October 2024 Issue

Page 12 October 2024 EAST COAST EQUESTRIAN Rowen University to Open Shreiber School of Veterinary Medicine By Marcella Peyre-Ferry Horse owners as well as other large animal and pet owners have probably noticed a shortage of veterinarians. As long-estab- lished professionals retire, and the need for animal medical care grows there is a very limited number of veterinary medicine school graduates coming into the field. There are only 33 veteri- nary schools in the United States and only five of those are on the East Coast. Rowan University has seen the growing need and is currently constructing the new Shreiber School of Veterinary Medicine on its West Campus in Harrison Township, Gloucester County next to Route 55. This will be New Jersey’s first veterinary school. In less than a year, the first class of veterinary students will begin their coursework, which will involve hands-on experience from day one, according to the school’s founding dean Dr. Mat- thew Edson. “That’s what we all want to do when we come to vet school, and then we’re in a lot of books,” Edson said in a spring press release. “The books are important, but we want them to have those hands-on skills to go out into the world and make a difference from the day they start.” Edson said the 30 people currently on staff are working on what he describes as an “innova- tive curriculum.” Between now and the August 2025 opening, the school plans to hire 100 more people in the next large hiring wave, which will include clinicians to provide care for animals at an animal hospital that will operate 24 hours a day. “They’ll do a little bit of both students and hospital,” he added, “but staffing a hospital this size requires a lot of folks.” “Students who are interest- ed in this major, they have to go to different states, pay a lot of money … and chances are they will never come back here to practice,” said Rowan Univer- sity President Dr. Ali Housh- mand, who added that there was a lot of opportunity in South Jersey where there is a lot of farming and agriculture. “There are a lot of animals. Whether it’s feed animals, whether it’s pets, whether it’s sports ani- mals, there are lots of them,” he said. Seventy students, half of them from New Jersey, will attend the first class at the new school. Officials said this will help retain New Jersey students interested in studying veterinary (Continued on page 31) An architect’s rendering shows the outside of the new veterinary college to be built on the campus of Rowan University in southern New Jersey. The mid-Atlantic region has too few veterinarians, and it is hoped that the new school, only the sixth in the eastern US, will add to that number. Photo credit Rowan University