The UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine & California Department of Fish and Wildlife jointly offer a 3-year residency program in free-ranging wildlife health, which includes enrollment in the UC Davis Masters in Preventive Medicine Program; for applicants who already have a comparable advanced degree in epidemiology, a 2-year clinical and research option is possible.
Advanced Training Topics:
- North American model of wildlife management
- Herd/population health monitoring and management (game and non-game)
- Outbreak and mortality investigation
- Wildlife immobilization and handling
- Threatened and endangered species recovery
- Wildlife-livestock conflict
- Urban wildlife (including nuisance animal control)
- Rehabilitation
- Toxicology
- Pathology
Training involves extensive local and statewide travel. The resident will contribute to clinical and didactic teaching of veterinary students.Upon successful completion, the resident will partially (or wholly, depending on prior work experience) fulfill requirements for sitting the American College of Zoological Medicine (ACZM) board-certification examination.
Qualifications: Applicants must possess: a DVM or equivalent degree; be in the early stages of their career (one to five years of post-DVM work experience); have a strong track record of interest in and familiarity with free-living wildlife health and wildlife management; and demonstrate clear intent to pursue a career in free-living wildlife health management and research.
The application period for our Free-Ranging Wildlife Health Residency is now closed. Please check back for program updates.
For additional information, email Kirsten Gilardi.
UC Davis is an AA/EOE.
Past Residents
Megan Moriarty, DVM, MPVM, PhD
Megan Moriarty is a wildlife veterinarian and epidemiologist, having graduated from UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine in 2012 and obtained a Masters of Preventive Veterinary Medicine in 2013. In 2020, she completed her PhD in epidemiology at UC Davis, conducting research on sea otters, heart disease, and marine harmful algal blooms.
During her residency, she has led or participated in projects including endangered riparian brush rabbit field vaccination against rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus; surveillance for treponeme-associated hoof disease in elk; necropsies of ungulates, carnivores, mesocarnivores, bats, and birds; development of a statewide Chronic Wasting Disease Surveillance and Management Plan; field captures of wild mule deer and bighorn sheep; and chemical immobilization, examination, and clinical care for injured, burned, and orphaned animals at the CDFW Wildlife Health Lab. She is a now a wildlife veterinary specialist at the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, where she will continue to integrate disease and population biology with environmental drivers to inform wildlife conservation.
Andrew Di Salvo, DVM
Our first Wildlife Health Resident Dr. Andrew Di Salvo has always had a passion for wildlife veterinary medicine that has taken him cross-country and even beyond: in addition to prior field work in California, Oregon, and Idaho, Dr. DiSalvo also worked as the clinical and field veterinarian for the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) in Namibia and as primary wildlife veterinarian for White Buffalo, Inc. in Staten Island, NY.
During the first year of his residency, Andrew has led or participated in projects including the live-capture and processing of California wildlife species including black-tailed deer, San Joaquin kit foxes, and Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep for wildlife management and disease surveillance purposes; an anesthetic trial in free-ranging fishers; and the testing of novel therapies (tilapia skin bandages) to treat black bears burned by California wildfires.