What a week! Monday we went to the Bayer facility in Munich. It was really nice, we were wined and dined and toured the research facilites. There was a lot of time for chatting with representatives of the company, and it is kind flattering to be so actively recruited. The research cats are ridiculously friendly! As soon as they saw us, they ran to the front of the cage and started meowing for attention.
That evening we moved to Hannover and got to meet the host students we were working with. We spent a few days in Hannover trying to see everything we could, but there was no way. We did get to see the State Stud, which was really interesting. We got to have a few lectures at the vet school, and all of us were very impressed with how clearly the lecturer explained BVD, which completely confused all of the first years in lecture a month ago. We went to the Museum of Veterinary History, the only one in existence. I hadn't properly appreciated how recent a profession it was. The vet school was having a sport day, so we got to see some soccer.
That evening I wandered around the baergarden, which was surprisingly huge and full of beautiful flowering plants. I was amused by the greenhouse full of cacti. Later that evening I got a little bit of Texas as a street musician played Johny Cash. Thursday morning a group of us went to the Hannover Zoo. It was a very impressive zoo, I was amazed at how close we were able to get to the animals. We got to pet a pelican, see a day old gorilla baby and a 2 week old elephant baby, and got a tour by one of the host students who just happened to be a zoo tour guide! Thursday evening and afternoon were nonstop travelling until about 10, but when we got to Basel, we were surprised to find that we each had our own really nice room. I met a nice exchange student on the train, and we chatted for quite a while. I'm determined to look at train time as an opportunity instead of a waste of time. That night, though, I was extremely glad to get a chance to spread all my stuff out and repack before Switzerland.
Friday we took a marathon tour of Novartis, both the product testing labs in Basel and the animal research facilities in St. Aubin. I couldn't believe how close they let us get to the research animals, a little closer than I really wanted to get to to the biting flies ;-) We also got to see the sheep, cows, rabbits, gerbils, dogs, and cats. Last night we hopped a late bus to Interlaken, a touristy town at the foot of the Alps. Today I went up to the Jungfrau, which was incredibly gorgeous and amazing right up to the cloud line. Past that point it was white. There was a little museum of ice sculptures on the top, and some sled dogs that were VERY interested in the breakfast bars in my bag. I also got to walk around the towns in the foothills some. I have a new appreciation for their fitness, the houses were several hundred feet apart and on a rather steep slope. I got to see some cattle, sheep, and goats that I was only familiar with from the Breeds exam last year. The top third of the train ride was inside the mountain, but my nose was glued to the glass for the rest of it, the scenery was so spectacular!
Tomorrow is an all day train ride to Berlin. I have to admit I'm kind of looking forward to eight hours of not having to do anything. I'm also very much looking forward to being in one place for a while. I also have to admit that I'm missing Texas, and looking forward to seeing everyone, both two and four legged.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
The Business of Vet Med...
Visiting Novartis was almost like being treated like royalty, but more realistically like a proffesional. It was the first visit that gave us an overview appropriate for our level of training and actually gave us knowledge that we could apply to our practice. For the first time, I feel like I actually appreciate what it takes to make a pharmaceutical, from start to finish, and the time and effort that is taken into listening to what the customer wants and what the animal needs. I also found it exciting to see how benificial a training in business and veterinary medicine could be. Many of the questions I asked dealt with marketing issues and were not scientific at all and in fact I think this is a major problem in veterinary medicine. If veterinarians do not understand business then they also cannot understand the companies who make their practices run. They cannot understand how an increase in Ethanol use, means there is a shortage in corn, which means there is an increase in the demand for corn and the price goes up. This impacts the ranchers and producers who feed the corn, and also companies like Hill's who use corn as a product in their pet food. It's small examples like that driving the industries involving Vet Med, and inadvertantly, they affect the practice of veterinary medicine. Knowing more about why the profit margin on the pet food sold in the clinic is decreasing, or why the pork production facility no longer wants the same treatment plan but instead wants a cheaper option, is important to the success of a practice.
Hannover
What a great experience...
It was great to see life as a vet student at Hannover...staying with the host students was a brilliant idea to get a glimpse of what life would be like going to a German university. I also got the extra experience of what it might be like to go to professional school as a mother....and to that I say "no thanks." :) Kudos to my host Kat for being so great.
