The pre-clinical curriculum is during the first six semesters of the DVM program. The coursework prepares our students for their clinical year rotations and beyond with solid foundations in biomedical sciences, medicine, surgery, reproduction and professional skills.
Pre-Clinical Overview
Curriculum Focus Areas
The three main focus areas of the curriculum are:
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Clinical and Professional Skills
All pre-clinical semesters include Clinical Skills and Professional Skills courses aimed at providing students an early and consistent exposure to skills that will enable them to be confident and competent upon entering their clinical year. Clinical skills include surgical skills, animal handling and restraint, diagnostic and therapeutic skills. Professional skills include management, collaboration, communication, ethics, and skills necessary to promote lifelong learning.
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One Health
Semesters 1-5 include One Health courses aimed at exploring research, the human-animal bond, health care delivery, epidemiology, food safety/production, foreign and emerging diseases and examination of the global workplace.
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Veterinary Didactic Coursework
The Veterinary didactic coursework exposes students to a mixture of companion animal, exotics and food animal topics. Whenever possible, topics covered in didactic material are correlated with clinical skills activities.
At the end of the pre-clinical coursework, a transition ceremony to the clinical year experience is held to celebrate clinical application of acquired skills and knowledge.