Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster Ron Hays spoke with Dr. Carlos Risco, the Oklahoma State University Dean of Veterinary Medicine, about the importance of teaching student vets to cultivate positive relationships with their clients in the future and the importance of the research conducted in the OSU School of Veterinary Medicine.
This is the second part of a two-part conversation with Dr. Risco. The first was about OSU rising to the challenge of the current shortage of large animal and rural veterinarians and can be found here.
“One of the things that we emphasize to our students as we train them to go into food-animal practice is that it goes beyond diagnosis and treatment,” Dr. Risco said. “The veterinarian must really be a partner in the management of the operation. So, if we have too many problems calving, what can we do to reduce that number? That is part of the partnership”
According to Dr. Risco, the veterinarian should act as a consultant in improving herd health, suggesting good nutrition practices, and recommending preventative medicines.
While the public often thinks of Veterinary and Medical Schools as primarily training the next generation of physicians, however, most, including OSU’s have very active research components.
The OSU College of Veterinary Medicine employs two general types of research. One is Basic Research which is done in the physiological sciences and pathobiology department. The other is the Clinical Research sector which has more to do with improving diagnoses and treatment.
Dr. Risco said, “In the Basic research area, we have scientists working on things such as diabetes using mouse models, and then translating that to the human. We also have a very dynamic, robust group of researchers in respiratory problems, such as viral and bacterial infections. We study the host, lung tissue, and the pathogen, the virus or bacteria, and what the interaction is and what new things can be discovered.”
Dr. Clint Jones and Dr. Fernando Bowerman are two of the researchers working on respiratory problems in cattle which could lead to new preventative measures and vaccines, and also, once the animal is already sick, potential new treatments are studied.
“All of this research is focused on understanding the disease complex itself that will lead to a prevention,” Dr. Risco said.
“The Clinical side is more applied,” he continued. “That is our food animal clinicians who are really working on different diseases, such as reproductive or musculoskeletal, and improving the diagnosis and treatment of them.”
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network and is a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR at the top of the story for today’s show and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
