Page 15 - Eclipse - Autumn 2015

The RVC launches e-courses in partnership with Madras Veterinary College
Mrs Kirsty Fox and Mr Jeff Bullock of the RVC鈥檚
LIVE Centre were part of a team that worked with Madras Veterinary College to develop a joint Moodle platform (open source learning platform) that will deliver a number of online e-courses for Continuous Professional Development (CPD) programmes in veterinary and animal sciences.
Dr Ayona Silva-Fletcher, Professor Jill Maddison and Dr Christine Thuranira-Mckeever from the RVC, were involved in developing the grant application and the initiation of this project.
The rst programme will be available in January 2016 and is a short course in 鈥榠nfertility-management of the cow鈥�. A series of other short courses will be offered in due course via the website globalvetacademy.com.
15
RVC Alumnus David Grant inspires vet鈥檚 career
Veterinary Medicine is a highly competitive and challenging course, but Gaenor Grif th鈥檚 graduation story shows that prospective vet students should never give up on achieving their dream.
David Grant, RVC Honorary Fellow, BVetMed alumnus and previously Hospital Director of the RSPCA Harmsworth Memorial Animal Hospital, rst met Gaenor Grif ths when they worked together.
鈥淚 interviewed Gaenor for the post of hospital assistant. We just happened to be operating together one day in
the theatre, and I remembered that
she had a rst class honours BSc in Zoology from Newcastle University, and a master鈥檚 in Medical and Molecular Biosciences.
I thought to myself, this girl has got
a BSc and a master鈥檚 and she鈥檚 not exactly working in the highest powered job in the hospital. I asked her why
she didn鈥檛 apply to be a vet. And she said she did, but didn鈥檛 get in so had given up on the idea. I told her to apply again,鈥� said David.
Gaenor had already applied to the RVC, the University of Nottingham and University of Cambridge to study veterinary medicine after nishing her masters. When she wasn鈥檛 accepted
rst time round, she wasn鈥檛 sure whether or not to apply again. David provided the encouragement Gaenor needed to follow her dream.
鈥淚 remember not being sure whether veterinary medicine was right for me after my unsuccessful application
the rst time around. I went to work
at the RSPCA Harmsworth, and I
was thinking about doing veterinary nursing. I remember speaking about this to David at the interview and when we worked together in surgery, and how he was very enthusiastic and supportive of the idea that I should apply to study Veterinary Medicine again.
鈥淲hile working at the RSPCA I also felt very inspired by the work that they did there and how vets played a bigger role in society than I had previously realised.
During that year I wrote my application, and David mentored me. We did a
few mock interviews, and he wrote my reference for me. I ended up being accepted on the 4-year graduate accelerated programme,鈥� Gaenor said.
David, who in July this year, attended Gaenor鈥檚 graduation (pictured
right) couldn鈥檛 be prouder of her achievements: 鈥淚t鈥檚 not often you inspire someone who had given up
to try again. She will be a ne
vet. She鈥檚 seen practice at the Harmsworth already, and from what I鈥檝e heard she鈥檚 going to come out ying. Graduates from the RVC are uniformly good. We鈥檝e had many over the years and without exception they鈥檝e all been excellent. Gaenor is no exception; in fact she鈥檚 probably one of the better ones,鈥� David added.
When asked about her future plans, Gaenor said, 鈥淚鈥檝e now accepted a job with the Blue Cross which I鈥檓 really pleased about. I鈥檒l be working at their hospital in Grimsby. I am particularly interested in charity work and that has stayed with me since my time at the RSPCA.鈥