What is veterinary pathology and who are veterinary pathologists?

These two are the questions some of you might be wondering since I have yet to proper explain.

pathos = suffering
logos = study

In a nutshell, veterinary pathology is a branch of science dedicates to the study of animal diseases. It is one of the many core subjects, taught in veterinary medicine. We learn about pathogenesis of diseases (how and why a disease occurs, and what are the consequences eg. how does a tumour occur) and lesions (what happened to the body eg. inflammation).
 

To be a veterinary pathologist, one needs to have a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree or equivalent, spends at least three years in a post-grad training eg. residency, and then sits the American or European board exam becoming a diplomate of the college - total of 8 or 11 years in uni minimum. That sounds rather excruciating but I'm almost half way there, yeah! Furthermore, there are two branches in the field, namely clinical and and anatomical. Clinical pathologists basically read blood and biochemistry profiles, and deal with samples of live tissues while anatomical pathologists examine fixed tissued and perform necropsies. I have spent a quite considerable amount in both, but aim to speciliase and become the latter.

Now, what do veterinary pathologists do? They seek to gain understandings of pathogenesis and lesions. The roles of veterinary pathologists are thoroughly described in the following excerpt from American College of Veterinary Pathologists:


"....... Why Are Veterinary Pathologists Important?
Veterinary pathologists improve and protect human and animal health by:

• Diagnosing disease in companion and zoo animals, and wildlife. Veterinary pathologists examine animal tissue and body fluids to diagnose disease and predict outcomes.
• Diagnosing disease in food-producing animals. By determining causes of disease, veterinary pathologists help maintain herd health and establish if there is a risk to humans handling or consuming the meat or milk of food animals.
• Contributing to drug discovery and safety. Because of their broad-based biomedical training, veterinary pathologists serve as key members of pharmaceutical research and development teams.
• Conducting research. With experience in diseases of multiple species, veterinary pathologists are uniquely qualified to perform studies to advance our understanding of the cause and methods to prevent disease in animals and humans......."

Lastly, the reason for having an image of Contagion (2011) in the post. It has a lot to do with veterinary profession, and one of the Diplomates of ACVP was the scientific consultant during the production, here! I have got to see the film that some point :)