Summer/Fall 2013 PDF - University of Minnesota College of ...

STUDY-ABROAD PROGRAMS
The many programs combining cultural
immersion and veterinary medicine include:
Study-abroad programs
There’s nothing like international study to
broaden your perspective and expand your
education. College of Veterinary Medicine
students have traveled to many countries
for experiential learning opportunities, and
have benefited from generous philanthropic
funding for international travel scholarships
since 2004. Dr. Susan Miller, class of 2008,
has worked with her family foundation,
the Phileona Foundation, to provide
ongoing, chance-of-a-lifetime travel
grants for students to gain international
experience. To maximize the educational
value, travel scholarship recipients are
required to participate in Opportunities in
International and Cultural Immersion, a
course in which students learn with each
other about culturally relevant topics
and international veterinary medicine.
Every year, approximately 40 College of
Veterinary Medicine students are awarded
travel grants.
Seeking new understanding of an Old World monkey
In October 2012, DVM/PhD
candidate Jonathan Clayton
traveled to Vietnam to better
understand the endangered
red-shanked douc (Pygathrix
nemaeus), a colorful species of
Old World monkey. A member
of the subfamily colobinae,
or leaf-eating monkeys, the
red-shanked douc is sometimes
called the “costumed ape” for
its extravagant appearance.
It eats and sleeps in the trees
of the forests of Vietnam and
Laos, where it is threatened by
habitat destruction and hunting.
THE SPIRIT OF THAILAND PROGRAM.
A collaboration with Chiang Mai
University, Spirit of Thailand offers a
variety of programs aimed at cultural
immersion for American students. Dr.
Karin Hamilton, analyst with the U.S.
Agency for International Developmentfunded
RESPOND project and ecosystem
health fellow, recently co-led a Spirit of
Thailand program focusing on public
health. The program immersed students
in Thai culture for three weeks, with a
schedule that included visits to Chiang
Mai University Veterinary Hospital, Heifer
International, several hill tribe villages
to see animal production and community
health programs, an abattoir, an elephant
camp with the Chiang Mai University
Elephant Hospital, rural and city human
hospitals to discuss zoonoses, a “sea
gypsies” village to discuss public health,
and a marine park to look at the interface
of tourists and wildlife.
THE AMERICAN FONDOUK ANIMAL
HOSPITAL. Located in Morocco, the
American Fondouk provides free
veterinary care to 50-100 animals per day.
(continued on page 16)
red-shanked doucs are a fascinating species,
Clayton says.
“They have specialized gastrointestinal
systems, including a multi-chambered
stomach and cellulolytic microorganisms
in compartments of the GI tract,” he says.
“These microorganisms play diverse roles
in digestion and likely represent how the
primates neutralize digestive inhibitors and
toxins in plant materials, which constitute the
majority of their diet.”
Plant materials like leaves make up the
majority of their diet, but the monkeys also
eat figs, buds, petioles, flowers, bamboo
shoots, and seeds—a diet that’s hard to
replicate in captivity.
Jonathan Clayton is studying the
endangered red-shanked douc in
Southeast Asia.
Colobine primates are
anatomically, physiologically,
and ecologically unique, and
“Successful maintenance of red-shanked
doucs in traditional captive situations with
the aim of breeding and repopulating restored
14 Profiles Summer/Fall 2013