About Cummings School

Milestones and Achievements

1978 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s

1978

1978: Tufts University established School of Veterinary Medicine, New England’s only veterinary school. Doors opened in 1979 in Boston, MA as a “One Medicine” program with shared pre-clinical instruction with Tufts School of Medicine. Partnership with Angell Memorial Animal Hospital in Boston provided the first clinical teaching venue.

1980s

1981: Hospital for Large Animals opened in Grafton, MA, 40 miles west of Boston, and Tufts Ambulatory Service, providing food supply and equine veterinary services, was launched in Woodstock, CT.

1982: Tufts Wildlife Clinic, first free-standing at a U.S. veterinary school, was established on the Grafton campus.

1985: Henry and Lois Foster Hospital for Small Animals opened on the Grafton campus.

1989: A heat-resistant vaccine for rinderpest, deadly cattle plague, was endorsed for use by the Pan-African Rinderpest Campaign. Use of this vaccine eventually led to the global eradication of rinderpest – only the second disease behind smallpox to be eliminated worldwide and the first such animal disease eradication.

1990s

1991: Dr. Sue Cotter’s published research critical to creation of diagnostic tools and vaccination for feline leukemia (FeLV) retrovirus.

1995: Launch of the Master’s Program in Animals and Public Policy, a distinctive program addressing the role of animals in society and policy implications for their welfare.

Dual DVM/Master’s degree programs were established in Public Health (DVM/MPH) and Laboratory Animal Medicine (DVM/MS ).

1996: Veterinary students took a leadership role in launching a national Pet Loss Support Hotline to address the needs of grieving pet owners.

1997: Harrington Oncology Program expanded the Foster Hospital’s cancer diagnosis and treatment capabilities.

2000s

2000: Launch of new PhD in Biomedical Sciences and combined DVM/MS in Comparative Biomedical Sciences.

The last elements of the Boston campus moved to Grafton as the home campus.

2002: The School partnered with the Swiss Village Farm (SVF) Foundation under the scientific direction of Dr. George Saperstein to preserve rare breeds and sustain livestock biodiversity.

2003: Cummings Foundation’s $50 million naming gift to the school is the largest in the history of U.S. veterinary education. School was re-branded as the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University

NIH awarded $25 million to Dr. Saul Tzipori to establish the Center for Botulinum Research as part of the U.S. Food and Waterborne Disease Integrated Research Network.

2007: Leveen Family MRI Wing opened in Grafton and expanded imaging capacity to include diagnosing small and large animals.

2008: With support from the NIH and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, New England Regional Biosafety Lab opened and expanded BSL3 biocontainment space for infectious disease research.

New state-of-the-art, six-stall isolation ward opened to better manage the care of large animals with infectious disease.

The Agnes Varis Campus Center and Agnes Varis Auditorium opened providing the campus with a hub for student, faculty and staff activities. Named after the school’s long-time patron, Dr. Agnes Varis, these facilities added a new dimension to campus life.

2009: Cummings School, as part of a multidisciplinary team, received a USAID grant initially valued up to $185 million to improve the capacity of high-risk countries to respond to outbreaks of emergent zoonotic diseases.

2010s

2011: A systematic curriculum review and revisions are completed. While the traditional discipline-based curriculum was retained, numerous refinements were made to increase active learning and promote evidence-based thinking.

2012: Tufts at Tech Community Veterinary Clinic launched and recognized as the first-of-its kind partnership between a veterinary school and a vocational technical high school. The on-site, primary care venue serves low income clients and facilitates educational and outreach opportunities for both veterinary professional and high school students.

2013: The Department of Infectious Disease and Global Health was created, integrating the school’s strength in infectious disease research with its unique expertise in international, wildlife and conservation medicine.

Tufts Foster Hospital for Small Animals (FHSA) at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine provisionally designated as among the first Veterinary Trauma Centers by the American College of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care.

2014: The Regenerative Medicine Laboratory, under the leadership of Dr. Andrew Hoffman, received an initial $1 million grant to expand its study of stem cell therapies for dogs with naturally occurring conditions resembling human diseases.