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European College of Zoological Medicine (ECZM) veterinary resident training programmes

If you are looking to continue your vet training at Masters level, what better place to do it than in ZSL's unique centres of learning, with unrivalled access to a whole host of incredible species?

There is a growing global need for veterinary capacity in Wildlife Health and Conservation Medicine to investigate and address the threats of emerging diseases to captive and free-living wildlife and to undertake interventions required with in situ and ex situ conservation programmes.

The Royal Veterinary College (RVC) and ZSL have co-supervised a combined ECZM residency programme that began in 2015, with a single resident in Wildlife Population Health and a second resident in Zoo Health Management.

RVC's MVetMed programme

Residents are enrolled in the RVC’s MVetMed programme: a credit-rated Masters course integral to the delivery of all residency programmes at the RVC across multiple clinical disciplines.

Throughout the 3-year training period, residents undertake varied training, comprising didactic modules, practical experience and independent research studies.

Residents are required to submit regular activity logs to the ECZM Education Committee throughout their training.

On successful completion of the ECZM requirements, comprising documentation logs and accepted publications, residents apply to sit an ECZM specialty examination.

If the outcome of examination is successful, residents become a ECZM Diplomate in their specialty.

About ECZM

The European College of Zoological Medicine (ECZM) is a European Veterinary Specialist College formed under the auspices of the European Board of Veterinary Specialisation (EBVS).

The ECZM was established in 2009 to further research and practice to benefit the health and well-being of free-ranging and captive non-domesticated animals and wildlife conservation.

The ECZM invests efforts to establish and maintain high standards of training that will lead to recognition as a European Veterinary Specialist in Zoological Medicine.

ECZM graduate Helle Hydeskov releasing pool frog tadpoles
Stephanie Jayson ECZM ZHM resident

Wildlife Population Health (WPH)

Diplomates of WPH work with the diseases and health management of free-ranging wildlife  at the population level, including disease management and prevention, health surveillance, outbreak investigation and epidemiology.

WPH is a discipline-related specialty with minimal emphasis on clinical medicine.

The WPH syllabus covers the following topics:

  • Wildlife Population and Ecosystem Health
  • Wildlife Pathology and Disease Investigation
  • Wildlife Disease Surveillance and Preventive Medicine
  • Wildlife Medicine
  • Research Studies

Further information, including pre-requisite experience required for veterinarians to be eligible to apply for an ECZM WPH residency programme, is outlined in the ECZM Policy & Procedures.

Zoo Health Management (ZHM)

Diplomates of ZHM work with health and management of animals within zoological collections, including preventive medicine, disease screening, quarantine management and vaccination, legislation, nutrition, animal management, studbooks and the working of European endangered species programs and taxon advisory groups.

The ZHM syllabus covers the following topics:

  • Preventative Medicine
  • Clinical Zoo Medicine
  • Restraint and anaesthesia
  • Animal Management in the Zoological Collection
  • Comparative Pathology and Disease Investigation
  • Research and Academic Studies

The ZHM resident also takes part in, and sometimes leads, clinical teaching, journal club, and teaching rounds with various students.

Further information, including pre-requisite experience required for veterinarians to be eligible to apply for an ECZM ZHM residency programme, is outlined in the ECZM Policy & Procedures.

Further information

In addition to the ECZM requirements, the RVC stipulate eligibility criteria for prospective veterinary residents on the MVetMed programme.

For further details, visit this page

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