Veterinarians

What drew you to veterinary medicine?

“From a young age, I enjoyed spending time and working with animals. Growing up around several small dairy farms, I was able to see firsthand how veterinarians impacted the lives of animals around me. As I grew older, my love for animals continued to grow, as well as my desire to help them when they were in distress. Veterinary medicine is a way for me to keep animals happy and healthy, while also improving the lives of people who are affected by these animals.” —

Lillian Ledvina, Luxemburg,WI

“When I was little, I learned English watching National Geographic documentaries and knew that I had an interest in working with animals in the future. However, my dad was not on the same page as me and wanted me to go into human medicine. We ended up compromising back when I was in elementary school and have been focused on veterinary medicine since then!” —Deborah Liu, Carmel, IN

“I appreciate the variety in vet med. The variety in career choices, specialties, and species.” — Karina Porfirio, Vernon Hills, IL

“I wanted to combine my love of animals and my interest in science with a career in which I could make a difference in the lives of my clients and patients.” — Hannah

Lillesand, Sheboygan Falls,WI

“I grew up with a menagerie of animals and ever since I can remember, being a vet was all I ever wanted. As time went on, I volunteered at a wildlife rehab center and the pull toward a career in veterinary medicine became stronger with the realization that vet med could be more than fixing puppies and kittens. I wanted to be an integral part of animals’ care – both domestic and wild –and be able to truly make a difference.” — Rachel Burns, Minocqua, WI

“I grew up on a family farm in South Georgia and loved spending time with animals with my grandfather. I worked at the University of Georgia Meat Science lab in undergrad, and I was on the fence about going to vet school. The USDA veterinarians working in our facility encouraged me to go to vet school because of the various opportunities in veterinary medicine.” —

Eddie Henderson, Swainsboro, GA

Class of 2026

At-A-Glance

1,942 APPLICANTS

Wisconsin resident applicants (226)

Non-resident applicants (1,716)

96 STUDENTS ACCEPTED

Wisconsin residents (63) Non-residents (33)

Women (84), Men (12)

50

UNDERGRADUATE COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES REPRESENTED

17

DIFFERENT UNDERGRADUATE MAJORS REPRESENTED

Agriculture, Animal Science, Anthropology, Art, Biochemistry, Biological Sciences, Biology, Biomedical Engineering, Communication Science & Disorders, Communication Studies, Computer Science, Dairy Science, English, Marine Biology, Molecular Biology, Psychology, Zoology

PRIMARY AREAS OF CAREER INTEREST AT TIME OF APPLICATION:

Small animal (37), Food animal (17), Wildlife/ Zoo (12), Equine (9), Other* (8), Mixed (6), Avian/Exotics (4), Research/Industry (3)

*includes lab animal medicine, shelter animal medicine, pathology, public health, and undecided areas of interest

Why did you choose to attend the UW School of Veterinary Medicine?

“The reputation of the school was great, and the opportunities in the area of large animal reproduction were in line with my career goals.” — Eddie Henderson

“I chose to attend UW–Madison SVM because of its reputation and location. Growing up in Wisconsin, attending UW–Madison for veterinary school seemed the logical choice, and that choice became a dream once I realized what an amazing veterinary medicine program it had to offer.” — Rachel

Burns

“I chose UW–Madison SVM because of how welcoming the SVM community is. Additionally, it is a rigorous program that would challenge me to be the best doctor I can be.” — Brianna

Clifton, Romeoville, IL

What’s been the most exciting part of your SVM experience so far?

“The most exciting part of my SVM experience so far is seeing how topics in class relate to my work at a private clinic. In anatomy, we recently learned about cranial nerves and covered the infraorbital nerve on the maxilla (jaw). I had a lightbulb moment when I pieced together why the veterinarian I work for called many dental blocks infraorbital blocks!” — Deborah

Liu

“The staff and students are so friendly and welcoming, and each day we are learning something new or having a new experience. Every day here is one more step towards becoming a veterinarian.” — Jessica Dean, Slinger, WI

“The most exciting part of my SVM experience so far was my first week of class. Realizing that all my hard work had paid off and I was one step closer to becoming a veterinarian was a very surreal experience.” — Lillian

Ledvina

“So far, the most exciting part of my SVM experience is making new friends and discovering the vast array of options available to someone in the veterinary field. I always knew there were different paths you could take, but I never realized just how many!” — Rachel

Burns

“The most exciting part of my SVM experience so far has been the out-of-classroom experiences I’ve attended. Getting to learn about and see medicine in action is what keeps me going to class every day. The International Crane Foundation health checks and the Midwest Horse Welfare Foundation fall vet day were major highlights!”

— Allyssah Lanzo

What’s been unexpected or difficult about your first year?

