Courtesy Photo | Lt. Col. Diana Hoffman (top left), U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious...... read more read more
FORT DETRICK, Md. – With approximately 1,600 military working dogs within the Department of Defense and only the U.S. Army Veterinary Corps to care for them, Army veterinarians need to have an expanded knowledge of animal research and pathology.
“As Army field veterinarians, when a military working dog dies in the field, we have to know how to obtain tissue samples and submit them appropriately to a pathology center,” said Capt. Hannah Sherman, a recently licensed Army veterinarian.
Sherman was one of nine veterinarians in the First Year Graduate Veterinary Education Program at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, to take advantage of secondary specialized training in veterinary pathology under instruction from the only active U.S. Army veterinary clinical pathologist, Lt. Col. Diana Hoffman, as part of a pathology training course at JBLM’s Veterinary Readiness Activity.
Hoffman, the pathology division chief at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, and Maj. Anna-Maria Travis of the Joint Pathology Center, Silver Spring, Maryland, instructed the students on the key elements of clinical pathology, necropsy techniques and the academic challenges that clinical pathology students may face.
“Our intent behind the training of these new vets was to provide them with anatomic and clinical pathology skills that are common to general practitioners,” says Hoffman.
Sherman focused on adapting her practices to the new techniques Hoffman provided through the hands-on labs, specifically in necropsy.
“I was able to learn new techniques in cytology slide pattern recognition and more efficient cutting,” says Sherman.
Hoffman says that being able to adapt to new practices and learn new skills is important, as clinical pathology is one of the most academically challenging aspects of the pathology field.
“The field is very book-heavy and scientific,” says Hoffman. “It requires students to learn a lot of information about almost every species on the planet.”
Hoffman’s visit wasn’t all academic, but also a recruitment opportunity.
“There are limited slots to enter the veterinary pathology track each recruitment cycle,” says Hoffman. “I wanted the new veterinarians to know what the program has to offer, why it is so fun, and why pathologists are sometimes called the ‘doctor’s doctor.’”
Sherman said she was impressed by the learning and career opportunities the clinic pathology field offers an Army veterinarian, and that she may consider it in the future.
“I am very interested in parasitology, and the clinic pathology route could help better my chances of getting there,” says Sherman.
For Army veterinarians interested in the pathology and clinical pathology residency courses pleases visit the Long Term Health Education website at https://www.hrc.army.mil/content/Long%20Term%20Health%20Education.
| Date Taken: | 04.24.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 04.24.2025 15:20 |
| Story ID: | 496117 |
| Location: | FORT DETRICK, MARYLAND, US |
| Web Views: | 33 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, New Army veterinarians learn from USAMRIID pathologist’s expertise, experience, by Quentin Johnson, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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