My Tortuous Path to a Pathology Career

My Life as a Veterinary Pathologist

in a Medical School (or Why I have had the best job in the world…)

Donna M. Bouley DVM, Ph.D, DACVP

Professor, Department of Comparative Medicine

Stanford University School of Medicine

How did I get here…?

• Youth

• Dancer

• Gymnast

• Loved horses

• 4-H (equine)

• No intention of becoming a vet…

BS Animal Science,

U Mass, (’76)

U Mass Equestrian teams

University of Tennessee

College of Veterinary Medicine

Returned to UTCVM

Anatomic Pathology Residency/PhD (‘88-’95)

PhD

Immunopathology of Herpetic Stromal Keratitis

Cellular immunology

Cellular adoptive transfers

BALB/C, SCID, IFN-g KO mice

Ocular pathology

Son Philip born 1990

Post Residency/PhD

• Crossroad – Research or Pathology

Boards??

• Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Research

Center in OH

• Anatomic Pathology Instructor, Texas

A&M CVM (’95-’97)

While at A&M in TX (95-97)

• Everything is big

• Lots of Necropsy and Biopsy work

• Trained anatomic pathology residents

• Studied my tail off for Pathology Board

Certification

• Passed boards (’96) became DACVP

• Offered Faculty appointment at A&M

• Considering Pharmaceutical Job –

near family…

• Life-changing phone call from Dr.

Linda Cork, Chair Comparative

Medicine, Stanford School of

Medicine

A Real Job!!!

• Stanford School of Medicine

• Department of Comparative Medicine

• Assistant Professor (’97-’03)

• Associate Professor (‘03-08)

• Professor (‘08 - 18)

• Professor Emeritus (’18 – 20)

What did I bring to this job…

• Extrovert

• Very visual

• Detail oriented

• Organized

• Exceptional time management

• Self-motivated

• Liked variety

• Natural teacher

• Strong research training

• Boards

• 4 papers

Faculty Lines DCM Faculty

• University Tenure

Line (UTL)

• Medical Center Line

(MCL)

• Clinical Educator (CE)

• Research/Non-tenure line

• Teaching/Non-tenure line

(very few)

• UTL (4)• 2 PhD, 1 DVM PhD,

1 DVM/MD

• MCL (8)• ACVIM (1), ACLAM (3),

ACVAA (1), ACVP (2),

MPH/ACVPM (1)• 7 are DVM, 7 have PhD

• CE (2)• ACLAM

• ACVP

DCM Oversees the

Veterinary Service Center

• VSC

• Staff Vets (2)

ACLAM

• Residents (Lab

Animal - 4)

• ~ 120 employees,

• RAF1, RAF2 ~

80,000 sq.ft,

• 17 additional sites

• ~ 200,000 animal

census

• 90-95% are rodents

• Largest service

center on campus

MCL Duties

• Clinical service

• Scholarly activity

• Teaching

• Similar to faculty positions at

Veterinary School – “3 hats”

The 3 R’s • The use of animals as models of human and animal

diseases is a privilege and all animals must be

treated respectfully, carefully, and responsibly.

• Specialty trained veterinarians (ACLAM)

• 3 R’s

• replacement

• reduction

• refinement

• Excellent vet care, welfare, husbandry and

enrichment

• Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee

(IACUC)

Necropsy and Histology• = to human autopsy

• Make histology slides

• Investigate cause of death

• Culture tissues for pathogens

• Diagnose cancer, other age relate conditions

• Animals get the same disease as humans

• “One Health”

In addition…

• Research Support• Pathology consultation at experimental design

level as well as support at experiment

completion

• Train researchers in necropsy, tissue

harvesting, tissue trimming etc.

