She has obtained two undergraduate degrees and received her degree in veterinary medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. She said that her veterinarian degree took four years and she received the medical training she needed. Then she had a three-year pathology residency. Her interest was pathology. She wanted to learn more about the diseases in exotic animals, since she already learned about the diseases in dogs, cats, and horses, so she applied for the pathology fellowship position at the San Diego Zoo.
Pathology is the study of diseases.
Pathologists take all medical information and tests that the clinical veterinarians do and piece together information. The pathologists work closely with the clinical veterinarians at the Zoo. The pathologists perform diagnostic tests on blood, fecal matter, urine, and other fluid samples from the animals. They count red and white blood cells of an animal and measure the amounts of substances in the blood such as salt, sugar, and cholesterol. They also look for worms, fungi, ticks, mites, and any other diseases or parasites an animal contains.