About UCVM

UCVM is the first veterinary college located in the province of Alberta. Fully funded by the Province, UCVM is dedicated to meeting the animal and public health needs of Alberta through its education, research and outreach programs.

Established following the BSE crisis in Alberta and a number of other important animal health events, UCVM was established with the goals of graduating an increased number of veterinarians with the skills to meet and adapt to the changing demands of rural Alberta, the food animal industries, environmental and wildlife health (ecosystem health), comparative health and biomedical research, and public health.

UCVM is committed to strengthening the connections between human and animal medicine, a concept known as One Health. Collaborating with the University of Calgary's Faculty of Medicine, UCVM will contribute to the health and welfare of animals and humans.

UCVM's Mission:
Our mission is to meet the veterinary, animal and public health needs of Alberta through:

• excellence in delivery of a comprehensive undergraduate veterinary medical education, emphasizing the production animal health, ecosystem and public health, equine health, and investigative medicine;
• excellence in clinical, diagnostic and professional teaching and service, in collaboration with our partners in a Distributed Veterinary Learning Community;
• excellence in the creation and distribution of new knowledge through research, graduate veterinary education, and continuing education in animal health and disease, and its relation to human health.

Our education, research and service activities will contribute to the promotion and protection of animal and human health and welfare/wellness in Alberta, Canada and internationally.

UCVM is unique amongst veterinary colleges world-wide. It shares the Health Sciences Centre with the Faculty of Medicine, ensuring and fostering interaction and collaboration between animal and human health professionals. The DVM program (click here) is an integrated core-elective program that brings applied and basic science together across the four years of the program and introduces hands-on practical work early in the program. The fourth year of the program is delivered in collaboration with the veterinary community in Alberta and beyond, through a Distributed Veterinary Learning Community (DVLC) that has students engaged in practicum work off-campus year round. In addition to a core general veterinary education program that will prepare students for any of the exciting career paths in veterinary medicine, students will have enhanced educational opportunities in one of our areas of emphasis:

Over the course of the four year program, students will receive a general veterinary education, with enhanced opportunities in our areas of emphasis. The research and education emphasis of the Faculty will be on production animal and equine veterinary medicine, ecosystem and public health, and comparative biomedical and health research.

• production animal health: population and individual animal health of all food and other production animal species; educating veterinarians to meet the needs of the livestock industry and rural Alberta
• ecosystem and public health: the interface of domestic animal, wildlife, human and environmental health; educating veterinarians to meet the needs of society through public and private practice in areas related to public health, food safety, environmental and agricultural interfaces, wildlife/conservation/zoo medicine and health
• equine health; population and individual equine health and medicine; educating veterinarians to meet the needs of the horse industry and horse owners
• investigative medicine: comparative medicine, biomedical research and laboratory animal medicine; educating veterinarians to participate in the biomedical research enterprise and contribute to the advancement of animal and human health

 

UCVM's graduate education and research programs (click here) focus on issues at the animal-human health interface, production limiting disease in food animals, ecosystem and public health, and advance population, clinical and comparative biomedical research. Veterinary faculty members supervise students in a variety of graduate programs, best suited to the goals of the student.

UCVM is committed to developing professional development and continuing education programs that serve the veterinary and animal health communities in Alberta. As the DVM program development advances and more faculty are hired, UCVM will direct more of its effort to developing and launching these programs.

UCVM's Vision:

Bringing innovation and community together to advance animal and human health.

UCVM is dedicated to innovation in both its educational and research programs. UCVM's undergraduate DVM and advanced clinical training programs are dependent on a partnership with the veterinary community (see below) and it seeks to have research and graduate education programs that are relevant to its stakeholder community. (For more details on UCVM's vision, click here)

 

UCVM's Location:

UCVM located in the Health Sciences Centre at the Foothills Campus off 16^th Ave N in Calgary and at the Spy Hill Campus in NW Calgary (85^th Street). These are the two main campus sites that serve our program Classroom work, basic science laboratories, and much of our research takes place at the Foothills campus. The Spy Hill Campus houses the Clinical Skills Building, the Veterinary Sciences Research Station, and the Wildlife Research Station. This is the site of hands-on clinical and diagnostic learning in the DVM program and clinical and applied research. The fourth year of the DVM program and much of our clinical research will take place in the Distributed Veterinary Learning Community that encompasses private practices, non-governmental organizations, private and government research laboratories, public health and policy environments, and partners engaged in wildlife and environmental activities. This rich assortment of locations and partners provides an exciting collaborative environment for our DVM, graduate, and research programs.

Please explore this website to learn more about our programs and our facilities.