History
Opened in 1954, New Bolton Center comprises the George D. Widener Hospital for Large Animals, featuring one of the world's largest equine surgical faculties, the Marshak Dairy, the Laboratory of Aquatic Animal Medicine and Pathology and one of Pennsylvania's three Animal Diagnostic Laboratories. The Widener Hospital sees more than 6,000 patients a year. And that doesn't include the Field Service, which sees more than 19,000 animals annually at farms, breeders, horse-training facilities and agricultural enterprises in the region.
The William B. Boucher Field Service provides routine and emergency health care not only for local dairy animals and horses, but also for llama/alpaca and small ruminant clients. The dairy and small ruminant clinicians also offer consultation in production medicine as well as routine on-farm services.
Working with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture and the poultry industry, Penn Vet has been instrumental in developing and implementing a statewide avian flu surveillance program, which involves the use of Geographic Information System (GIS) technology.
The Section of Animal Production Systems focuses on improving the health of herds and flocks, not just individual animals. This food-animal program looks at the entire farm operation while considering economic, environmental and food-safety perspectives. As students learn about increasing a farm's productivity, they take courses in basic economics and record-keeping. They evaluate milk yield, the calving interval and reproductive efficiency. The uniquely diverse faculty includes, in addition to veterinarians, nutritionists and an agronomist. This holistic approach supports Penn Vet's commitment to making the world safer for animals and humans.