• Review basic histology

• 3 R’s + 1

• “Organ/tissue sharing”

• Dr. B’s brain collections

Diagnostic Work and Pathology Support for

Investigators working with Animal Models

• Mice, rats, guinea pigs, voles, Octagon degu, ferrets,

gerbils, rabbits, dogs, pigs, sheep, goats, squirrel monkeys,

macaques (rhesus, cynomolgus, pig-tailed), baboons,

mouse lemurs, barn owls, chickens, frogs (Xenopus laevis,

Rana pipiens), salamanders, anoles, goldfish, zebra fish,

other…

Scholarly Activity - Manuscripts by Category

Topic/Category Order of Publication Species Total Number

Spontaneous Disease 5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 16, 19, 20, 7,

28, 30, 33, 36, 85, 88

Frogs, puppy, snake,

macaque15

Tg, KO, mutant mice 2, 8, 18, 22, 38, 39, 40, 46,

52, 55, 66, 76

Mice 12

Exp. Infectious Disease Research (host & pathogen)

1, 3, 4, 6, 14, 15, 21, 23, 34,

45, 56, 74, 81, 82, 84, 87

Mice 16

Cancer Biology 35, 64, 67, 68, 69, 71, 72, 73,

75, 79,

Mice 10

General pathology 13, 29, 31, 32, 48, 53, 80 Mice, rabbit, frogs 7

Interventional Radiology/Imaging

12, 17, 24, 25, 26, 37, 41, 2,

43, 44, 49, 50, 51, 57, 58, 9,

60, 61, 62, 63, 77, 78, 83, 86

Pig, rabbit, dog, rats,

macaque24

Wildlife/exotics 54, 70 Elephants 2

Education 47, 65 Mice, frog 2

88

Pacinian corpuscles contribute to

detection of seismic waves in elephants

My Teaching

• “Classes”• Fr/Soph Sem, / Sophomore College

• Comparative Anatomy & Physiology

of Mammals

• Open classes

• Imaging Anatomy in Animal Models

• Introduction to Mouse Histopathology

• Independent study

• Mouse Necropsy and Intro to

Histology

Outside the “Classroom”

• Founder and Director of Stanford

Undergraduate Pre-Vet Society (SUPVS)

• Supervision of Undergraduates Research

and Clinical Projects

• Mentor other health professional students

(pre-med, pre-dental, pre-nursing,

biomedical research)

• Train Lab Animal residents

• 1 Post Doc

• 1 Masters student

Pre-Vet Expos (I- V)

• Outreach to regional high school and college

students, academic counselors, and parents, in the

form of day-long symposia

• Offers a glimpse into the diversity of the veterinary

profession and insight into the “pathway” to

veterinary school.

• AM lectures, “Eat Lunch with a Vet, Afternoon

Veterinary and Veterinary Student Panels, Posters,

hands-on activities

• Supported by Undergraduate Education

Additional Activities

• Stanford One Health Symposia

• Kid’s Day

– Friday before graduation weekend

Climate Change and Its Impact

on Human and Animal Health

“Vets for Healthy Pets” Clinics

• Free preventive care for San Jose homeless

populations’ pets

• Collaboration with Dr. Kathy Tyson (Stanford

‘96), San Jose Animal Care and Services,

pre-vets and HAAS Institute (Donald

Kennedy fellowship)

• Bass Fellow funds provides $ for supplies

• 3 recipients

• Andy Meislin – (summer 2016 – spring 2017)

• Marleyna Mohler (spring 2017 – spring 2018)

• Nina Wagner (spring 2018 – spring 2019)

• Maria Maguire - ??

Visits to Veterinary Schools• 22 so far

• Meet with Admissions groups

• Tour teaching hospital

• Meet with various faculty

• Give lunchtime seminar

• My role of a Veterinary Pathologist in a Medical School

• Meet casually with vet students

• There are no “typical” pre-vets or vet students…

SUPVS History• Total of ~65 students/affiliates – gone to or

currently in vet school (that I know of)

• 19 different vet schools

• 4 -6? lab animal, 3 anatomic pathologists

• 2 DVM/PhD

• 2 Zoo vets

• Numerous board specialties (Internal

medicine, surgery, equine sports med,

radiology, laboratory animal medicine,

pathology)

• There are no “typical” pre-vets or vet students…

• It is never too late to pursue a veterinary career

• If you like variety…

A Career in Comparative/Experimental Pathology

is for YOU!