“I fully expected the first year to be difficult. I did not expect to have to completely revamp the way I study, and not really get to see my family. I’ve been going to school pretty much my entire adult life, been to nine different colleges, and I thought I had studying down to a science. This year, I learned different ways of studying from my classmates and some faculty. I also went from being the primary caregiver in my family to just going to school and studying. It’s been a major adjustment for us all.”

— Jessica Dean

“It’s been difficult to balance academics with work, hobbies, and my personal life. I think that too much of anything can lead to burnout, including studying. So, I’ve tried my best to prioritize my mental health by continuing to work out consistently, work a few hours throughout the week, and get involved in extracurriculars.”

— Karina Porfirio

“One of the most challenging things for me this first year was learning to live in a city environment. Having grown up in a rural area my entire life, the transition to city life has been an eye-opening experience.” —

Lillian Ledvina

“The most difficult part of first year was realizing that every class you take is equally as important and you have to study a little bit every night. Cramming does not work in vet med school.” —

Brianna Clifton

“The biggest difficulties I’ve experienced this first year have been reworking my study habits to fit the veterinary school curriculum and truly just how busy we are as students — school is definitely a full-time job now!” —

Allyssah Lanzo

What is your favorite class or experience so far?

“Small Animal Anatomy has been my favorite class, especially the comparative anatomy sessions. Additionally, shadowing in the clinic in the Special Species department was a highlight, as well as attending a talk from Dr. Izzy Hirji and learning that being a vet can be any kind of experience that you want it to be — you just have to be willing to take that jump into the unknown.” — Rachel Burns

“My favorite class so far has been the Fundamentals of Veterinary Anatomy. I’ll never forget us jumping right in with dissections on the first day of school.” — Deborah Liu

“Participating in the equine castration lab was my favorite experience so far. Our horse was just purchased at an auction a week before the lab, so we got to name him! (We chose to name him Samson.)” — Hannah Lillesand

“My favorite class has been physiology because it has opened my eyes to how complex the body system is to keep the animal alive.” — Brianna Clifton

“The American Association of Equine Practitioners, Bovine, and Theriogenology (animal reproduction) clubs are my favorite.” — Eddie Henderson

“The suture lab through the Surgery Club and attending spay day have been my favorite experiences.” — Karina Porfirio

Holistic Admissions

In the process of narrowing down nearly 2,000 applicants to the next class of DVM students, the UW School of Veterinary Medicine Office of Academic Affairs takes a holistic approach to applications. This approach acknowledges each student’s individual journey to veterinary medicine and multiple aspects of their application.

“We look at academic preparation and how the student did from a grade perspective, but we are also interested in work experiences, community and volunteer roles, and student organizations or clubs, where students can demonstrate leadership, communication skills, curiosity, passion for learning, and teamwork,” says Lynn Maki, associate dean for student academic affairs.

The School of Veterinary Medicine has worked to create a school and professional environment more reflective of society as a whole, aiming to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion and create a more welcoming environment for all interested in veterinary medicine. Holistic approaches to student applications help decrease barriers, biases, and inequalities in the application process to create a more inclusive admitted class.

In December 2020, the SVM took another step in removing unnecessary barriers by eliminating the Graduate Record

“I really love the Lunch-N-Learn talks during the midday class break. They have helped show me the variety of fields available for veterinarians to work in (and a free meal never hurts)!” — Allyssah

Lanzo

Examination (GRE) general test for admittance into the school. This decision came as universities throughout the U.S. removed this requirement for many graduate and professional health sciences programs, including human and veterinary medicine. This action is one factor contributing to the increased applications seen in 2021.

In one interesting trend, both in Wisconsin and nationally, veterinary medical schools have become female-dominated across both students and applicants. Since the late 1980s, the number of enrolled women has steadily increased while the number of enrolled men has steadily decreased. In the 2022 application cycle, for example, less than 20 percent of applicants identified as male.

Two high-profile cases currently before the U.S. Supreme Court related to affirmative action and college admissions could have wide-ranging impacts for admissions processes throughout the country. The SVM will ensure its policies align with any resulting decisions or changes while continuing to pursue a holistic approach.

“The SVM believes diversity in students, faculty, and staff has a positive impact on the educational process, improves the academic experience, and results in a veterinary profession better equipped to respond to the changing needs of society,” says Maki.

Lab-Grown Retinal Eye Cells Make Successful Connections, Open Door for Clinical Trials to Treat Blindness

Retinal cells grown from stem cells can reach out and connect with neighbors, according to a new study, completing a “handshake” that may show the cells are ready for trials in humans with degenerative eye disorders.

Over a decade ago, University of Wisconsin–Madison researchers developed a way to grow organized clusters of cells, called organoids, that resemble the retina, the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye. They coaxed human skin cells reprogrammed to act as stem cells to develop into layers of several types of retinal cells that sense light and ultimately transmit what we see to the brain.

