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Penn Vet Curriculum Years 1-2

The Integrated Core: Years One & Two


Our new curriculum begins with a mirror-structured, two-year core. Year One “Animal in Health” focuses on the form and function of healthy animals and Year Two “Animal in Disease” delves into prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases. 

  • Each semester is bookended by two standalone courses. Semesters open with a Foundational Toolkit, providing fundamentals for upcoming material, and conclude with a Capstone, allowing students a creative opportunity to assimilate and integrate material.
  • Each semester has a series of three to four week-long blocks based on biological processes.
  • Running in parallel are two ribbon courses.  Hippiatrika focuses on professional development and clinical skills, whereas Clouds & Clocks emphasizes the principles of scientific inquiry and critical thinking skills.

Foundational Toolkit

The Foundational Toolkit provides the background material necessary to understand upcoming blocks in the veterinary curriculum.  

Content includes the role of veterinarians in society and One Health, fundamental concepts in population/production medicine and its interaction with the environment and human health, fundamental concepts in biochemistry, cell biology, developmental biology, histology, and molecular biology, anatomy, scientific and medical terminology, and the basics of image formation and interpretation of radiography and ultrasonography.


The Blocks

Next you will move on to discovering the working processes of the body. Each of the seven blocks are covered twice – once in Year One, and again in Year Two, where we build on your knowledge of anatomy and physiology to add in pathology, mechanisms of disease, and surgical principles.

  • Movement & Support 
  • Digestion & Metabolism
  • Circulation & Respiration
  • Elimination & Detoxification
  • Defense & Barriers
  • Cognition, Senses & Response
  • Reproduction & Development

The Capstone

Each semester is followed by a Capstone period where students are asked to apply and integrate the information they have learned in the preceding blocks. 

The Capstone provides the opportunity to master and assimilate any concepts throughout the first semester. 

Your capstones will improve your ability to apply and retain the material you are learning.

The Capstone combines case-based projects, small group seminars, labs, literature review and analysis.


Running in Parallel: the 'Ribbon Courses'

The Hippiatrika: Becoming a Veterinary Clinician

The HippiatrikaThis course is named after one of the earliest collections of writings on veterinary medicine from the 5th and 6th century AD, and emphasizes the ancient nature of the art and practice of clinical veterinary medicine.

“The Hippiatrika” course will cover the aspects of professional development not covered by study of the systems and diseases of the body, incorporating labs that will teach you essential clinical skills and provide early exposure to clinical practice.

It will also include material addressing population medicine, One Health, communication, collaboration, professionalism, and regulation and finance, integrated with the material being covered in the concurrent blocks.

Of Clouds and Clocks: Becoming a Veterinary Scientist

Of Clouds and Clocks-Becoming a Veterinarian Scientist

“Of Clouds and Clocks: Becoming a Veterinary Scientist” is named in honor of Karl Popper, a 20th century philosopher of science who introduced the concept that every scientific theory is ultimately falsifiable. 

His essay, "Of Clouds and Clocks', presents three ways of conceptualizing social reality: as a clock, a cloud, and a system of plastic controls.

This course will begin by covering the principles of scientific enquiry, hypothesis-driven research, applied statistics, epidemiology, and move on to emphasize using high-quality evidence to optimize clinical decision-making by the end of the first two years.