Welcome Dr. Simone March

A county barn in New Jersey, the polo pitches of Scotland and Pennsylvania, and an equine hospital in Connecticut all played defining roles in shaping the career of Dr. Simone March, the newest member of the diagnostic imaging team with a focus on equines at Hospital for Large Animals (HLA) and assistant clinical professor in the Department of Clinical Sciences at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University.

March's career path surprised her along the way—and landed her exactly where she wanted to be. Her love of horses developed at a young age, riding at a barn near her home in New Jersey. She participated in local shows through high school and excelled at jumping.

At the College of New Jersey, March majored in biopsychology and initially planned on medical school and a career in either psychiatry or neurology. She worked in a laboratory conducting research into the behavioral economics of addiction by observing the frequency with which rats pressed a lever for a dose of alcohol or nicotine. She also worked part-time at a small veterinary practice as a receptionist and animal handler. At the time, she did not consider the veterinary field as a career option, as her exposure until then had mainly been seeing horses euthanized at the barn, but from this experience, she started to view general practice as a potential vocation.

With her niche background in addiction research, after college March joined a psychology research lab as a clinical research coordinator at the University of Pennsylvania, studying treatments for cocaine addiction. To explore her varied interests, she took evening classes at Penn's social work, nursing, and veterinary schools.

"After three years, I still really wanted to work with animals," she recalls. "Everything was leading me back to a veterinary degree."

March crossed the pond to attend the University of Edinburgh, Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies for her Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery. Missing riding and looking to try something new, she joined the school's Dick Vet Polo Club, taking to the sport right away, eventually becoming the club's president.

In veterinary school, two other equids piqued her interest. She treated working donkeys and mules on a clinical rotation at a nonprofit hospital in Morocco.

"Donkeys and mules are amazing and so hardy—they come back from miraculous things," says March, who helped perform surgery to help save a mule impaled by a horned cow. "They show no pain. Everyone knows them as being stubborn, but they're smart and have so much personality."

March spent a summer between semesters at a polo club in Pennsylvania playing and working as a groom. The polo club happened to be down the road from PennVet's New Bolton Center, a large animal hospital. One of her teammates was a veterinarian there and offered March the opportunity to return the following summer to play polo and work at the hospital.

During her preclinical years at veterinary school, March expected to go into research or general practice. Working at the large animal hospital set her on a new course. "I realized this is what I want to do. I want to specialize in equine, and I want to be in a hospital around people, in horse country."

After veterinary school, March secured an internship at Fairfield Equine Associates in Newtown, Connecticut. She often found herself with the diagnostic imaging team, learning all she could about MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), CT (computed tomography), and ultrasound.

"There were so many cases where all your questions were answered when you pulled in the MRI," says March. "I had great mentors helping me. I want to do that for people, I want to help find the answers."  

March developed an expertise in sports medicine imaging and enjoyed treating a variety of horses. She stayed on for an additional year at Fairfield as an equine sports medicine/diagnostic imaging fellow, "doing a little of everything"—running the MRI, covering ER shifts, mentoring interns, and even setting up Fairfield's Instagram account.

To broaden her expertise, March changed her focus to include small animal medicine, in addition to equine, during her diagnostic imaging residency at The Ohio State University. She recalls a case that stumped her as an intern. While radiographing a horse's thorax, she struggled to identify what she was seeing. She consulted with her mentor, who diagnosed a diaphragmatic hernia, or a hole in the diaphragm that can let other organs into the chest cavity. This condition is sometimes seen in small animals but rarely with horses.

"It's one of the reasons I did the general track residency," says March. "I'm responsible for knowing every animal's imaging anatomy. In that small percentage of time, if a small animal has a horse disease or vice versa, you're the one that will catch that. The imaging residency provided a really great background on anatomy and using ultrasound to problem-solve in the moment."

During residency, March also had the unique opportunity to work closely with faculty in building up the school's equine radiology program. She stayed six months beyond her residency to support the new program.

As she began looking for a permanent position, March knew she wanted to practice in a teaching hospital. "When I was a resident, the reason I decided to stay in academia was the puzzle-solving, not just for myself, but to help my friends and other residents. I can help them by giving them a piece of the puzzle," she says.

Cummings School rose to the top of her list as one of only a few veterinary schools with an equine ultrasound department—she would have colleagues and mentors within her specialty to collaborate with and continue learning. 

Since joining the equine radiology team at HLA this past January, March has found that mentorship, working closely with Dr. Wade Tenney in large animal ultrasound and Dr. Julia Graham, V18, in large animal diagnostic imaging. She also has wonderful mentors and colleagues in the small animal diagnostic imaging department.

 "What I really like about Tufts is that it's so close-knit," says March. "The energy has been really welcoming here, which is most important to me. That's why I want to do this, to help the people around me."

Taking on the mentor role herself teaching residents, interns, and students is one of her favorite parts of the job. While the majority of her time is dedicated to equine ultrasound at HLA, she also helps out with other large animal imaging and often walks over to pitch in with small animal radiology at Henry and Lois Foster Hospital for Small Animals.

Another big perk of working at Cummings School is access to the most advanced imaging technology available, including the 3 Tesla MRI unit, with a high-powered magnet for enhanced imaging, and the Canon Aquilion Exceed LB™ with Qalibra™ system, a CT scanner installed at HLA last summer that has an enlarged bore size to allow for standing CT scans of horses. It is the only scanner of its caliber in New England.

"We are one of the only universities in the country to have both the top of the top MRI and top of the top CT, which is pretty awesome," says March. "With the power of that scanner and the ability to scan horses standing, we can see so much. Last week, we scanned a pony's pelvis and a mini-horse's abdomen. These are things we weren't doing before."

March brought her cat and dog along to Grafton and hopes to start playing polo again soon. One day, she'd like to own a polo pony and definitely some donkeys.

Sparked by experiences and mentors near and far, March's career path has veered in unexpected directions, with her interests in horses, imaging, learning, and teaching all aligning in her new role at Cummings School.