The Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine (CUCVM) is internationally known for its research programs and tertiary clinical care and has been a leader in providing primary care instruction to veterinary students for all species for more than 40 years. Community outreach programs like Cornell’s Small Animal Community Practice (SACP), primary care surgery rotation and long-term partners Shelter Outreach Services (SOS) and Southside Community Center serve as the foundation of our primary care instruction. These programs currently provide well and surgical care to many under-resourced cats and dogs in Tompkins County and the Finger Lakes region of New York.

Through these long-term, strongly collaborative relationships, faculty, staff, and community partners have provided much-needed care while also delivering highly successful training programs for our veterinary students. By expanding and combining our strong existing programs into a unified curriculum, we propose to develop a veterinary education program focused on the full-breadth of opportunities and challenges facing the communities we serve in accessing care for companion animals.