Attendance Demonstrates Ongoing Popularity of Annual Purdue Veterinary Nursing Symposium

The opportunity to learn the latest information and insights on a variety of topics relevant to the work of veterinary nurses attracted about 175 participants to the tenth annual Veterinary Nursing Symposium hosted by the Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine. Attendees came from across Indiana and multiple other states including Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin. The one-day event, held on Sunday, March 24, featured an extensive program covering diverse topics relevant to veterinary nurses working in both large and small animal practices.

The annual symposium is designed to provide veterinary nurses, veterinary assistants, and veterinary nursing students practical insights applicable to their clinical roles. Participants were eligible for up to seven hours of continuing education (CE) units.

After hearing a welcome and opening remarks by Dr. Chad Brown (PU DVM 2001), Purdue Veterinary Nursing Program director, participants had the opportunity to choose between sessions offered in large animal and small animal tracks. Symposium speakers included Purdue Veterinary Medicine faculty and staff as well as other veterinary professionals. Outside speakers included Jamie Guiberson, CVT, VTS-EVN, a veterinary emergency and critical care nurse at Penn Vet’s New Bolton Center, and Heidi Lescun, BS, RVT, a service technician/sales associate for Vetamac, which provides anesthesia service and sales.

Small animal presentations offered at the symposium covered the topics of ultrasound, critical thinking, heart and hormones, anesthesia, radiation, and canine lymphoma. Large animal sessions included equine medicine, colic care, podiatry, care of the equine neonate, and dentistry. In addition, the event gave participants the opportunity to develop their professional networks as they interacted with one another as well as exhibitors who set up interactive displays. Special thanks go to the symposium sponsors: Broad Ripple Animal Clinic, Emergency Veterinary Care Centers (EVCC), Noah’s Animal Hospital, Alliance Animal Health, Vetamac, and Boehringer-Ingelheim.

Writer(s): Kevin Doerr and Andrea Kellogg | pvmnews@purdue.edu

Recent Stories

“Paws Up” – brought to you by the PVM Wellness Committee

This week, we are proud to recognize Lorraine Fox, who is a business assistant with the Veterinary Medicine Procurement Center.

PVM Interview Days Move College Closer to Admitting the DVM Class of 2030

After a total of three afternoons dedicated to conducting in-person interviews with 226 prospective veterinary students, the Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine is close to completing the process of admitting 84 members of the incoming first-year DVM class – the Class of 2030.  The students invited for the interview days were selected from a total pool of 1,930 applicants from across the country as well as countries abroad.

Experts to Gather at Purdue for Conference Addressing the Public Health Threat of Antimicrobial Resistance

The ongoing challenges posed by multi-drug resistant infections will be the focus of a multidisciplinary conference taking place in three weeks at Purdue University.  The Fourth Annual Conference on Antimicrobial Resistance is set for February 25–26, 2026 at Purdue’s Stewart Center in West Lafayette. Registration is still open for the event, which will bring together scientists and scholars from human and veterinary medicine, public health, research, and industry to address the determinants, dynamics and deterrence of drug resistance.

PVM’s Upcoming Coppoc One Health Lecture to Focus on Dogs as Sentinels of Environmental Exposure

The Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine brings a leading One Health scholar to campus each year to address vital health issues from a One Health perspective as part of the Coppoc One Health Lecture series.  This year’s presentation, scheduled for February 26 in Lynn Hall Room 2026, is on the engaging topic, “One Health at Home: Dogs as Sentinels of Environmental Exposure.” The speaker will be Audrey Ruple, DVM, MS, PhD, DACVPM, MRCVS, the Dorothy A. and Richard G. Metcalf Professor of Veterinary Medical Informatics at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech.

“Paws Up” – brought to you by the PVM Wellness Committee

Today we are happy to acknowledge our Student Success Center Team.

One Health: A ‘digital twin’ model for predicting cancer outcomes

The striking similarities between invasive bladder cancer in dogs and humans have fueled research advances for more than three decades. Most of that work has looked at separate aspects of the disease — risk factors, early detection, symptoms, treatment and gene expression. But a new project at Purdue University that combines many types of available data in a “digital twin” model of bladder cancer may prove powerful enough to predict patient outcomes, starting with the probability of metastasis.

Purdue Professor Emeritus Bill Blevins Wins Lifetime Achievement Award at ACVR Annual Meeting

The American College of Veterinary Radiology (ACVR) gave its esteemed Lifetime Achievement Award for 2024 to Purdue Professor Emeritus Bill Blevins, who is well known to countless Purdue Veterinary Medicine alumni for the expertise he taught them about all things Diagnostic Imaging during his long Purdue career.