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.

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 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. Specialty interns focus on a single specialty, which can be found listed in their specific service. A list of rotating interns is below.

A resident is a veterinarian who has already completed an internship and has decided to continue their training in a particular specialty (they are listed in their specific service). 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 to become board-certified in a specialty service. Residents who have completed this intensive, post-graduate training aim for academic careers in clinical care and research or serve as specialty care veterinarians in private practice.