous Necrotizing Esophagitis in a Sprague Dawley Rat.”
Hernon placed first for her poster, “Ultrasound Guided Vessel Catheterization as a Refinement Technique for Swine Under Prolonged Anesthesia for Extracorporeal Life Support Device Evaluation.”
The Laboratory Animal Medicine Residency Program is a three-year program culminating in a master’s degree. The program started at the College of Medicine in 1968 and has graduated 81 residents since its inception.
Residents are licensed veterinarians who are working toward board certification with the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine, a recognized specialty of the American Veterinary Medical Association. Laboratory Animal Medicine is the art and science of providing veterinary care to protect the health and well-being of animals in biomedical research, including compliance with animal welfare regulations.
Research is a key component of the program and residents must complete a master’s thesis in order to meet the requirements for graduation.
In order to apply for the ACLAM board examination, the resident must publish a first author, hypothesis-driven paper in addition to completing the residency program. The research performed during the master’s program must ultimately be of appropriate quality for publication.