Student Training
Maddie's® Shelter Medicine Program at Cornell
Veterinary Student Training
Cornell was the first veterinary college in the country to recognize the importance of educating veterinary students about the health and welfare of shelter animals. Cornell, in collaboration with the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) began the elective course, Issues and Preventive Medicine in Animal Shelters, in 1998. This course focuses on issues (e.g., the history of the humane movement-including the no-kill revolution), and on shelter animal medicine (including principles of infectious disease prevention and control in shelters)
Training and exposure to Shelter Medicine also includes: physical examination experience for all first-year students at the Tompkins County SPCA, spaying and castrating in Junior Surgery and in weekend clinics run by Shelter Outreach Services, Maddie's® Shelter Medicine Rounds, the Maddie's® Brown Bag Luncheon Series dedicated to companion animal welfare issues, a student club, Veterinary Students for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Maddie's® Shelter Medicine externships to Adoption Guarantee Shelters and other externships with the ASPCA in NY City and Lollypop Farms in Rochester, Maddie's® Shelter Medicine Field Trips to Adoption Guarantee shelters, and lectures in various other courses.
