Bulgaria – Carter Miller (2024)
Aboard the train we watched as the surrounding buildings morphed from urban to suburban, and finally rural. The further we went into nowhere, the older the buildings got. It was like taking a train ride back in time as we passed old stone homes with smoking chimneys and wooden farm equipment. Arriving at a small junction used for mail distribution, we disembarked and began to hike into the woods. We followed a creek and set up camp a few miles in. That day Ivan taught us how to trap and capture the insects we would use to fish, as dusk set in the fish began to bite. We didn’t catch much but I really enjoyed wading in the river with my friends and sharing primitive camping connections you feel in survival situations… (Read More)
Italy – Noah Jefferson (2024)
Clinging to the edge of a city nearly thirty miles from Venice is one of the oldest schools in the world. Padova University is home to many programs, but the one responsible for bringing together students from the continental United States and Padova is its veterinary school. For five days each year, Padova and its veterinary students host American students hoping to learn more about public health in the broader context of OneHealth in a collaborative environment. This program is known as the International Mobilization of Veterinary Students or (iMOVES) and to say that this experience was incredible is an oversimplification… (Read More)
South Africa – Travis Shields (2024)
Most days were spent working with local veterinarians either at Seringa Ranch or at other large game ranches in the area. I had the privilege to work with the amazing veterinarians Dr. Beverly, Dr. Roper, and Dr. Glyphis throughout the trip. They were able to share their expertise in large game immobilization and allowed all of us students to collect hands-on experience with injections and treatments. I was fortunate to be able to give injections to a zebra, draw blood from a Cape buffalo bull, inject medication in an eland, and help transport lions. The days were packed with information and things to do. One day we worked with 8 different lions and another we worked with 3 black rhinos… (Read More)
Thailand – Emma Bruns (2024)
The trip was four weeks, each week in a different location. Our group was scheduled for the first week at the Elephant Nature Park (ENP). This was the week that I was most excited about because it was an opportunity to work with the elephants. ENP is a rescue and rehabilitation center for elephants and is home to many other types of animals. ENP is the first sanctuary of its kind in Asia and houses elephants rescued from many past abusive situations, such as street begging, trekking, circuses, and more. During our time at ENP, we learned about the elephant’s role in Thailand’s history, helping to understand why places like ENP are essential… (Read More)
I had the amazing opportunity of traveling to Santiago, Chile this summer for a small animal externship at Clinica Veterinaria San Cristobal. As a third-year veterinary student, I was able to assist the veterinarians in their everyday activities. This included working on cases, treating patients, communicating with clients, and assisting with surgeries. The clinic I was at was a well-established practice that brought in a lot of specialist from all over Santiago, including surgeons, anesthesiologists, internists, and an ultrasound specialist. I worked at a total of 4 veterinary practices, each with their own unique culture… (Read More)
Spain – Casey Stanley
This summer I traveled to Madrid, Spain, to join the veterinary students at Complutense de Madrid in their clinical rotations. I had such an amazing time working with the students and clinicians in the equine hospital, small animal gastrointestinal and oncology service and also with the large animal veterinarians outside of the hospital. For two months, I was able to work with the veterinarians in Spain, everyday speaking Spanish and working through medical cases or visiting farms to care for the animals. Through this opportunity, my level of Spanish has improved immensely while I have simultaneously gained more experience… (Read More)
Mexico – Amanda Day
I have always been interested in aquatic animals, but I had never considered pursuing a career in aquatic animal medicine. When I came to A&M I realized that learning more about aquatic animal medicine was a real possibility, but I would have to gain most of my experience through externships. This summer I was given the amazing opportunity to participate in MARVET, a marine veterinary externship designed to give hands-on aquatic animal experience to veterinarians and vet students…. (Read More)
Argentina – Branden Nettles
Four years ago, I was preparing to start veterinary school come fall. I was excited about the new journey ahead. I was most excited because I had developed an interest in the public service side of veterinary medicine during my time in undergrad, and I was eager to explore a field with seemingly endless options. Fast forward 3.5 years. I have had amazing opportunities to truly explore different sides of veterinary medicine. I worked with a dairy veterinarian in Valencia, Spain and participated in a veterinary public health short course in Padova, Italy… (Read More)
China – Katlyn A. Rosenbaum
