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Legacy D.V.M. Curriculum
The DVM degree is awarded after 4 years of successful study’. We are no longer offering the thesis option.
Legacy Curriculum for V25, V26, and V27
The D.V.M. curriculum that the V25, V26, and V27 students are following has a proven track record of producing outstanding graduates who have had successful careers in private practice, academia, industry, and public service, to name but a few. Tufts D.V.M.s have made substantial contributions to the profession and to animal health and welfare through the application of their knowledge, skills, compassion, and civic engagement. The decision to implement a new curriculum doesn’t reflect any shortcomings in the program that has consistently produced excellence over the past decades, but it is a response to the evolving nature of both veterinary medicine and education. Students in both the Legacy Curriculum and the New Curriculum develop strong foundational biomedical knowledge and clinical acumen. The curricular revision reflects the school’s commitment to continuous improvement and innovation while retaining all the considerable strengths of the current program. The V25, V26, and V27 classes are already benefiting, and will continue to benefit, from changes that we made in our program in anticipation of the curricular change, including increases in faculty and staff focused on teaching, new buildings, a state-of-the-art simulation lab, and increased numbers of teaching animals.
First Year
The first year of the Legacy DVM curriculum consisted largely of didactic teaching and laboratory instruction and focused on the basic biomedical sciences. The major emphasis was on the basic structural and functional relationships that occur in normal animals. The Clinical Skills course provided basic handling and husbandry of large and small animal species. The courses below formed the foundation for the subsequent 3 years of education and training.
Anatomy I | First Year Farm Husbandry |
Anatomy II | General Pathology |
Applied Epidemiology & Evidence Based Medicine | Human-Animal Relationships |
Applied Molecular Biology | Immunology |
Case Based Learning I & II | International Veterinary Medicine |
Clinical Skills I | Introduction to Veterinary Nutrition |
Communications I and II | Organ System Structure & Function I & II |
Comparative Anatomy and Physiology | Veterinary Biochemistry and Metabolism |
Second Year
The instructional program for the second year of the DVM program is mainly concerned with the pathophysiology of specific disease entities as they affect organs in various systems of the body. In these courses, students relate the morphological and physiological manifestations of a specific disease to the functional abnormalities they cause in a particular body system. In addition, the second year introduces students to clinical and imaging topics. Clinical Skills II introduces students to basic physical examination and diagnostic procedures for all species.
Accelerated Clinical Excellence | Ethics & Veterinary Medicine | Respiratory Pathophysiology |
Basic Pharmacology | Gastrointestinal Pathophysiology | Second Year Clinical Rotations |
Cardiovascular Pathophysiology | General Parasitology | Skeletal Pathobiology |
Clinical Pharmacology | Hemic-Lymphatic and Clinical Pathology | Toxicology |
Clinical Skills II | Introduction to Veterinary Public Health | Urinary Pathophysiology |
Diagnostic Imaging | Introduction to Zoological Medicine | Veterinary Infectious Diseases |
Diversity & Professional Perspectives II | Law and Veterinary Medicine | Veterinary Microbiology Laboratory |
Emerging and Exotic Diseases of Animals & Initial Accreditation Training | Principles of Surgery | Veterinary Neurobiology |
Endocrinology Pathophysiology | Reproductive Pathophysiology |
Third Year
During much of the third year, students integrate the pathophysiological aspects of specific diseases learned in the second year with a comprehensive discussion of the presenting clinical signs, diagnostic criteria and the treatment of these entities. Thus, the third-year curriculum is designed to provide students with a sound basis in clinical medicine with emphasis on diagnosis, prognosis and management. The third year culminates with a two-week period of advanced elective course offerings.
Anesthesia & Analgesia | Farm Animal Medicine & Surgery |
Bovine Procedures Lab | Introduction to Small Animal Anesthesia and Surgery Techniques |
Clinical Animal Behavior | Ophthalmology |
Clinical Dermatology | Small Animal Clinical Procedures Lab |
Clinical Reasoning | Small Animal Dentistry |
Communications III | Small Animal Medicine & Surgery I and II |
Diagnostic Ultrasonography | Team Dynamics Workshop |
Equine & Camelid Medicine & Surgery | Theriogenology |
Euthanasia Seminar | Veterinary Economics and Practice Management |
Zoological Medicine |
Fourth Year
By the beginning of the fourth year, all core didactic courses and some clinical rotations are completed. The student spends the entire year gaining further experience in clinical and other rotations. The core clinical rotation program utilizes the case method approach. Under supervision the student records case histories, performs physical examinations as well as diagnostic and surgical procedures, and learns to assume responsibility for treatment and case and client management.
Core Clinical Rotations | Weeks |
Ambulatory Medicine | 3 |
Anatomical/Clinical Pathology | 3 |
Anesthesia | 3 |
Cardiology | 2 |
Dermatology | 2 |
Diagnostic Imaging | 2 |
Emergency and Critical Care | 3 |
Ethics Seminar | 2 hours |
Large Animal Medicine | 3 |
Large Animal Surgery | 3 |
Neurology | 2 |
Oncology | 2 |
Ophthalmology | 2 |
Small Animal Medicine | 3 |
Small Animal Surgery - Orthopedic and/or Chief Residency | 2 |
Small Animal Surgery - Soft Tissue | 2 |
Tufts at Tech Community Veterinary Clinic | 4 |
Wildlife Clinic | 1 |
Vacation | 4 |
Electives | 15 |
Total Core Rotations | 42 |
Total | 61 |