U.S.-China Joint DVM Program hosts annual homecoming event
The recent graduates in the US-China Joint DVM program received gifts after giving presentations on their educational experiences. From left: Lei Wang, program manager for the US-China Center for Animal Health, graduates Madeline Moore, Yuhong Wu, Rebecca Ullom-Minnich, Zixuan Wang, Shumin Li, Melissa Garcia Rodriguez, Siyu Xiao, Yiping Zhu and Associate Dean for Research Frank Blecha.
Continuing a tradition that started last year, graduates in the U.S.-China Joint DVM Program bring along friends from their respective veterinary colleges so each could share anecdotes about the value of camaraderie. This can be especially challenging as the culture in the United States is unfamiliar since to the Chinese students, and for them, English is a second language.
“What I have been trained for is sufficient enough to support my lifelong learning,” said Dr. Siyu Xiao, who just completed DVM degree this May at Iowa State University. “I will try to apply what I learned here when I return to China to improve education there and to improve global animal health.”
For each graduating class year, there are four to six Chinese students who enroll at the K-State campus to complete one year of pre-veterinary studies so they can be acclimated to studying in the United States. Afterwards, the students may apply to study for their Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degrees at either K-State or one of three other U.S. veterinary colleges: University of Minnesota, Iowa State University, and University of Missouri.
“Dr. Wu has been an exceptional model of collaboration in this profession,” said Dr. Madeline Moore, in reference to her time with Dr. Yunhong Wu while the two were completing their DVM degrees at the University of Minnesota. “She exemplifies the skills of a leader, and she is going to be an excellent clinician one day. I would be very proud to collaborate with Chinese veterinarians like Dr. Wu in the future.”
The other graduates and their friends are: Drs. Shumin Li, Zixuan Wang and Rebecca Ullom-Minnich, from Kansas State University; and Drs. Xiao and Melissa Garcia Rodriguez, from Iowa State University. The Chinese graduates in the U.S.-China Joint DVM program will go back to China at top Chinese universities as associate professors.
Three US-China Joint DVM program alumni also attended the homecoming event and reported their work and achievements in China. They are Yaoqin Shen (Class of 2017, KSU CVM), Huan Zeng (Class of 2019, UMN CVM) and Yiping Zhu (Class of 2020, KSU CVM). This year, KSU graduates of the program decided to set up the Dr. Luo Qingsheng Travel Award and donate $4,211 each year to support 2 KSU CVM students or residents traveling to China for a week or more. The travel reward will be managed by the U.S.-China Center for Animal Health. At the homecoming, Yiping Zhu representing the KSU graduates presented the first $4,221 check to Dr. Frank Blecha and Dr. Lei Wang. For more information about the travel award, please contact Dr. Lei Wang at leiwang@vet.k-state.edu.
“The goal of the US-China Joint DVM Program is to train the trainers of Chinese veterinary medicine,” said Dr. Jishu Shi, professor and director of the U.S.-China Center for Animal Health at the K-State College of Veterinary Medicine. “This is truly an example of training the future leaders when they go back to China — some of these participants are already leaders.”
The U.S.-China Center for Animal Health provides scholarships to cover the first year of pre-veterinary tuition and five years of student activities through funding from Zoetis, Yebio Bioengineering and Chinese partnering universities. The China Scholarship Council supports four years of DVM tuition and living stipends for five years.
In addition to the recent graduates, the homecoming event included the current DVM students in the program, who each gave a status report on their activities over the last school year. There were three students who just finished their pre-veterinary studies at K-State and 13 DVM students currently attending the four universities in the program.
The rest of the guest list included administrators from the partnering veterinary schools in the U.S. and China. They are Dr. Hinh Ly, Director of Graduate Studies, University of Minnesota; Dr. Dan Grooms, Dean, Iowa State University; Dr. Leah Cohn, Interim Assoc Dean, University of Missouri; Dr. Song Houhui, Dean, Zhejiang A&F University; Dr. Qian Kun, Associate Dean, Yangzhou University, and Dr. Fang Rendong, Dean, Southwest University. Grant Chapman, KSU Associate Provost, Dr. Mike McFarland, Global Chief Medical Officer, Zoetis, Dr. Lori Teller, AVMA President and Dr. Beth Sabin, AVMA Director all were in attendance.
Dr. Mike McFarland gave a leadership seminar on the second day of the homecoming event. Dr. Beth Sabin, director of global outreach with the American Veterinary Medical Association, gave an overview of the association’s governance and organizational structure.