Laboratory Animal Medicine
Laboratory Animal Medicine is a section in the Department of Pathobiology at Penn Vet. Our service role for the University of Pennsylvania is to care for and oversee the health, care and use of animals used for research and teaching on Philadelphia and New Bolton Center campuses. In this role, our faculty and staff veterinarians provide veterinary clinical care, oversee housing and husbandry, ensure the health quality of research animals, assist in constructing and renovating vivaria and have input into regulatory affairs regarding experimental animals. Our faculty and clinical veterinarians advise scientists to improve their experimental models and may participate in collaborative research projects.
Faculty and staff from our group teach veterinary students about laboratory animal biology and diseases by participating in didactic courses in the School. We offer summer internships to first and second year veterinary students who want to learn about laboratory animals and their care. Beginning in the summer of 2006, our academic role has expanded with the initiation of a new three-year residency training program in laboratory animal medicine. This training program meets all the criteria for recognition by the AVMA specialty organization, the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine (ACLAM) as of 2008, we have four residents. The University houses and uses more than 70,000 animals on campus, and more than 95% of these animals are rats and mice. Our veterinarians and other staff are also expert in the needs and health care for a wide variety of other animal species, including non-human primates, dogs, cats, guinea pigs, rabbits, hamsters, birds and amphibians. Our service group, University Laboratory Animal Resources, includes more than 100 persons with veterinary specialists, a laboratory animal pathologist, a PhD rodent virologist and 10 veterinary technicians expert in anesthesia of a wide variety of species.
We welcome queries about residency training or short training opportunities for veterinary students from Penn or other veterinary schools. We also offer work-study opportunities for Penn pre-veterinary students.