Tufts at Tech’s Danielle Wolfus Honored with Tufts Distinction Award

Danielle Wolfus (she/her), veterinary technician at Tufts at Tech Community Veterinary Clinic, in the Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, was selected for the Tufts Distinction Award, among an impressive coterie of nominees, for her dedication to her patients, students, and team.

On receiving the award, Wolfus says, “I was thrilled and humbled. This award really goes to the whole staff because they support me every day. I'm proud on behalf of all of us.”

Tufts Distinction Awards recognize faculty and staff across the university who have demonstrated exceptional commitment to bettering the Tufts community through their professionalism, teamwork, and service. Any member of the Tufts community may nominate a colleague they feel has earned this distinction. Tufts President Sunil Kumar hosted the annual Tufts Distinction Awards ceremony on June 16 to celebrate this year’s winners.

Wolfus’ path to becoming a veterinary technician began with a stray dog. When she was 14, she found the lost dog and brought it to Shrewsbury Animal Hospital. The hospital staff asked her if she might be interested in working in the kennels. 

“As a child, my favorite day of the year was always the day we took our cats to the vet. From very early on, I knew this was what I wanted to do. It's been very rewarding,” she says.

Over the next 12 years, Wolfus worked her way up from cleaning kennels to customer service to becoming a veterinary assistant and, after earning her certification, a veterinary technician. During that time, she also earned her bachelor’s degree in biology from Assumption College and her master's degree in biology from the Veterinary and Animal Sciences Department at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Wolfus later moved over to VCA Westboro Animal Hospital, where she worked for an additional 12 years, before landing at Tufts at Tech in 2013.

“I'd been in small animal GP [general practice] for a long time, which I very much enjoyed, but I was looking for something to further my career, and the idea of being able to provide care to the underserved population while also teaching the veterinary professionals of the future was really appealing to me,” says Wolfus on her decision to join Tufts at Tech.

Mainly working in Tufts at Tech’s surgical suite, Wolfus describes what she enjoys most about her work, “Every day is different. One day I might be monitoring anesthesia, the next day I might be teaching a student how to take radiographs, the next day we might all be doing a code together. I never know exactly what the day's going to bring. I love that variety.”

Wolfus trains fourth-year veterinary students on rotation and students in the veterinary assisting program at Worcester Technical High School, where Tufts at Tech is located. She teaches veterinary students hands-on surgical skills, including placing catheters, drawing blood, taking X-rays, intubating, and monitoring anesthesia. 

“I support students through the entire surgical experience,” says Wolfus. “I'm able to work one-on-one with a student and pet from start to finish and mentor them. I love that part of the job.”

One memorable experience was teaching a nervous veterinary student to obtain a urine sample via cystocentesis under ultrasound guidance. She calmed the student and walked her through the procedure step by step. 

“Once she finished, she looked at me and her face just lit up,” recalls Wolfus. “She said, ‘You know what? I'm going to remember that for the rest of my life.’ That made me feel so good, because I realized that I made an impact on her and that it was something she'd be proud of forever.” 

Wolfus adjusts her teaching for two very different types of students, one about to begin their careers as veterinarians and the other exploring the field of veterinary medicine. On working with the younger students, Wolfus says, “I enjoy watching the high school kids learn about medicine and start to put together the concepts they're learning in the classroom and how that translates to the clinic. I've seen many of the high school students go on to become veterinary assistants and a couple become veterinarians, so watching that lightbulb go off when they put it all together is really rewarding.”

Nicknamed the “Chihuahua whisperer” by her colleagues, Wolfus is Elite Fear Free Certified. When there’s an anxious dog, she is often pulled in to calm them with her fear-free techniques.  

“I find, especially with Chihuahuas, that if I take the dog to a calm, quiet area to sit and let it relax, it will eventually consider me to be a safe spot. Then it makes it much easier to achieve whatever we're trying to achieve with the animal, without having to resort to muzzles and extra handling,” she explains.

Over her 13 years at Tufts at Tech, Wolfus has formed a close bond with her colleagues.

“I consider my coworkers to be my family—we're very close inside and out of work,” says Wolfus. “We make up a great community of like-minded individuals. We all have the same mission in mind, which is to provide care for the underserved population, and we all come together to help teach the students. It's a very supportive, very genuine, very caring community I found here.”

Being nominated by her coworkers for the Tufts Distinction Award is just one touchpoint of the impact Wolfus has had on the patients, students, and staff at Tufts at Tech.

“This is the best job I've ever had, and I hope to remain here for a long time,” says Wolfus. “I really feel like I can make a difference here. It's the perfect culmination of everything I've done in veterinary medicine to be able to pass that along to future generations.”