In late February, Amanda Johnson awoke to find a frightening scene in her barn. The jaw of her 5-day-old foal Quincy was bloody and hanging out of place, appearing broken on both sides. She immediately called her veterinarian.
“She was out of town but took the time to discuss the situation with me,” said Johnson. “She suggested I take Quincy to UC Davis. They would have the latest techniques to fix the jaw and give Quincy the best outlook for her future as a performance horse.”
Congratulations to the Class of 2025 who received their degrees from the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine in its 75th Commencement Ceremony held at the Mondavi Center on May 23rd. Among those graduating were 142 DVM students, 34 residents and 8 students in the Master of Preventive Veterinary Medicine program.
Since 2000, the UC Davis Big Bang! Business Competition has been supporting entrepreneurs as they develop their business ventures. It is open to teams with a founder or team lead affiliated with a college or university in California. The prizes are funded by corporate, university, nonprofit and various other sponsors.
When Flynn, an approximately 1-year-old male neutered Great Pyrenees, arrived at the UC Davis William R. Pritchard Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital (VMTH), he had visible tire tracks across his back leg and abdomen. The City of Stockton Animal Services Center reported he was run over by a car and thrown into a ditch. Knowing Flynn needed specialty care, the Yolo County Spay and Neuter Group agreed to take him and immediately brought him to UC Davis.
Kaya Miller, a second-year UC Davis undergraduate, introduces her three 3-week-old foster kittens: Anna, Elsa and Merida. She explains that as a busy student, she and her roommate have taken on alternating shifts feeding and cleaning the kittens. “It’s a lot of dedication; we have to wake up every two hours, but it's so worth it,” she said.
Miller is a volunteer foster within the Orphan Kitten Project, or OKP, a nonprofit, vet-student-run club that has rescued and rehabilitated neonatal kittens since 1988.
The UC Davis William R. Pritchard Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital has acquired two new underwater treadmills for its small animal Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation Service. The treadmills, used daily to rehabilitate dogs recovering from injury and/or surgery, replace older treadmills that were in place at the hospital for more than 20 years.
Dr. Douglas Mader, Class of 1986, was recently honored with the UC Davis Lifetime Achievement Award. Mader is a triple board-certified veterinary specialist [(DABVP (C/F, R/A), DECZM (Herpetology)] and has been a practicing veterinarian for nearly four decades. He is an internationally recognized expert and lecturer in exotic animal medicine and has written three medical textbooks, numerous book chapters and dozens of peer-reviewed scientific publications.
May 8, 2025—Dr. Kate Hurley, DVM, MPVM, a pioneer in shelter veterinary medicine, is the 2025 winner of the American Veterinary Medical Association’s Animal Welfare Award, the association announced today.
In February 2023, Lola, a 9-year-old golden retriever, was diagnosed with oral melanoma, an aggressive cancer in her mouth that had already spread to her lungs. Lola’s veterinarian told her owner, Allison Roth, that Lola most likely had less than six months to live. She was referred to the Oncology Service at the UC Davis William R. Pritchard Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital for treatment options.
To ensure that graduates can follow their career dreams while also helping to address the growing veterinary health disparities, we are minimizing their financial burden upon graduation.
Whether it be endowed chairs, grants, summer research scholars, new spaces, equipment, or clinical trials, philanthropy is paving the way for major breakthroughs in animal and human health.
Motion-activated field cameras, GPS collars, wolf scat analysis and cattle tail hair samples are helping University of California, Davis, researchers shed new light on how an expanding and protected gray wolf population is affecting cattle operations, leading to millions of dollars in losses.
The UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine is pleased to welcome Dr. Heidi Reesink as a Professor of Veterinary Orthopedics. A board-certified surgeon, Dr. Reesink will have a clinical appointment with the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital’s (VMTH) Equine Surgery and Lameness Service, as well as a research laboratory within the school’s J.D. Wheat Veterinary Orthopedic Laboratory.
Dr. Pam Clark’s path to veterinary school wasn’t traditional or easy, but it was driven by unwavering determination. As a young girl, Pam dreamed of becoming an “animal doctor,” and growing up in Southern California, UC Davis was the only realistic option for veterinary school as out-of-state tuition was financially impossible. Pam excitedly wrote to UC Davis veterinary school during high school, only to be discouraged when a letter came back telling her, “don’t even bother applying, we don’t take women” (which, in reality, they did—just very rarely).
