The Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine is collaborating with the City University of Hong Kong (CityU) to create the first internationally accredited school of veterinary medicine in Hong Kong.  Not only is there currently no veterinary school in Hong Kong, there are currently no internationally accredited veterinary schools in Asia.  In addition to serving as a regional and international center of veterinary excellence for companion and working animals, CityU’s veterinary school aims to be uniquely poised to deal with pressing societal issues, such as aquaculture, food safety and infectious disease control.

Currently there are around 43 pig farms and 30 poultry farms in Hong Kong which supply 7% of live pig consumption and 57% of live poultry consumption in the city.  At this time, there are no clinically practicing veterinarians to service these animals to ensure adequate food safety or to combat issues such as antimicrobial resistance. There are also no veterinary inspectors within the slaughterhouses assessing meat quality, or affiliated with food and meat imports ensuring food safety in general. Such a role helps to prevent food-born outbreaks.

CityU’s new School of Veterinary Medicine hopes to fill these needs by emphasizing food safety in its curriculum and encouraging a “farm to fork” approach, where each level in the food production chain is carefully monitored to ensure the highest level of health and food safety.  Aquaculture, which is very important in terms of production and consumption to the region, will also be highlighted in the curriculum to guarantee that every aspect of food production is adequately covered.

Photo credit: Prof. Michael Reichel, dean of CityU School of Veterinary Medicine

In terms of infectious diseases, a goal of the School of Veterinary Medicine is to serve as a hub for research and development in terms of disease control.  Emerging infectious diseases are of global health concern and are often zoonotic (able to be transmitted from animals to humans).  For example, much publicized in the region in the last years have been avian influenza and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS).  Veterinarians are needed to aid in outbreak detection, surveillance of the diseases, and advanced research to develop solutions to mitigate the effects of these new, rapidly spreading diseases.

CityU’s School of Veterinary Medicine is already offering a PhD program in collaboration with Cornell University where graduate students are advised by mentors on both campuses, as well as support for CityU students to participate in pre-veterinary training and internship/residency training at the Cornell University Hospital for Animals.  The goal is to launch a Bachelor of Veterinary medicine program next fall, which will be the equivalent of two years of undergraduate work and four years of a veterinary curriculum in the United States.   This summer, CityU sponsored high schools students from Hong Kong to come to Cornell Summer College for veterinary and animal husbandry courses.  Stay tuned for the next post to see some of the exciting experiences they had while they were here!

This article was written by Nikhita Parandekar De Bernardis, DVM (CVM Class of 2015), International Programs and Special Projects Coordinator at the College of Veterinary Medicine.