Four recent grads of the Maddie’s Shelter Medicine Program at UF are making a difference for animals from Florida to Texas to Kenya!
Dr. Patricia Diskant found her niche at the Humane Society of the Treasure Coast in Palm City, Florida. “I absolutely love my job and getting to put my shelter medicine training to work,” she said. “I keep the ASV guidelines in my bag as a reference, and enjoy sharing solutions to problems that I have seen prior in the program from other shelters. I feel that having been so involved in the Maddie’s Shelter Medicine Program thoroughly prepared me for real world experiences, and I look forward to growing with this expanding field of medicine!”
That doesn’t mean she doesn’t miss UF, of course. She also said she’s “loving the real world but miss being at the place I’ve called home for so long.”
Dr. Adrian Knowles (pictured in the right rear of the photo above) and Dr. Molly Chauhan (in the left front) are two new alumni hired by Emancipet, a nonprofit headquartered in Texas and serving six communities. Their mission is “to make high-quality spay/neuter and veterinary care affordable and accessible to all pet owners. [They] manage an expanding national network of high-quality, low-cost clinics; offer customized training and consulting programs to animal welfare organizations nationwide; and advocate for strategies and public policy that improve the lives of pets in under-served communities.”
Emancipet has spayed or neutered almost a quarter million cats and dogs, and last year cared for more than 100,000 pets. “The surgery skills I gained during school give me a leg up as I start my first few weeks as a spay/neuter surgeon with Emancipet,” said Dr. Knowles.
Dr. Megan L. Sullivan (pictured above) is working at the Kenya SPCA in Africa, and managed her first parvo outbreak shortly after starting her new job.
“I have been using my shelter medicine training at the KSPCA in Kenya,” she said. “I have not only been able to practice my surgical techniques with flank spays and various other surgeries, but have also had a ton of experience with population management, parasite control (on/in the animals and environmental) and behavior assessments. I have also been trying to persuade them of the benefits of pediatric spay/neuter, but it will take time to change their routines. It has been such a blast to practice here and see all of the different diseases that are not prevalent in the US (babesia and TVT to name a few). Thank you for the wonderful training. I could not have done any of this without all of your amazing help and the experiences I have gotten through the certificate!”