Veterinarian posing with a dog

One Health Residential Week | Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine

Feb 10, 2017


RUSVM welcomed students from the MSc One Health degree program to the inaugural One Health Residential Week on campus Sept. 19-23. The week was an opportunity for students who study remotely to meet their cohort for face-to-face dialogue in St. Kitts, and participate in a variety of professional development activities.

During the residential, graduate students in their last year of the program networked, worked one-on-one with research advisors and presented their thesis work to faculty and students. They viewed presentations from RUSVM faculty ranging from conflict resolution to disaster preparedness, presentation skills and presenting scientific data, and research with the National Institutes of Health (NIH). For MSc student Alejandro Morales from Guatemala, Residential Week was the first time he had visited the St. Kitts campus.

“It was the culminating moment, where all that was said and done in the past semesters came together, allowing interaction to flow, concepts to materialize into ideas and put to work,” said Morales.

The MSc One Health degree is a course-based Master of Science in One Health designed to equip veterinarians, animal scientists, medical and biological scientists with an in-depth understanding of the principles of, and issues associated with, One Health. The degree, offered since 2015, is designed to provide the skills and preparation needed for careers in a broad range of environments such as tropical animal health and diseases, animal health program management and conservation medicine. The program of study is defined by a set of core courses and electives as well as instructed by distance learning. The degree also requires a supervised research project carried out in St. Kitts and Nevis or other locations as appropriate.

“The residential component of the MSc One Health [degree] program enables the students to share their perspectives and dissertation work with the entire RUSVM research community as well as each other,” said Dr. A. Lee Willingham, Associate Dean for Research and Postgraduate Studies. “It provides the opportunity for students to engage with other RUSVM faculty not involved in the MSc resulting in further constructive critique of their research projects.”

One Health Residential Week 2016 attendees included:

Kelly Cameron, BSc, Phoenix, Arizona
Alejandro Morales, DVM, Assistant Director at ARCAS Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Center, Universidad de San Carlos, Guatemala
Katalina Zuniga-Brenes, BSc, DDS, St, Kitts
Tracey Challenger, BSc, DVM, Chief Veterinary Officer, Department of Agriculture, St. Kitts

The RUSVM Research team plans to continue to host the event for future MSc students.

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