I was first introduced to alternative medicine techniques at a young age. Because of my desire to become a veterinarian, I took a particular interest in learning about numerous aspects of animal medicine. I was fortunate enough to get a shadowing position with a veterinarian certified in acupuncture and saw first-hand how it could help patients that had run out of options. It made me want to become certified myself so that I could offer such services to my clients in the future. When I heard about the course offered by the Chi Institute in Beijing… (Read More)
China – James Cryer
Beijing CHI Institute Acupuncture Course and Cultural Tour In May of 2017, 2 classmates and I journeyed to Beijing, China, to attend a course offered on veterinary acupuncture and traditional Chinese veterinary medicine. This course was not part of the curriculum at the Texas A&M University VMBS, but instead was a pursuit that was taken up of our own volition and prerogative during an intersemester break. We each procured our own funding for the trip, and were each approved to receive a travel stipend offered by the International Program Advisory Committee… (Read More)Paraguay – Camille Goblet
Paraguay (1-17 July 2017) – Camille Goblet. One of the only two landlocked, South American countries, Paraguay is often overlooked in terms of tourism and research, which is perhaps why the Chacoan peccary (Catagonus wagneri) has unfortunately become critically endangered. But spending two weeks working with the enthusiastic and determined staff of the Centro Chaqueño para Conservación e Investigación (CCCI) in Fortin-Toledo, along with a team of curators and veterinarians from the United States, made me believe in the potential to save a species on the brink of extinction… (Read More)Brazil – Alyssa Meyers
Chagas disease is an anthropozoonosis caused by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi that represents a major public health problem throughout Latin America. The Hamer lab studies Chagas disease in the United States, but with help from the VMBS travel grant I was able to explore the ecology of T. cruzi in an endemic environment, in Campo Grande Brazil. T. cruzi demonstrates extreme biological plasticity. It can infect a wide range of mammalian hosts and is genetically diverse being characterized by seven genotypes. In the US, we find two strain types, while in Brazil they have all seven… (Read More)Mongolia – Taylor Strange
This summer I was given the unique opportunity to work alongside Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in efforts to promote sustainability of the cashmere system in the Southern Gobi Desert of Mongolia. I hoped that the experience would lead to a lot of new knowledge and opportunities. I expected to learn what it meant to work in rural veterinary medicine, get lots of hands-on work with cashmere goats, and perhaps improve language or cultural skills along the way. I gained all those things, and so much more. I could not have anticipated the profound effect the people would have on me… (Read More)China – David Wallace
Thanks to the VMBS International Programs travel stipend I was able to travel to Beijing, China, from May 14th to the 27th to attend the hands-on laboratory portion of an acupuncture course put on by the Chi Institute. Prior to the course, however, there was an optional Pre-Class Tour for 4 days where a tour guide took everyone to all the major tourist attractions around Beijing for a cultural experience. Over the four days of the tour, we saw the major attractions in Beijing such as the Summer Palace, the Temple of Heaven, the Great Wall of China, the Forbidden City, the Lama Temple, and Tiananmen Square… (Read More)South Africa – Laura Warren
Since starting veterinary school, I have had the opportunity to learn about veterinary practices and food safety and public health in Italy; I have also had the opportunity to visit the foreign animal disease laboratory at Plum Island. As part of the 4th year veterinary curriculum, students are allotted a few blocks out of the year for externships. With this time, myself and another 4th year student, Taylor Pursell, decided to visit the Animal Research Council’s Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute (ARC-OVI) and Transboundary Animal Disease Laboratory in Onderstepoort, South Africa… (Read More)South Africa – Taylor Pursell
Ondonsterpoort Animal Research Center Externship The staff of Ondonsterpoort Veterinary Institute were wonderful hosts and provided us with a diverse and comprehensive view of diagnosis and management of disease. They also provided us housing on the beautiful campus! We spent the first week with in the Tuberculosis Lab. The lab functions mainly as a diagnostic laboratory for South Africa as well as many other neighboring African countries; they preform post mortem tests as well as screening tests for movement of animals especially Cape Buffalo… (Read More)Honduras – Sephra Zinsmeister
Tired, dusty, sweaty, humbled, but filled with a fresh appreciation for the gift of my veterinary education at Texas A&M University summarizes how I felt each dayriding back to Rancho El Paraiso after a workday in the Agalta Valley in Honduras. This past spring break, I had the unique opportunity to travel to Honduras with a team of Christian veterinarians, veterinary technicians, and veterinary students gathered from all walks of life and from all over the country to provide basic, but incredibly needed, veterinary services to the people of Honduras… (Read More)
