Week 2 at National Cancer Institute

My second week at NIH was just as exciting as the first one.

I worked up a primate case on endometritis, spent more time with some young macaques handing them food. Note: they love marshmallows and pineapple. Some are shy, some are more outgoing but they all have fun, unique personalities.

We spent some time organizing logistics for my analgesia study. We are starting the training for the pilot study this week. Our mice come in on Tuesday and we will be behavior watching and practicing vasectomies one last time before the real thing next week. Some days will be long and hard, but hopefully it will be worth it.

I sat in on an Animal Care Use Committee Meeting and it was eye opening. I saw first hand how the legislation that many times feels like red tape when trying to organize a wet lab or experiment really does have a major impact on the welfare of the animals. It also mentioned numerous studies going on at NCI to cure brain cancer to breast cancer to HIV to ovarian cancer.

Being involved in lab animal medicine incorporates clinical duties, animal welfare, research knowledge, and the cutting edge of new medicine.

Next week I have 2 surgery days with the primates. I have to get up a little earlier than I prefer, but hopefully it will be rewarding.