Veterinary Medicine

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Featured in Veterinary Practice News, 2018 – Read Here

In this program, students will cover veterinary surgery by performing mock surgeries and bone-settings, research common afflictions such as canine distemper and rabies. They will also explore various methods of diagnosis, including how to detect pain through physical examinations and how to analyze imaging from x-rays, MRIs, and CT scans.

This is a competitive admissions summer research program designed for teens.

Don’t have time for a full three week course? Check out Pet Medicine, our one week introductory program, here!

Summer 2023 Application Now Open:

Going… Going… Almost Gone!

July 10-28, 2023 | Gann/Bentley, Waltham

More About: Awards – Research Programs – Sample Week

Rising 6th to rising 9th? Check out: Pet Medicine

Thanks to the generosity of the BluePearl Emergency Pet Hospital team and our additional instructors, students explored a variety of veterinary specialties. One day, a surgeon took students through the process of performing an organ transplant, and the next day a veterinarian with her own practice introduced students to veterinary oral health care. Class became more exotic when a zoo animal specialist introduced the zoonotic disease lesson, taking students step by step through the process of diagnosing severe illnesses and threats in non-human primates.

Additional lessons included orthopedics, anesthesia, public health, ophthalmology, toxicology, emergency medicine, neurology, and many more.

Field Trips

In past years, students visited, Tufts School of Veterinary Medicine, one of the top-ranked veterinary medicine schools in the country. Tufts medical students and veterinarians explained what classes students need to take to get into veterinary school, what a veterinary education entails, the specialties they’ll have to choose from, and much more. After this, Tufts faculty took our students on a tour of their world class facilities.

Southwick’s Zoo: Students took a private, behind-the-scenes tour lead by veterinarians who specialize in the treatment of zoo animals. They practiced tranquilizing methods (see photo). They visited the operating room, identified skeletal structures, and examined x-rays.

Field Trips (Continued)

BluePearl Emergency Pet Hospital: Dr. Snell took students to his own hospital in Waltham, MA. Students met Dr. Snell’s colleagues, examined the emergency room up close, learned about the day-to-day life of a veterinary surgeon, and interacted with veterinary specialists. They also visited The Flow Dog, BluePearl’s Dog Therapy Clinic to learn about animal rehabilitation.

NOTE: COVID will impact field trips. We cannot guarantee any given field trip will run as in past years or at all.

Students take a lift ride on a field trip in the Veterinary Medicine three-week summer medical program

Students pet a deer on a field trip in the Veterinary Medicine three-week summer medical program

Students speak with an expert while on a field trip in the Veterinary Medicine three-week summer medical program

Students go to an examination room in the Veterinary Medicine three-week summer medical program

Students visit the zoo in the Veterinary Medicine three-week summer medical program

Students visit the Southwick's Zoo in the Veterinary Medicine three-week summer medical program

Students visit the Tufts Medical School in the Veterinary Medicine three-week summer medical program

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Teaching Team

William Hurley

Dr. William Hurley teaches marine science and is extremely passionate about the subject. At the beginning of his course, many of his students are not well aware of the significant importance of the ocean to the health of the planet, but by the end, their awareness increases and many students embark on activities to help the ocean. Several of his students have gone on to major in Marine Sciences in college. This year, Dr. Hurley received a grant to design and build a large wave tank so his students could better understand waves and their effects on coastal environments, specifically looking at man-made and natural coast lines. The wave tank is one of the few in the nation at a high school level. The students presented the results from this endeavor at the New England Ocean Summit Educational Consortium in Boston in November 2018. Along with the wave tank, Dr. Hurley has developed many hands-on activities to teach his students about ocean conservation. Some of the activities focus on bycatch and the techniques to reduce it through problem solving and design skills and using passive sampling devices to study aquatic organisms and compare the year-to-year data. He also teaches an extensive unit on Ocean Pollution, having his students discover ways to get involved and minimize ocean pollution.

Student Comments

*2021 Student Comments*

‘The program exercises my mind and teaches me so much. My teacher is encouraging, and an incredibly seasoned vet. I love the fact that she is so supportive and knowledgeable.’

“The projects are fun and hands-on, and the teachers were amazing.’

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‘I personally loved all the different types of specialists we met. I had no idea there were so many different branches a veterinarian can go into. The program only further confirmed who I want to be and what I want to do in life. The visit to the pet hospital was especially educational. Dr. Riggs made me seriously consider being a neurologist or a neurosurgeon with the cases she let us analyze and prognosticate.’

‘The Vet Medicine program was truly such an incredible experience I learned so much on how to read x-rays, detect pain and treat the animal when injured. The field trips to Blue Pearl Animal Hospital and Southwick Zoo were incredibly informative and such a blast. I am so grateful to have had this amazing opportunity. It definitely made me realize that this is exactly the profession I want to do. Definitely an experience I will never forget!’

‘My program was both very educational and fun. The instructor was amazing and made everything a whole lot more interesting and engaging. The lessons were well planned and taught us about all sorts of different niches of veterinary medicine. I also loved how much hands-on experience we got and the field trips were great.’

Our Programs are Featured on the National Association for Gifted Children Website

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