“We wanted to use the cells from those organoids as replacement parts for the same types of cells that have been lost in the course of retinal diseases,” says David Gamm, the UW–Madison ophthalmology professor and director of the McPherson Eye Research Institute whose lab developed the organoids. “But after being grown in a laboratory dish for months as compact clusters, the question remained — will the cells behave appropriately after we tease them apart? Because that is key to introducing them into a patient’s eye.”

During 2022, Gamm and UW–Madison collaborators published studies showing that dish-grown retinal cells called photoreceptors respond like those in a healthy retina to different wavelengths and intensities of light, and that once they are separated from adjacent cells in their organoid, they can reach out toward new neighbors with characteristic biological cords called axons.

“The last piece of the puzzle was to see if these cords had the ability to plug into, or shake hands with, other retinal cell types in order to communi- cate,” says Gamm, whose new results on successful connections between the cells was published in January in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences .

Graduate students Allison Ludwig , a dual degree DVM/PhD trainee with the School of Veterinary Medicine’s Comparative Biomedical Sciences program, and Steven Mayerl

“I am eternally grateful for the support the DVM/ PhD program provided while this research was underway. The dual degree program has done an incredible job of helping us to not only become competent clinicians, but also versatile scientists.”

– Allison Ludwig

A Legacy of Dedication

from the Cellular and Molecular Pathology program were co-firstauthors of the work.

Cells in the retina and brain communicate across synapses, tiny gaps at the tips of their cords. To confirm that their lab-grown retinal cells have the capacity to replace diseased cells and carry sensory information like healthy ones, the researchers needed to show that they could make synapses.

Xinyu Zhao, UW–Madison professor of neuroscience and co-author of the new study, worked with the Gamm lab’s cells to help study their ability to form synaptic connections. They did this using a modified rabies virus to identify pairs of cells that could form the means to communicate with one another.

The research team broke apart the retinal organoids into individual cells, gave them a week to extend their axons and make new connections, exposed them to the virus, and then took a peek. What they saw were many retinal cells marked by a fluorescent color indicating a rabies infection had infected one across a synapse successfully formed between neighbors.

“We’ve been quilting this story together in the lab, one piece at a time, to build confidence that we’re headed in the right direction,” says Gamm, who patented the organoids and co-founded Madison-based Opsis Therapeutics, which is adapting the technology to treat human eye disorders based on the UW–Madison discoveries. “It’s all leading, ultimately, to human clinical trials, which are the clear next step.”

After they confirmed the presence of synaptic connections, the researchers, which also included co-author Yu Gao of the university’s Waisman Center, analyzed the cells involved and found that the most common retinal cell types forming synapses were photoreceptors — rods and cones — which are lost in diseases like retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration, as well as in certain eye injuries. The next most common cell type, retinal ganglion cells, are degenerate in optic nerve disorders like glaucoma.

“That was an important revelation for us,” says Gamm. “It really shows the potentially broad impact these retinal organoids could have.”

Gamm serves as Ludwig’s g raduate advisor in her DVM/PhD training. Ludwig recently completed her dissertation research in Gamm’s laboratory, focused on developing retinal patches to organize stem cell-derived photoreceptors for cell replacement therapy in diseases like macular degeneration.

As Ludwig works toward completing her veterinary medical degree, she hopes to continue to find new ways to accelerate the development of safe, effective cell therapies for retinal degenerative disease.

“I am eternally grateful for the support the DVM/PhD program provided while this research was underway,” she says. “The dual degree program has done an incredible job of helping us to not only become competent clinicians, but also versatile scientists.”

Chris Barncard

For 35 years, Narayana Rao Kosuri PhD’69 supported patients as a psychiatrist in Missouri. Following his passing from cancer in 2020, Kosuri’s positive impact continues. At the UW School of Veterinary Medicine, where Narayana Rao earned a doctorate, he and his wife Lalitha ’s generosity supports the school’s building expansion.

Born in India in 1936, Kosuri immigrated to the United States in 1962 as a graduate student, having already earned a doctor of veterinary medicine degree. Kosuri added a PhD in pharmacology with the UW–Madison Department of Veterinary Science. For his dissertation, he studied the toxicity of the fungal plant pathogen Fusarium tricinctum He ultimately earned a medical degree and practiced as a psychiatrist with the Missouri State and BJC health systems in St. Louis.

Kosuri credited UW–Madison professors’ support for his academic successes, and he supported the university and SVM, including the school’s building expansion and renovation, throughout his lifetime. Following Kosuri’s passing, his wife Lalitha made an additional gift to the building project to name one of the school’s two large lecture halls in his honor.

With courage, determination, and a focus on well-being and camaraderie, Kosuri prospered in the U.S. — values that resonate with students who enter the newly named Kosuri Family Lecture Hall.