As far as the program went...the lectures were pretty interesting but to be put back to back to back was a bit exhausting. I guess I've fallen out of "vet school" mode so it was difficult to sit in a classroom for that long.
I guess for me, I would have liked to have toured the school itself more and seen the clinics. Just like what we show the German students at our school, I wish we could have done the same here. I know Professor Breeves said that clinics are all the same, but I personally think it would have benefitted our students to see this type of thing here in Germany. Perhaps it was there way of enticing us to come back to see more.
Hannover itself was such a welcoming, easy-to-navigate city that I definitely see myself coming back. I would actually really like to come back during a winter break sometime for maybe a 2-3 week stint and really get into being a German vet student.
From what I can see...it seems to be a little more lax here in Europe i.e. all the class skipping that I saw and the Wednesday night dance parties :P
Until then I will have to work on my German.
It was great to see life as a vet student at Hannover...staying with the host students was a brilliant idea to get a glimpse of what life would be like going to a German university. I also got the extra experience of what it might be like to go to professional school as a mother....and to that I say "no thanks." :) Kudos to my host Kat for being so great.
As far as the program went...the lectures were pretty interesting but to be put back to back to back was a bit exhausting. I guess I've fallen out of "vet school" mode so it was difficult to sit in a classroom for that long.
I guess for me, I would have liked to have toured the school itself more and seen the clinics. Just like what we show the German students at our school, I wish we could have done the same here. I know Professor Breeves said that clinics are all the same, but I personally think it would have benefitted our students to see this type of thing here in Germany. Perhaps it was there way of enticing us to come back to see more.
Hannover itself was such a welcoming, easy-to-navigate city that I definitely see myself coming back. I would actually really like to come back during a winter break sometime for maybe a 2-3 week stint and really get into being a German vet student.
From what I can see...it seems to be a little more lax here in Europe i.e. all the class skipping that I saw and the Wednesday night dance parties :P
Until then I will have to work on my German.
Hannovarians....
Hannover vet school is quite different and was a pleasure to see. The campus is gorgeous and seeped in history. The school itself is only two years younger than our own country, yet still time and time again, it was obvious how the degree does not stand up to that of american training. This realization came from listening to people in industry and from the comparison of the cirriculum to our own. Most of this I commented on the video blogg, but one important thing I left out was the Veterinary History Museum. I was surprised to see how little funding and care was given by the university to this treasure trove of history. The museum housed important instruments and technology throughout the ages, of which some were still used to day. This museum also illustrated the changing face of veterinary medicine throughout the ages, as the use of animals evolved in the society. It made me sit back in awe as our guide took us through the museum and recounted everything he knew. The subject base and his knowledge was so impressive that all I could do was wonder how anyone would know any of this after this man was gone. He alone keeps the museum going, and he alone knows what the museum is all about. I hope that further generations learn to appreciate it for the value it has to the proffession, and hope something similar could be established in the US.
Industrial Vet Medicine
This week has given me a peek into the "alternative" jobs that veterinarians can hold outside of practicing in a clinic. I thought that the Bayer trip was pretty interesting although the length of the lectures were a little long for me. The animals were nice to see. I was a little comforted by the fact that the research animals were so well taken care of. The kennels were really clean and large...much larger than any I've seen in American shelters. It still doesn't make sense to me that animals that are used in research are bred for that sole purpose. I think the last thing the world needs is more dogs that take the homes of shelter dogs. I mean I guess they are bred with a job to do but I don't really agree.
The Novartis trip was fantastic. I really enjoyed seeing the labs in the pharmaceutical department and animals in the research center. The way they explained to us how many steps it takes to research and develop a drug really made me appreciate what it takes for a drug to make it to the market. I like how the company makes it a goal to improve animal health and integrate into their work everyday. The animals though perhaps a little less clean than Bayer seemed real...that is to say I felt that was a working real lab. I remember in my days working with my mice labs...the labs were messy here and there because people did a lot of work there.
I'd have to say after the trip to Novartis, I could definitely see myself going into industry if I ever tired of practicing in a clinic...especially for them!
