Pathology Club Ideas?

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RockStarKDub

UF CVM Class of 2012!
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Hey guys! I come seeking advice and opinions from my fellow vet students!

Here at UF we have a Pathology Club, but it is very young and very small. Literally, I think there might be 15 members total, the vast majority of whom are freshmen.

We are trying to take the club in a direction that will garner more membership, i.e. making pathology friendly for everyone (not just us path geeks.)

Basically, my question is- what types of meetings, activities and/or wetlabs do you have in the Path Club at your vet school? What gets the greatest response?

Obviously, we hold the occasional necropsy lab, but other than that, the club does virtually nothing. I was just elected to office and I and my fellow officers want to change that! We had one meeting in the fall with a case presentation and one meeting just recently with a "panel" of seniors answering questions about getting into a path residency. Not terribly non-path-geek friendly.

I was thinking of maybe a trip behind-the-scenes at Disney's Animal Kingdom (their pathologist is one of our profs), but that wouldn't accommodate a very large group. Also, maybe something fun with parasites. Of course, it's hard for me to see outside my path box because it's what I love!

Ideas??

Thanks so much!
 
Last year our path club brought in a pathologist from Animal Kingdom for a dinner meeting. This may be even easier for you considering how close by it is. Nothing like strange animals to get vet student turn out!
 
We do a 'mystery slide' every week, and anyone who simply attempts to answer it...dont have to get it right...gets a small prize ($5 fast food gift certificate).

There's a microscope permanently set up, with the slide sitting on it in the Path room. Taped by the scope are usually 3 questions per slide, that increase in difficulty like 'Name the organ, describe the lesion, guess the diagnosis.' Submit your piece of paper in the mailbox.
If 1st or 2nd years get all 3 questions right there's a $20 prize.

Another thing you could do is try and set up an exotics necropsy trip at a aquarium/zoo. Ever wondered what the insides of a sea turtle looks like? Its awesome! =)
 
It may depend a lot of availability of professors...we have necropsy rounds once to twice a week, plus histopath slides are always out and there are discussion round on those once a week...

I like that little mystery slide and prize idea! I shall suggest it!

Our club also did a field trip to see zoo pathology.

I'm interested in this thread because our club, even though it is pretty busy, is very oriented to people already *into path* not the whole student body, yknow? Go path nerds! 😉
 
Go path nerds! 😉

Indeed!!

OT, but WhtsThFrequency, do you happen to know of any 1/1 summer subleases in/around Blacksburg? I'm doing the SVSRP @ VMRCVM from the end of May to mid-August and need a place to live! I'm sure they'll send some info shortly, but I thought I'd ask you first since you're here 🙂


Thanks, everyone, for your fantastic ideas! I especially love the mystery slide thing.
 
If I get this NIH position for three of my summer blocks, you're more than welcome to sublet my place at half rent or something. I'd be gone from late June to late August (and from May 11 to May 31 at Purdue. It's a 2 br 2 ba little trailer with a bunch of fenced land. The only extra thing I'd ask is if you could just check on my herps while I was away 🙂 since my dog and cat would be with me. I *would* be here in early June to late June for my small animal block so I'll be busy and wouldn't get in your hair at all. PM me for more details and the down lo 😉 The only problem would be if you had a dog you were bringing (hmmm.... I'm guessing you do from your avatar) because my dog is fear aggressive to other pooches 🙁

who are you working with??? I worked with Dr. Chris Reilly when I did it last summer, he is awesome. Dr Nathan and Ahmed are great too. A lot of fourth years are probly going to be looking for subleases, you can probly email Alison Craft and she can send out an email to the student body, thats what we did for the OOSers last summer.
 
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Hey guys! I come seeking advice and opinions from my fellow vet students!

Here at UF we have a Pathology Club, but it is very young and very small. Literally, I think there might be 15 members total, the vast majority of whom are freshmen.

We are trying to take the club in a direction that will garner more membership, i.e. making pathology friendly for everyone (not just us path geeks.)

Basically, my question is- what types of meetings, activities and/or wetlabs do you have in the Path Club at your vet school? What gets the greatest response?

Obviously, we hold the occasional necropsy lab, but other than that, the club does virtually nothing. I was just elected to office and I and my fellow officers want to change that! We had one meeting in the fall with a case presentation and one meeting just recently with a "panel" of seniors answering questions about getting into a path residency. Not terribly non-path-geek friendly.

I was thinking of maybe a trip behind-the-scenes at Disney's Animal Kingdom (their pathologist is one of our profs), but that wouldn't accommodate a very large group. Also, maybe something fun with parasites. Of course, it's hard for me to see outside my path box because it's what I love!

Ideas??

Thanks so much!

Not that I have any path ideas for you (just started our path course this week..) but if you are looking for interesting opportunities in FL, especially with exotics you might be able to see who handles the SFCC (or is it Sante Fe College now?) Zoo and the path regarding their animals. There should also be the Lubee foundation (Captive repro of flying foxes and other species of fruit bats) right there in Gville. Also, Dr. Osborne of Osborne Vet Clinic in Ocala does a lot with the silver springs park and might be able to offer you some ideas. Hrmm.. what else... if you are up for a bit of a drive, Mote Marine Lab (Sarasota... about 3 hrs away) does necropsies and such on any marine mammals and turtles that wash ashore and they would probably be interested in helping out.

That's about all the info I have 😀
 
..necropsies and such on any marine mammals and turtles that wash ashore and they would probably be interested in helping out...

I just got back from doing a weekend of necropsies on washed up sea turtles, dolphins, and even a whale (When was the last time you were knee deep in blood and guts?!). It was truly amazing. They really do love having the students come down because 20 students can run through a whole bunch of necropsies like hot butter and gather some basic pieces of information (gender, injuries, trash in stomach etc) for the rescue organization.
The first turtle I saw had been hit by a propeller blade, lived for a week but then had died. When we opened him up, I could barely recognize internal organs as it had been nearly totally replaced by abscesses. Very satisfying in its gory wonder.
So, anyways I highly recommend trying to set something like that up at your school because I'm sure the rescue groups will be enthusiastic about it and it was fun & edifying for students. =)
 
If Whatfrequency's place doesn't work out, my PhD roommate is moving out after defending his dissertation in May and would love someone to take over his sublet til August. I live in Christiansburg and have a pool. Beat that WTF, ha ha! I'll be nice now.
 
lol, now now, I know I'm awesome, but no fighting over me! 😉
 
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