Global Engagement Experiences

Many opportunities exist for Ohio State veterinary students to take advantage of the Global Engagement Program.

Research Experiences allow students to partner with Universities, Public Health Departments, and national laboratories for various projects depending on the student’s interest and countries’ ongoing projects.
Coursework opportunities are the more traditional sense of study abroad. With course work, students enrolled in a class through the countries’ university and gain hands-on experience.
Service Learning is influenced with outreach and community building. This typically can be paired with a non-profit or a religious community.

Global Engagement continues to collect and build a list of travel opportunities offered at the College of Veterinary Medicine. If your interests don't fit into one of the existing categories or if you would like to propose a new opportunity, submit information using this form.

veterinary students next to an elephant, global engagement program

Global Engagement Program Section Links

Global One Health Initiative

Research Experiences allow students to partner with Universities, Public Health Departments, and national laboratories for various projects depending on the student’s interest and countries’ ongoing projects.

The Global One Health Initiative (GOHi) work in Ethiopia gives students hands-on experience in field research and promotes cross-cultural communication and collaborations. For example, in 2014, a veterinary student designed a method to count dogs in the city of Gondar. A group of veterinary students implemented the project and came up with an estimate of the total dog population to be used by the rabies control program in Gondar.

GOHi partnerships with universities in Ethiopia allows Ohio State’s College of Veterinary Medicine students to work in a highly interdisciplinary One Health perspective. Students work with faculty from multiple disciplines to develop a broader understanding of their research, training or project, and to build their capacity to function beyond siloed solutions. There are several research opportunities and capacity building projects for students to get involved with, such as the Campylobacter Genomics and Enteric Dysfunction project, Drug Discovery and Therapeutics, and the USAID Tuberculosis Prevention Trial. Students can also do research aligned with capacity building initiatives including the One Health Summer Institute, Curriculum Twinning and CDC funded Global Health Security projects.

Coursework

Coursework opportunities are the more traditional sense of study abroad. With course work, students enrolled in a class through the countries’ university and gain hands-on experience.

The Veterinary Field Experience in Thailand, “Elephants, Zoo and Aquatic Medicine”, was started in 2005 by Nongnuch Inpanbutr, DVM, PhD., Professor Department of Veterinary Biosciences. An average of 24 students per year participate in this two-week program in Thailand that immerses students in coursework involving elephants, aquatic animals, wildlife and acupuncture. During their time in Thailand, students are exposed to how the religion, culture and social setting influence the practice of veterinary medicine.

veterinary students with a large elephant in thailand

“The program in Thailand helped me grow in terms of my confidence and independence. Traveling internationally and visiting a country where English is not the primary language challenged me to be responsible for myself and be aware of my surroundings. The veterinary work provided me with much needed hands-on experiences that helped boost my confidence for my final year of vet school.” –Past participant of The Veterinary Field Experience in Thailand

Inpanbutr, who earned her veterinary degree from Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, worked with a colleague who is now the veterinary dean at Chiang Mai University in Northern Thailand to develop the study abroad program for Ohio State veterinary students. She is a strong advocate for expanding the cultural horizon for students. This program allows students to experience a different way of practicing veterinary medicine outside of Western standards, broadening their scope of knowledge and changing the way they approach treatment options for their future patients and clients.

Check the Global One Health initiative (GOHi) website to explore current online course offerings. Learn more here.

This elective course is designed as a preparatory course for veterinary professional (DVM) curriculum and Masters of Public Health (MPH-VPH) students who plan to engage in international and non-traditional veterinary medicine and public health. The course is recommended for any student preparing to travel internationally for a global one health experience and is a pre-requisite for the global engagement program travel scholarships. Learn more here.

The Office of Professional Programs maintains a database of off-site electives that are taken for credit by DVM students in their clinical (4th) year. You can search this list to find opportunities that students have used in the past and contacts to arrange new opportunities here.

