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NEWS RELEASE

03-01-01

Contacts:
Todd Williams, SAVMA Symposium chair, (515) 233-3945
Phyllis Peters, Veterinary Medicine, (515) 294-4602
Teddi Barron, News Service, (515) 294-4778

NATION'S VETERINARY STUDENTS TO ATTEND ISU SYMPOSIUM, MARCH 8-10

AMES, Iowa – From ferret handling and fish medicine to bull breeding and reptile surgery, there will be plenty to interest the more than 1,400 veterinary students and veterinarians who attend a national, student-organized symposium at Iowa State, March 8-10.

The Student American Veterinary Medical Association (SAVMA) Symposium 2001 will attract students from each of the 27 colleges of veterinary medicine in the United States and from three foreign schools. The annual symposium is the largest gathering of veterinary medical students in the country.

The future veterinarians will choose from more than 75 lectures on subjects related to large animal, small animal, equine and exotic animal medicine. Topics include elephant anesthesia, understanding cat and dog body language, cloning and transgenic production in livestock and veterinary acupuncture.

Wet laboratory sessions will provide case demonstrations of neurological exams with dogs and horses, aqua rehabilitation for orthopedic patients, breeding soundness exams for bulls, chiropractic therapy for small animals, massage therapy for horses and zoo animal restraint.

On Friday, March 9, school teams will face off in academic competitions. In one contest, students will be asked to identify large animal breeds. Another competition will quiz teams' expertise of equine dentistry and aging. A third match will test knowledge of the parasites and bacteria that wreck havoc in companion animals.

Side trips will be offered to the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's national animal disease research facilities in Ames and Iowa State's Meat Laboratory/Linear Accelerator.

Iowa State veterinary students have organized all aspects of the symposium, including program planning, logistics and management of the $255,000 conference budget.

To accommodate the event, the university allowed the College of Veterinary Medicine to alter its calendar by moving spring break to March 5-9, one week earlier than the university's break.

All sessions will be held in the veterinary medicine complex, Hilton Coliseum and the Scheman Building on the Iowa State campus. More information is available on the Web at http://www.vetmed.iastate.edu/Symposium/.

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