The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine announced the creation of the Frank Stanton Veterinary Spectrum of Care (SOC) Clinic on its Columbus campus, funded by a gift from the Stanton Foundation. Construction began in June 2020 and the clinic will open in spring of 2021.
“The Stanton Foundation’s continued investment solidifies Ohio State as a destination for comprehensive veterinary education and care,” said former Ohio State President Michael V. Drake. “This generous gift will improve the experiences of our veterinary students and companion animals alike for generations to come.”
The Community Practice (currently located within the Hummel and Trueman Hospital for Companion Animals) will relocate to the new facility, where students will take the lead role providing veterinary care to patients while faculty clinicians and locum practitioners serve as coaches.
Establishing this separate facility will further the college’s ambition to Be The Model® comprehensive college of veterinary medicine by delivering an extraordinary and value-driven education that prepares veterinary students to successfully practice broadly across the spectrum of care in a realistic, private practice environment.
“The Stanton Foundation is thrilled to support this incredibly important initiative which will provide veterinary care to pets and clients from across a broad socioeconomic continuum, while training students to develop clinical and professional skills that will enable them to provide spectrum of care veterinary services in communities across the country. Frank Stanton cared deeply that quality veterinary care be available to all pet owners, no matter their socioeconomic status, and recognized that training students to provide full spectrum of care services was the best way to achieve that goal. It is particularly appropriate that this initiative will be pioneered at The Ohio State University, Frank Stanton’s alma mater, and at the College of Veterinary Medicine which provided such wonderful care to his beloved Boston Terrier years ago” said Steve Kidder, spokesperson for the Stanton Foundation.
Because the Frank Stanton Veterinary SOC Clinic will be separate from, but adjacent to, the tertiary care hospital, students will work with specialists on a referral basis, just as they will in a general practice environment. In this new facility, students will gain experience providing a spectrum of care to pets presented by clients from a wide array of socioeconomic backgrounds. They will learn multiple approaches to care, including alternative diagnostic and treatment techniques, a wide range of clinical procedures and post-visit care protocols along with practice and business management skills.
The Frank Stanton Veterinary SOC Clinic will be one of the first primary care clinics operated by a college of veterinary medicine to embrace a spectrum of care model to educate and prepare students. The goal of this pedagogical approach is to insure that veterinary graduates entering private practice have the competence and confidence to provide more in-clinic treatment and to offer alternative treatments for pets belonging to clients across a broad socioeconomic spectrum. These new veterinarians will have knowledge and mastery of a wider range of diagnostic, therapeutic, business, and communication skills. This change to our educational model was driven by input and feedback from faculty, students, practitioners and alumni.
The unique environment will create more opportunities for clinicians and students to conduct clinical research that advances spectrum of care in veterinary medicine. The Veterinary Medicine Outreach program will also utilize the clinic as a home base, creating access to veterinary care for additional underserved populations and providing expanded care that cannot be provided in clients’ homes or community partner agencies.
“Our college has a longstanding connection with Frank Stanton, whose first encounter with the college was in the mid-1930s when we cared for a beloved Boston terrier puppy,” explained Rustin Moore, DVM, PhD, Dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine and the Ruth Stanton Chair in Veterinary Medicine. “This latest partnership will extend our mutual goal to provide students with valuable, hands-on medical and surgical experience and corresponding professional skills refinement needed to become more competent and confident veterinary practitioners upon graduation, successful entrepreneurs, and even more highly sought after by employers.”
The college also announced Roger B. Fingland, DVM, MS, MBA, DACVS, Professor and Executive Associate Dean, Executive Director and Chief Medical Officer of the Veterinary Health System, will be named the Frank Stanton Chair in General Practice and Canine Health and Wellness. Dr. Fingland has been instrumental in developing the veterinary spectrum of care clinic concept and will oversee its construction and operation.
“It is a great honor to be named the Frank Stanton Chair,” said Dr. Fingland. “I look forward to working with our students, faculty and alumni to develop the Frank Stanton Veterinary Spectrum of Care Clinic which will have a transformational impact on veterinary clinical education at Ohio State and beyond. I am proud and humbled to carry on Frank Stanton’s commitment to improving the lives of pets and people.”
The Frank Stanton Veterinary Spectrum of Care Clinic and the Frank Stanton Chair in General Practice and Canine Health and Wellness are funded by a gift from the Stanton Foundation. Frank Stanton created the Stanton Foundation to support areas where he was unable to complete his charitable intentions during his lifetime, including canine welfare, the development of more informed citizens and the protection of First Amendment rights, and international and nuclear security. An avid lover of dogs, Stanton was president of CBS from 1946 until 1971, and was a major innovator of mass-media practices. The foundation has supported The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine’s goal to transform veterinary education to produce more confident and competent graduates for several years. A transformational gift in 2016 made it possible for the college to construct a state-of-the-art veterinary clinical and professional skills center, expand summer student externships and hire additional faculty and staff. Their generous support culminates in the establishment of the Frank Stanton Veterinary Spectrum of Care Clinic, where students will become veterinarians who understand and embrace their role in providing veterinary care across a broad socioeconomic continuum involving the entire spectrum of care, and who will have developed cultural competencies, social awareness, and civic responsibility to animals and people in need.