The Novartis trip was fantastic. I really enjoyed seeing the labs in the pharmaceutical department and animals in the research center. The way they explained to us how many steps it takes to research and develop a drug really made me appreciate what it takes for a drug to make it to the market. I like how the company makes it a goal to improve animal health and integrate into their work everyday. The animals though perhaps a little less clean than Bayer seemed real...that is to say I felt that was a working real lab. I remember in my days working with my mice labs...the labs were messy here and there because people did a lot of work there.
I'd have to say after the trip to Novartis, I could definitely see myself going into industry if I ever tired of practicing in a clinic...especially for them!
Friday, May 30, 2008
Party like its 1989
When I went to sleep last night I thought that I would wake up this morning in Prague. Instead, I woke up this morning in Frankfurt, and not even Frankfurt's main train station. Sometime in the middle of the night the train came to a stop here and hasn't moved since. It's been 11 hours so far and they just tacked another hour on to our wait time. Luckily last night we were bunked with a physicist (I kid you not) and he has been both helpful and interesting to talk to.
So, since I woke up this morning, unshowered and gross from running through Basel's station at 100 mph yesterday trying to catch this particular train, I have taken the scenic, 5-minute tour of Frankfurt Sud, eaten two pretzels and browsed the Internet. Others are stretching their legs outside the station, families with children are trying to keep busy and no one knows when we will get to leave.
I feel like it's my own private version of Germany in 1989. No one can go East and no one can come West. We are trapped here indefinitely but there is always a little hope it will be soon. We have to pay for the hotel room no matter what tonight, so we're just waiting, and watching and hoping the wall will come down and we will be free to go East.
And here I thought that we would have the best weather this weekend than back in Switzerland. Oh, the best laid plans.
So, since I woke up this morning, unshowered and gross from running through Basel's station at 100 mph yesterday trying to catch this particular train, I have taken the scenic, 5-minute tour of Frankfurt Sud, eaten two pretzels and browsed the Internet. Others are stretching their legs outside the station, families with children are trying to keep busy and no one knows when we will get to leave.
I feel like it's my own private version of Germany in 1989. No one can go East and no one can come West. We are trapped here indefinitely but there is always a little hope it will be soon. We have to pay for the hotel room no matter what tonight, so we're just waiting, and watching and hoping the wall will come down and we will be free to go East.
And here I thought that we would have the best weather this weekend than back in Switzerland. Oh, the best laid plans.
a glimpse of Switzerland
Yesterday evening we got to Switzerland, in time to have some great Greek food. Today we got to see the Novartis facilities. What I got to see was quite impressive. Unfortunately i had to leave early to catch my train to Prauge.
It was quite interesting to see the difference in business strategies of Bayer and Novartis. Bayer is a research company, and has conciously made the decision to stay that way and not produce geerics. While Novartis has taken on production of generic medicines.
It was also very intresting to see the difference in animal care. Both companies seemed to treat their animals well and genuinely care about their wellfare. But Bayer kept animals for 2 years and adopted them out while Novartis kept their reseach dogs for their entire lifespan of about 10 years. For both situations i think the companies are doing what is best for their research animals.
It was really interesting to see the formulation aspect of drug development. While i am in no way interested i that feild as a career, it is quite impressive to see what all goes into making a drug into a useable form. I think the climate rooms were the most interesting part of that tour. they had rooms with 4 different environments simulated inside to tests the drugs for stability. Each drug is evaluated over a 5 year period. I knew this had to be tested but i never guessed it was for that long.
It was quite interesting to see the difference in business strategies of Bayer and Novartis. Bayer is a research company, and has conciously made the decision to stay that way and not produce geerics. While Novartis has taken on production of generic medicines.
It was also very intresting to see the difference in animal care. Both companies seemed to treat their animals well and genuinely care about their wellfare. But Bayer kept animals for 2 years and adopted them out while Novartis kept their reseach dogs for their entire lifespan of about 10 years. For both situations i think the companies are doing what is best for their research animals.
It was really interesting to see the formulation aspect of drug development. While i am in no way interested i that feild as a career, it is quite impressive to see what all goes into making a drug into a useable form. I think the climate rooms were the most interesting part of that tour. they had rooms with 4 different environments simulated inside to tests the drugs for stability. Each drug is evaluated over a 5 year period. I knew this had to be tested but i never guessed it was for that long.
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