'Pawsome' news: Utah State weeks away from launching state's 1st 4-year 'animal doc' program

LOGAN — The opening of Utah's first-of-its-kind veterinary program is — in equine parlance — officially "in the home stretch."

In August, Utah State University will welcome its inaugural cohort to the state's first four-year veterinary degree program.

The Logan-based school's doctor of veterinary medicine program arrives at a moment when licensed vets are in high demand in Utah's rural ranching communities — and across the state, where more and more people own cats, dogs and other so-called pocket pets.

Forty-two future veterinarians are expected to report for the first day of instruction — including 27 Utahns. More than 300 applied for USU's maiden DVM program class.

"It's a very exciting time for not only those of us here at Utah State University in the College of Veterinary Medicine — but it's an important time for the state of Utah with the full four-year DVM degree program," Dirk Vanderwall, dean of USU's College of Veterinary Medicine, told the Deseret News.

The benefits of Utah having a fully accredited veterinary medicine program stretch beyond offering expanded educational options for would-be veterinarians, the dean added.

All corners and segments of animal-loving Utah will be better served.

"There's a need for small animal veterinarians. There's a need for mixed-animal practice veterinarians. And there is a critical need for more ag/rural food supply veterinarians," said Vanderwall.

"Our goal and our mission is to meet all of those needs."

USU's not a newcomer to veterinary medicine education

Since 2012, the school has enjoyed a "2+2" partnership with Washington State University, where USU students completed two years of foundational study in Logan before completing their final two years in Pullman, Washington.

That regional partnership, which is expected to sunset in 2028 when the USU/WSU program's final cohort graduates, "has given us a great foundation of experience in delivering the first two years of the DVM degree curriculum — and now to build upon as we launch our full four-year program," said Vanderwall.

The dean added that USU has designed "a completely new veterinary curriculum" that is "systems-based and highly-integrated."

Why hasn't Utah had a four-year DVM program until now?

When asked why a state with a historically rich ranching and livestock sector has not produced fully trained animal docs in the past, Vanderwall gives a simple answer: money.

More than a century ago, trustees of the Agricultural College of Utah — as USU was then known — first envisioned a veterinary school headquartered in Cache Valley, according to USU.

Then in the late 1970s, Utah State conducted a study that determined that establishing an in-state veterinary medical training program was not yet feasible "from a financial and economic standpoint" — but that it would be in the future.

Decades later, USU began its "2+2" partnership with WSU.

Then, in 2022, the Utah Legislature approved funding of what would become the state's first four-year DVM degree program based at USU.

Lawmakers, observed Vanderwall, recognized the success of the USU/WSU partnership in training animal doctors who are now providing professional services in almost every Utah county.

"The '2+2' program has helped to produce and establish more veterinarians for the state of Utah — and that will be further expanded with the full four-year program at Utah State University, helping to fill the need for more veterinarians."

A systems-based curriculum, incorporating AI

The curriculum at USU's DVM degree program will depart a bit from a traditional course-based syllabus.

"It will be a systems-based integrated curriculum. When we are, say, teaching the anatomy of the musculoskeletal system, our students will also be learning physiology," said Vanderwall.

"We're connecting the structure and the function — all taught together in the same course, rather than in distinctly separate courses."

Expect AI to become an integral part of the USU's veterinary medicine education, the dean promised.

Additionally, USU's future DVM students will have opportunities to work at community-level private practices — including in rural areas of Utah where veterinary care for food animals is in critical demand.

Day-to-day clinical cases in the community will expose USU students to what they will encounter in private practice after they graduate, said Vanderwall.

Additionally, USU's DVM students will engage in professional networking within the local veterinary medicine community. "It will be a great opportunity for essentially a working interview for practices that may be looking to hire an associate veterinarian."

A new home for a new 'vet' program

Establishing a four-year DVM program at a public institution aligns with state lawmakers' ongoing efforts to bring higher education into closer alignment with industry needs.

To prepare for its inaugural class, USU's College of Veterinary Medicine has hired several new faculty and staff members, with more expected to be employed in the near future.

Additionally, USU is building a state-funded Veterinary Medical Education building on campus that will be home to the DVM program labs, classrooms, offices and study spaces.

The new building, which is expected to be completed next summer, will allow the school to welcome scores of additional students into the DVM program — while offering flexible instruction.

"It's being designed for a lot of hands-on clinical training, such as clinical communication," said Vanderwall.

"We will have mock examination rooms in the new building where students will be interacting with simulated clients who play the role of the pet owner, interacting with our students in a mock exam room."

Immediately adjacent will be observation rooms for faculty and fellow students to evaluate and learn together.

Wanted: A diversity of animal docs

For an increasing number of Utahns, access to well-trained veterinarians is essential.

In recent years, Vanderwall has witnessed "a huge increase" in pet ownership — a trend accelerated by the pandemic. Those increased connections and dependencies between humans and companion animals are elemental to today's society.

"All of that ties into why there is a tremendous need for more veterinarians across the entirety of the veterinary profession — including small animal/companion animal practice, mixed-animal practice and ag-rural food supply veterinary practice," said Vanderwall.

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