Clinical Medicine and Pathology Externship

Clinical Veterinary Medicine

©WCS/J.Maher

The Department of Clinical Care offers six to eight week externships in zoological medicine and surgery for senior veterinary students at AVMA accredited veterinary schools. While the primary focus of the externships are at the Wildlife Health Center on the grounds of the Bronx Zoo, the student will also participate in clinical rotations at the New York Aquarium in Brooklyn and the Central Park, Queens, and Prospect Park Zoos. The student is exposed to a great variety of clinical cases including fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and both terrestrial and aquatic mammals. The student will observe all facets of wildlife health care including preventive medicine; daily medical and surgical care; clinical rounds; anesthesia; medical record keeping; quarantine procedures; clinical pathology interpretation; and broader captive and free-ranging conservation issues. During the rotation students are required to prepare and present a presentation to the Wildlife Health Center staff.

Applications are accepted up to 15 November of the student's third year for rotations during the student's final year of veterinary school. Successful applicants will be notified by 15 December. Due to the great interest in the program applications can not be accepted or processed at other times.

Individuals interested in an application should write to:
Veterinary Externship Program
Wildlife Health Center
Wildlife Conservation Society
Bronx, NY 10460-1099

Pathology Department

The Pathology Department of the Wildlife Conservation Society (based at the Bronx Zoo) provides diagnostic pathology services for the Bronx, Central Park, Queens, and Prospect Park Zoos and the New York Aquarium and offers Externship opportunities to 3rd and 4th year veterinary students from AVMA accredited veterinary schools.  Externships last four weeks and participating students will be involved in all aspects of daily necropsy examinations.  Exceptional species diversity within our collections and a high caseload will provide students with broad exposure to the comparative anatomy and naturally occurring diseases and pathology of exotic animals.  Pathology externs will work closely with the pathology staff.  Background reading and research for diagnostic cases will be expected of the extern as will participation in weekly and bimonthly histopathology conferences.  In addition, externs will be required to fully investigate a case or group of cases and prepare a short presentation that will be delivered to the staff during their final externship week.  To enhance their learning opportunities, externs will have access to extensive teaching materials, including texts and journals, more than 10,000 gross kodachromes of gross and histologic lesions of zoo animals, glass slide teaching sets including normal tissue and pathologic lesions of birds, reptiles/amphibians, and mammals, the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology's Wednesday Slide Conference sets, and an extensive species-based literature file. Externship applications are accepted year-round, on a first-come, first-served basis. Electronic applications are welcome. 

For more information or to submit an application, please contact:  Carlos Rodriguez, DVM, Associate Pathologist Wildlife Conservation Society 2300 Southern Blvd Bronx, NY 10460 phone:  (718) 220-7105  fax:  (718) 220-7126 email: crodriguez@wcs.org