College of Veterinary Medicine Western University of Health Sciences

PRECEPTOR PROFILE
MY NAME IS ANTJE HINZ and I oversee
the student rotations at Chino Valley
Equine Hospital. I was born and
raised in Germany and my parents’
marked interest in nature and
wildlife “infected” me when I was a
young child.We had many pets.
My parents made an attempt to keep
me away from horses, which they
said were large and dangerous.
Nevertheless, they became my
favorite species, and of course, I got
involved into the whole panoply of equestrian disciplines and
felt the calling to become a horse doctor.
Several years later, I obtained my veterinary degree from the
Free University Berlin, and stayed on working at our
university’s hospital for horses to fill in time until I secured and
completed an internship.
I now assist WesternU students in our facility to get the flavor
of an internship.Working alongside our interns, they get a real
insight on what it takes to be an intern in equine medicine and
surgery. As the students come to us in their 3rd-year, they are
still in the beginning in their clinical education. I believe it is a
great opportunity to get them exposed to a wide range of
surgical and medical cases and benefit from hands-on
experience.
Chino Valley Equine Hospital has been affiliated with WesternU
from the first hour of its existence and we continue to be
committed to this collaborative effort. The vision of
establishing academic veterinary education within the setting
of a private practice was a brilliant one. For us, students are
enriching to our facility. They are fresh minded, excited to start
their clinical rotations and full of a thirst for knowledge.What
could be better Our hope is that they would become equine
veterinarians and that we might have influenced them in a
positive way toward that end.
Farewell and Thanks to Dr. Robert Mason
ASSOCIATE DEAN of Clinical &
External Relations Dr. Robert
Mason has resigned his position at
WesternU effective the end of
December 2008, to pursue other
interests. Bob was a founding faculty
member of the CVM, joining the
College in 1999 with responsibility
for recruiting practices to a new,
distributive model of clinical
education. Bob completed the DVM
at the University of Minnesota in 1975, an internship at the
Animal Medical Center in New York in 1976, and a Master of
Science in Health Professions Education at WesternU in 2005.
Dr. Mason accomplished many things in his time at WesternU,
including the launching of the semiannual CARES Symposium,
that began in 2003, as Veterinary Medical Board-approved
education of veterinarians applying for temporary licensure in
the state. He led efforts to implement team-building exercises
(funded by Hill’s Pet Nutrition) into the new College’s first year
student orientation. He initiated the student orientation
program and the Practice Management Course at the CVM.
He has served as editor of the CVM Outlook, and as the
College’s main ambassador to external constituents in public
relations and fundraising.
But his greatest contribution to the College, and one that was
essential to its success in accreditation, was Dr. Mason’s
recruitment of and collaboration with veterinary practices (and
other institutions such as the Los Angeles Zoo,Antech
Laboratories, laboratory animal programs at City of Hope, UCLA
and Scripps, La Jolla) providing 3rd and 4th year clinical
educational experiences to our veterinary students. This
involved thousands of visits, thousands of communications, and
repeated training of veterinarians, their staff members, oncampus
faculty and WesternU students on the expectations and
outcomes measures of these clinical experiences. Perhaps the
best objective measure of his success was published in
Fuentealba C, Mason RV, Johnston SD: Community-based
clinical veterinary education at Western University of Health
Sciences. J Vet Med Educa 35(1):34-42, 2008. In this paper,
written by former Associate Dean Carmen Fuentealba, data
were published from over 1,000 student responses to each of
23 questions rating clinical preceptors and personnel. On a 1
(strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) scale, every mean
response about the positive nature of preceptor performance
in orienting students, overseeing patient care, teaching clinical
skills, providing feedback, and serving as a role model
exceeded 4.2. And 14 of the 23 exceeded 4.5.These very high
evaluation scores are almost unheard of in student evaluations
of clinical preceptors anywhere in veterinary education. The
College owes a great debt of gratitude to Dr. Mason for
identifying its clinical preceptors, training them, trouble
shooting conflicts within practices, and shepherding students
effectively through their clinical learning experiences. Thank
you. Farewell, and best wishes in your future endeavors.
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