College of Veterinary Medicine

Eliminating Barriers to Becoming a Veterinarian

Financial support for veterinary students has never been more vital, as the national average for educational debt at graduation nears $200,000. The veterinary profession also faces challenges in attracting students from a wide range of backgrounds. New scholarships to attract students from the LGBTQ+ community and historically underrepresented backgrounds are making a difference. Dr. Stephen Hadley, creator of the Hadley Family DOVE (Diversifying Opportunity in Veterinary Education) Scholarship, put it this way: “Genuine care of people and pets is at the core of the veterinary profession, and that’s what makes it so unique. I would love veterinary practices to better represent the diverse communities we serve and embrace the uniqueness of one another for the future of veterinary medicine.”

Powerful Cancer Treatment

For decades Illinois has been a leader in veterinary cancer care. Through a transformational gift from Shahid and Ann Margaret Khan and their family, compassionate, high-quality cancer care will be made more accessible to more patients. Our strength in developing ground-breaking research and clinical innovations in oncology will expand through new faculty positions, a clinical trials center, and growing collaborations with human oncology research teams. The oncology program is known not only for research and innovation but also for supportive care for pets and their families, centered on the human-animal bond. In 2019 a state-of-the-art linear accelerator was installed. The college’s expertise and advanced technology are pivotal to the cancer research environment across the Illinois campus.

Advances in Small Animal Emergency and Critical Care Medicine

Thanks to the generosity of 1963 graduate Dr. Wes Bieritz, the Veterinary Teaching Hospital is introducing a new hemodialysis service for small animal patients. This treatment can be life-saving for animals with acute kidney failure and severe forms of immune-mediated diseases that fail to respond to traditional therapies. Hemodialysis can also be used to remove certain toxins and common household medications from the bloodstream after accidental ingestion, such as anti-freeze and ibuprofen overdose. The service is overseen by our small animal emergency and critical care specialists and is an exciting addition to the newly expanded and renovated treatment center in the Small Animal Clinic.

Gift to Wildlife Medical Clinic Supports Education, Care

Citing the invaluable work performed by the faculty and student volunteers at the Wildlife Medical Clinic – “the vital triage they perform on injured creatures; their education of the local public; and their example of treating wildlife humanely even when wild behavior is inconvenient” – professor emerita Julia F. Saville has made a gift of $1 million to the clinic.

The gift is the largest ever received by the program, which was founded in 1987 and cares for around 2,000 ill or injured animals each year.

A specialist in Victorian poetry who is also an enthusiastic environmentalist, Prof. Saville said, “My greatest wish is that the Clinic may flourish and that the respect shown for wildlife there may become a widely shared community practice.”