Small Animal Rotating Internship with focus on Underserved Communities

This 12-month rotating internship is designed to provide an organized, practical, and comprehensive clinical experience in small animal medicine and surgery under the guidance of senior faculty, with a unique focus on enhancing healthcare access and communication with underserved communities. Successful completion will prepare individuals for residency programs in any small animal specialty, private small animal general or emergency practice, or advanced graduate degrees. Interns have ample primary case responsibility and participate in patient receiving, diagnostics, treatment, and client communication. Core rotations include internal medicine, soft tissue, orthopedic and general surgery, neurology, oncology, ophthalmology, anesthesia, day emergency, and overnight emergency.

In addition to core rotations described above, interns in this program may select three 2-week elective rotations. At least one elective block must be targeted towards provision of veterinary care to underserved communities, with rotation experiences including the Houston SPCA (houstonspca.org); telemedicine care delivery to low-income, elderly, or disabled clients in the state of Texas; the Texas Veterinary Medical Foundations LEAP (Lending Economic Assistance for Pets) program; our surgical education initiative, which provides care for pets that need surgery to low income families, with active student involvement; our primary care rotation, and/or other unique experiences. Interns in this program may choose to do all three elective rotations in these areas, but also have the option to select up to 2 elective rotations in dentistry, cardiology, clinical pathology, radiology, dermatology, or a repeat of a core rotation.

Given the focus of this internship on enhancing access to veterinary care amongst underserved and diverse communities, we are searching for outstanding candidates who possess significant experience in communication and engagement with diverse communities; conflict management; and mentorship of peers and/or students (in the role of a mentor, not a mentee).

The intern program supports a strong didactic education with weekly house officer topic rounds presented by faculty or residents as well as twice monthly skills rounds to hone radiographic interpretation, bandaging, communication, and other procedural skills. In addition, interns are invited to participate in journal clubs, ECG rounds, and various service rounds. Our program emphasizes the problem-based approach and helps interns to learn to identify patient problems, make rational lists of differential diagnoses, project logical diagnostic plans and base treatment upon pathophysiologic mechanisms. Every case seen by the overnight ER intern is discussed with a group of clinicians in the morning and direct feedback is provided.

Interns each have two mentors for general program guidance and specific research support. Each intern is required to complete an academic project over the course of the year which is in manuscript form by the spring semester. Interns in this program are strongly encouraged to explore areas with a link to support for underserved pets and their families, communication or conflict management in veterinary medicine, or another aspect of diversity and inclusion. Some financial support for this type of research will be available from the department. Each intern will then present this project in a seminar during the spring semester and can use feedback from seminar attendees to refine the manuscript for submission. Interns who are successful in being selected for an oral abstract presentation at a national conference may receive $500 of departmental support for attendance. For detailed information about our program, please visit our website, here: http://vetmed.tamu.edu/vscs/internships-residencies/small-animal-internship

APPLICATION PACKAGE: Receipt of a complete application (letter of intent, curriculum vitae, transcript, and 3 standardized letters of reference) by March 4^th, 2021, is required. Applicants are requested to list telephone number(s) that would enable them to be contacted during the month of March-June 2021. Note that the Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences will not sponsor applicants for H-1B or E-3 non-immigrant employee categories.

Your personal statement should be one to two pages in length and discuss your expectations of an internship program and your future professional goals. In addition, we encourage you to describe your anticipated contributions to your institution. These may include life experiences, background, past activities or unique personal characteristics that would contribute to the program in meaningful ways. For these positions, candidates demonstrating additional training, service, or expertise in communication, conflict management, intercultural competency skills, equity, climate, inclusion, social justice, diversity, or experience mentoring others should highlight these experiences or skill sets.

Highly rated candidates will be invited for a virtual/telephone interview in early March. Our search strategy includes the possibility that we contact individuals (by telephone or e-mail) who provided standard letters of recommendation, as well as additional people who were not on your reference list.

Please contact our program administrator, Nicole Waltman, (nwaltman@cvm.tamu.edu) prior to March 4^th if you do not give permission for direct contact with individuals listed as references or others who may have interacted with you in the past.

Texas A&M University is committed to enriching the learning and working environment for all visitors, students, faculty, and staff by promoting a culture that embraces inclusion, diversity, equity, and accountability. Diverse perspectives, talents, and identities are vital to accomplishing our mission and living our core values.

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