Kent Weaver, second-year veterinary student, presented his summer research at Tufts University Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine Tufts University during the the 2019 National Veterinary Scholars Symposium, the annual scientific colloquium which showcases research accomplishments by veterinary students completing summer research internships. The goal of Kent’s study was to use semi-structured interviews to develop an understanding of how dairy producers approach disease prevention and treatment on organic operations.

To learn more, check out Kent’s abstract and poster. Great work, Kent!

A deceptively simple assignment for fourth-year veterinary students at the dairy: Assess the health and welfare of this population. For the Preventive Medicine Rotation, we visited Waterman Dairy and challenged students to assess specific health and welfare parameters of cows and calves on the farm, and then return to the classroom and use records from the dairy to calculate disease incidence. Epidemiology really does sound simple until you actually have to do it… Our goal with this exercise was to make epidemiology fun and a little less daunting as students worked through tasks as a team, giving them confidence to apply these skills in future practice.