Training Programs

University of Wisconsin
Madison, WI

Programs Offered

1. Residency in Anatomic Pathology 

A 3-year training position in anatomic pathology based on diagnostic casework from the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital designed to prepare the individual for the certifying examination of the American College of Veterinary Pathologists. The successful applicant will have opportunities to participate in the instructional program in anatomic pathology and to conduct research projects.

2. Residency in Clinical Pathology

A 3-year residency in clinical pathology that  provides clinical pathology training through diagnostic service responsibilities, teaching in the professional DVM curriculum, and research in clinical pathology. The goals of the program are for the resident to achieve competency in the discipline of laboratory medicine and prepare for the ACVP certifying examination, generate and disseminate new knowledge in applying laboratory medicine to the solution of clinical and research problems, and gain experience in teaching and communicating with diverse audiences

3. Advanced Training in Zoological Pathology

A 2-year program for individuals with two or more years of residency training in anatomic pathology is designed to provide training and experience to prepare the trainee for a career in zoo, wildlife, avian, aquatic, or exotic animal pathology and eligibility to take the ACVP certifying examination in anatomic pathology.

4. COPLOW Fellowship in Ocular Pathology

To provide a training program in comparative ocular pathology and vision science for veterinarians intending to pursue board certification in veterinary ophthalmology or as a prelude to anatomic pathology training. The fellow has primary responsibility for managing the pathology case material, grossing in and photographing the globes, reviewing the histopathology prior to meeting jointly with senior pathologist, and following up on consultations or special procedures.

5. Graduate PhD:

The primary objective of the program is to provide research training in experimental pathology leading to successful completion of the requirements for a PhD degree.  Under most circumstances, it is expected that candidates with a veterinary degree and lacking other degrees (e.g., an MS degree) will take 3-4 years to complete the requirements of the PhD degree.

Facilities

The School of Veterinary Medicine has a caseload of primary care and referral patients in small and large animals and in exotic species. Represented specialties include general practice, internal medicine, dermatology, neurology, oncology, cardiology, ophthalmology, soft tissue and orthopedic surgery, theriogenology, radiology, and production medicine. The Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory is a full-service diagnostic laboratory that receives whole animals, tissues, and a variety of specimens from practicing veterinarians. State-of-the-art WVDL necropsy facilities are shared with the SVM pathology program, offering students and residents exposure to training with a broad range of species and case material. Exposure to traditional and molecular diagnostic techniques, including immunohistochemistry, electron microscopy, PCR, cell culture, and flow cytometry, in bacteriology, parasitology, virology, immunology, and oncology is provided by a combination of resources at both sites.

Because of its location in Wisconsin, trainees will also have access to the expertise and training opportunities that are available at the National Wildlife Health Laboratory, Wisconsin Regional Primate Center, UW Research Animal Resource Center, Milwaukee Zoo, UW School of Medicine and Public Health, Marshfield Clinic Laboratories, Covance Laboratories, and the Comparative Ophthalmic Research Laboratory of Wisconsin. These laboratories and their respective staff provide training in gross and microscopic assessment of specimens derived from companion animals, food animals, poultry, fish, migratory birds, primates, exotic species, human beings, and laboratory animals.

The Department of Pathobiological Sciences is housed in a modern building with other academic units of the School of Veterinary Medicine (SVM).  Well-equipped shared-use laboratories within the Department and School are available for graduate research studies and include flow cytometry, histopathology, electron microscopy, high performance liquid chromatography, and P3-level containment facilities. The Department is heavily oriented towards research on infectious diseases ranging from molecular biology to whole animal studies and has contemporary equipment housed in individual faculty laboratories suitable for experimental studies on bacterial, viral, and metazoan diseases. Ample, well-designed isolation rooms as well as conventional animal holding facilities are available for studies on large or small animals at the School’s Charmany Instructional Facility. 