Graduate Specialization in Global Health: For students interested having an international experience, and a strong interesting in Global One Health should consider applying and completing a Specialization in Global Health: https://globalhealth.osu.edu/specialization-global-health
Global One Health Initiative (GOHi): https://globalonehealth.osu.edu
Graduate Certificate in Global One Health: This department offers their own certificate program that comprises global one health classes that do not require an international component: https://cph.osu.edu/students/graduate-certificate-global-one-health
Office of International Affairs: Find study abroad and external internship opportunities: https://oia.osu.edu

Service Learning

Service Learning is influenced with outreach and community building. This typically can be paired with a non-profit or a religious community. International travel isn’t required for immersive experiences that can broaden a veterinary student’s horizon. There are several local programs that provide students with an opportunity to gain new perspective on providing care, namely for underserved and vulnerable populations. Opportunities and contacts are listed under Outreach and Engagement.

External Trips

This list includes additional organizations that provide distant and abroad experiences. Please be aware, we have not evaluated these programs and students who wish to partake in any, do so at their own discretion. Organizations in bold have local student or faculty ambassadors you may contact for more information.

If you know of a group offering trips that is not listed here, please send the information to cvm-globalengagement@osu.edu and we will add it to the list. We are also happy to take reviews of the programs we have listed to share with interested students.

Christian Veterinary Mission https://cvm.org
FARvets https://www.farvets.org
World Vets https://worldvets.org
Volunteers Around the World http://www.volunteersaroundtheworld.org
Veterinary Expeditions http://www.veterinaryexpeditions.com
Texas A&M University Veterinary medicine and Biomedical Sciences International Program https://vetmed.tamu.edu/international-programs/study-abroad/study-abroad-courses
Global Vet Experience https://www.globalvetexperience.com
Animal Balance https://www.animalbalance.org/
Vet Treks https://veterinarytreks.org/

Wildlife Vets https://www.wildlifevetsinternational.org/
ResearchWild! https://www.rwild.org/
Live4now www.live4now.co.za
LoopAbroad https://www.loopabroad.com/program/veterinary-service-south-africa
Conservation Africa https://www.conservationafrica.net/our-projects/wildlife-veterinary-experience
Brothers Safaris https://brotherssafaris.com/african-vet-safaris/veterinary-profession-safaris
Veterinarians Without Borders http://vetswithoutbordersus.org/
Mission Rabies http://www.missionrabies.com/
Africa Network for Animal Welfare https://www.anaw.org/index.php and https://www.anawusa.org/

CHI Institute (Florida with trips to China) https://www.tcvm.com (Scholarship information at https://www.tcvm.com/scholarships/abroad)
Morindoo http://www.morindoo.com

Greek America Corps https://greekamerica.org/greek-america-corps-karpathos-2021
Boehringer Ingelheim Veterinary Scholars Program Europe http://veterinaryscholars.boehringer-ingelheim.com/students/european-schools

Rural Area Veterinary Services http://www.ruralareavet.org
Veterinarians for Puerto Rico https://www.veterinariansforpr.org

Vida Volunteer https://www.vidavolunteer.org
Floating Doctors: https://floatingdoctors.com

Chile: Villa Peldehueinitiative https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdOAS6V2Vv8

AVMA Exchange Opportunities https://www.avma.org/membership/SAVMA/international-opportunities-US-students
Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association -https://www.hsvma.org/volunteering

Student Organizations

Join local and national student organizations to learn more about One Health and global engagement within veterinary medicine.

Additional Resources

For students traveling to Ethiopia, China, or Brazil, the Global One Health initiative has created several travel guides to aide students traveling abroad: https://globalonehealth.osu.edu/resources/travel-guides
Traveler’s Health by CDC: Lists medical and health related resources for citizens traveling out of the country. There are resources on travel notices, diseases and vaccinations: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel
Other resources regarding safety abroad: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel.html
For programs that allow a per diem, use these resources to find rates:
- Domestic per diem rates: https://www.gsa.gov/travel/plan-book/per-diem-rates
- International per diem rates: https://aoprals.state.gov/web920/per_diem.asp

Office of International Affairs: https://oia.osu.edu/grants-and-scholarship
Students in the College of Public Health: https://cph.osu.edu/students/scholarships

The Albert Schweitzer Fellowship https://schweitzerfellowship.org
Boehringer Ingelheim Veterinary Scholars Program: http://veterinaryscholars.boehringer-ingelheim.com/students/european-schools
Student American Veterinary Medical Association Awards and Scholarships: https://www.avma.org/membership/SAVMA/awards-scholarships
Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research Vet Fellows: https://foundationfar.org/ffar-fellows
Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research Fellows (for non-DVM students): https://foundationfar.org/ffar-fellows

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