Residents and Interns

At Ryan Hospital, interns and residents are integral members of the clinical care team, comprising senior faculty supervisory clinicians, staff veterinarians, veterinary technicians, and students. 

What Our Residents and Interns Do

• Supervise the care and treatment of patients under the direction of the attending faculty/senior clinician.
• Attend clinical rounds, seminars, continuing education, and meetings related to their clinical service.
• Take part in the clinical teaching of junior and senior veterinary students.
• Supervise patient care provided by students; active instruction of students is expected.

An intern is a veterinarian who is seeking additional training in a more specialized hospital environment such as an academic hospital. Obtaining an internship at Penn Vet is highly competitive.  Our interns represent some of the top young veterinarians in the world.  An internship is a one year position.  Most interns rotate through multiple services in our hospital, obtaining a broad exposure to veterinary medicine and surgery.  However, there are some specialty interns who focus on a single specialty. 

A resident is a veterinarian who has already completed an internship, and has decided to continue his or her training in a particular specialty. Only the finest interns are successful in obtaining a residency, which is typically a three-year program.  Towards the end of their three-year tenure in an academic veterinary hospital, residents typically take specialty board examinations so that they can become board-certified in a specialty service. Residents who have completed this type of intensive, post-graduate training aim for academic careers in clinical care and research, or serve as specialty care veterinarians in private practice.