The University of Wisconsin-Madison has a long-standing tradition of research excellence in the biological sciences and has all the research resources associated with a large, research-oriented medical school, including the McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research.  The campus has superb library facilities, and central research resources associated with the High and Intermediate Voltage Electron and Confocal Microscopy Facility, the Wisconsin Regional Primate Research Center, and the National Wildlife Health Laboratory are available upon arrangement for individual research projects. 

Community

The School of Veterinary Medicine is located on the Madison campus, close to the School of Medicine and Public Health and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.  The student population of the University is approximately 45,000, and the population of Madison and the surrounding community is approximately 350,000. Madison is the State capital and is a cosmopolitan city, readily accessible to the many recreational areas throughout the region.  The city is built around four lakes, and its gentle hills, scattered parks, and woodlands provide an urban setting with a friendly atmosphere.  The Madison area has some of the finest elementary and secondary schools in the nation and provides an ideal environment for daily activities. Madison’s excellent location is enhanced by its fine airport that is served by six major airlines directly or through commuter service to Chicago, Milwaukee, or the Twin Cities.

Stipends and Maintenance

Graduate Research Assistantships (GRA) and a NIH-NCRR Training Grant to provide contemporary research training to graduate veterinarians are available for graduate training positions. Residencies and COPLOW fellowship are funded at levels competitive with other residency programs.

STAFF

• Phil Bochsler, Clinical Diagnostic Professor of Pathology (WVDL)
  Mechanisms of innate and acquired immunity/host defense against pathogens; inflammation; leukocyte and endothelial cell biology; pathology of domestic, experimental, and other animals
• Ali Brower, Clinical Diagnostic Assistant Professor of Pathology
  Diagnostic pathology, comparative neuropathology, wildlife diseases and production animal diagnostics
• Bruce Christensen, Professor of Parasitology
  Research addresses mosquito-borne diseases and the genetic and molecular factors that control mosquito-vector competence.   Cellular, biochemical, molecular and functional genomics approaches are used to study the inter-relationships between mosquitoes and the disease agents they transmit.
• Annette Gendron-Fitzpatrick, Affiliate Assistant Professor of Pathology, Director of Pathology and Laboratory Services of the Research Animal Research Center
  Comparative pathology, neuropathology, lymphoid neoplasms, diseases of zoo, wildlife and exotic animals
• Suzanne Gibbons-Burgener, Clinical Diagnostic Assistant Professor of Epidemiology (WVDL)
  Epidemiology of zoonotic diseases and bacterial resistance; surveillance and monitoring methods; validation of diagnostic assays and methods
• Michael T. Collins, Professor of Microbiology
  Paratuberculosis (Johne’s disease) and the biology of its causative agent, Mycobacterium paratuberculosis
• Charles J. Czuprynski, Professor of Microbiology
  Immunoregulation of antibacterial resistance; phagocyte biology; cytokines; listeriosis; pasteurellosis; Johne’s disease; inflammatory bowel disease; Histophilus somni, blastomycosis
• Richard R. Dubielzig, Professor of Pathology
  Comparative ocular pathology; comparative dental pathology; spontaneous animal neoplasia; and the diseases of dogs and cats
• Kristen Friedrichs, Clinical Assistant Professor of Clinical Pathology
  Quality standards, histiocytic proliferations in dogs and cats, hematology (large animal, small animal, rodent), oncologic cytology, immunochemistry
• Oliver Ginther, Professor
  Reproductive physiology:  many aspects of the regulation of follicles, corpus luteum, and pregnancy in cattle and horses
• Yoshihiro Kawaoka, Professor of Virology
  Influenza virus – molecular mechanism of interspecies transmission of the virus leading to influenza pandemics in humans; molecular pathogenesis of influenza in poultry and mammals; Ebola virus – role of viral proteins in pathogenesis and viral replication
• Kathy Kurth, Clinical Diagnostic Associate Professor of Virology (WVDL)
  Molecular pathogenesis of viruses and the development of molecular and conventional diagnostic tests
• Thomas McKenna, Clinical Diagnostic Professor and Director of Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Lab
  Diagnostic assay and vaccine development for exotic diseases of livestock
• Ogi Okwumabua, Clinical Diagnostic Professor of Bacteriology (WVDL)
  Diagnostic bacteriology, vaccine development, molecular mechanism of bacterial pathogenesis, evolution and dissemination of drug resistance among bacterial pathogens
• Jorge Osorio, Assistant Professor of Virology
  Molecular pathogenesis of viruses and emerging diseases; vaccinology
• Christopher W. Olsen, Professor of Virology and Public Health and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.
  The molecular epidemiology of swine influenza viruses and their public health significance; the development of DNA-based vaccines and the study of mucosal immunity
• Marie Pinkerton, Clinical Assistant Professor of Pathology
  Diagnostic veterinary pathology; pathology of wildlife, zoo, exotic and aquatic species; zoonotic diseases of small wild mammals
• Eric Sandgren, Associate Professor of Experimental Pathology and Director of the Research Animal Resources Center
  Genetics of epithelial cancers; contribution of genomic instability to tumor progression; molecular regulation of tumor growth and metastasis
• Ronald D. Schultz, Professor and Chair
  Immunopathogenesis of viral diseases; developmental aspects of immunity; effects of environmental factors on immune systems; vaccinology
• Gary Splitter, Professor of Immunology
  Host-pathogen interactions: Genome and transcriptional interplay between Brucella and its host
• Howard Steinberg, Clinical Professor of Pathology
  Diagnostic veterinary pathology; diseases of zoo, wildlife and exotic animals; hepatic pathology; diagnostic immunohistochemistry; viral-induced hepatocarcinogenesis
• Linda Sullivan, Clinical Instructor of Microbiology, Immunology, Parasitology, and Clinical Pathology
  Diagnosis of infectious diseases in veterinary species, hematology of domestic avian and exotic animals, parasitology
• M. Suresh, Associate Professor of Immunology
  Immunology of viral diseases, T cell development and differentiation, vaccinology
• Adel M. Talaat, Assistant Professor of Molecular Biology
  Functional genomic of infectious diseases (currently mycobacterial infections) to understand their molecular pathogenesis and the nature of host-pathogen interactions to produce the next generation of vaccines
• Chester B. Thomas, Associate Professor of Epidemiology
  Infectious diseases epidemiology; microbiology and pathogenesis of avian and bovine mycoplasmas.
• Peter Vanderloo, Clinical Associate Diagnostic Professor (WVDL)
  Diagnostic medicine, management in production agriculture, infectious disease and client services
• Susan E. H. West, Associate Professor of Microbiology
  The molecular biology of bacterial pathogens of medical and veterinary importance; regulation of virulence factors; identification of in vivo expressed genes
• Timothy P. Yoshino, Professor of Parasitology; Director, Cellular & Molecular Parasitology Training Program
  Physiological interactions between parasites and their invertebrate intermediate hosts; phylogeny of cellular immune mechanisms; invertebrate immunobiology; regulation of reproduction in snail vectors
• Karen M. Young, Clinical Professor of Clinical Pathology
  Diseases of bone marrow; oncology, including tumor stem cells and serum markers; cytologic/histologic correlations; curriculum development and diagnostic reasoning in pathology

For additional information, please contact:  

Dr. Howard Steinberg, Anatomic and Zoologic training positions [steinbeh@svm.vetmed.wisc.edu]
Dr. Karen Young, Clinical Pathology training positions   [youngk@svm.vetmed.wisc.edu]
Dr. Richard R. Dubielzig, Comparative Ocular Pathology Fellowship [dubielzr@svm.vetmed.wisc.edu]
Dr. Chuck Czuprynski, Training Grant Director [czuprync@svm.vetmed.wisc.edu]
Kathryn Holtgraver, Program Administrator [holtgraver@vetmed.wisc.edu]

Department of Pathobiological Sciences
School of Veterinary Medicine
University of Wisconsin – Madison
2015 Linden Drive
Madison, WI 53706