THE CAMPAIGN FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN
WITH YOUR SUPPORT, USASK VETERINARIANS WILL CHANGE
OUR WORLD
“Student engagement in the classroom, lab, or clinic is incredibly rewarding. Developing a rapport with students creates a safe learning environment in which they are comfortable to ask questions, make mistakes and learn from them, and apply that information to clinical cases.”
Dr. Jen Loewen
Assistant professor, Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, Western College of Veterinary Medicine
VETERINARIANS THE WORLD NEEDS
Now, more than ever, veterinarians play a vital role in the lives of animals and people around the globe.
Veterinarians play crucial roles in delivering animal health, monitoring emerging diseases, protecting the safety of our food supply, and so much more.
For nearly 60 years, western Canadians have turned to the Western College of Veterinary Medicine (WCVM) for excellence in veterinary education, innovative research and clinical expertise. We have aspirations to do even more, with your help.
LEAD CRITICAL RESEARCH
Our research teams conduct vital research that will help to improve the health and welfare of animals, as well as the health of people in areas such as cancer and antimicrobial resistance where key information can contribute to human medicine. Through innovation and creativity, WCVM scientists are finding solutions to health issues that face both animals and people in our world today.
Featured Projects:
$750,000 GOAL
Birds, bats, bees, butterflies and beetles pollinate plants and are critical to our world. They contribute to the foods we eat, they sustain our ecosystems and they enhance our natural resources. However, pollinator health is deteriorating rapidly worldwide. Threats to pollinators affect the long-term sustainability of agriculture and food security which, if compromised, will have significant effects on public health, ecosystem health and biodiversity.
With your support, we can meaningfully address this pressing issue with the creation of a Pollinator Health Research Chair, the only position of its kind in Canada. By dedicating a leading research position to pollinator health, we will be able to build a robust research program here at USask focused on finding solutions to protect our threatened ecosystems and food supply.
The challenges we face are worrisome, with global demand for pollination exceeding the current supply of insect pollinators. With your support, researchers, farmers, industry, beekeepers, veterinarians, policy makers and consumers can work together to build a brighter and more sustainable future for all of us.
If you are interested in donating to this project, please contact:
WCVM Development and Alumni Relations Office
University of Saskatchewan
Tel: 306-966-7268
wcvm.supportus@usask.ca
$250,000 GOAL
By using new approaches to study cancer in animals and humans, WCVM researchers are making significant progress in diagnosing and treating this devastating disease – but there is more we can do to find answers so we can save more lives of both people and animals. With the addition of new tools and advanced technology, USask’s WCVM can perform further groundbreaking oncology research.
Our leading veterinary oncology research team is eager to create a tumour bank that would allow us to use advanced diagnostics and therapeutic agents from human medicine in our work with animals. The tumour bank would support critical research led by Dr. Behzad Toosi, who holds the Allard Research Chair in Oncology and who runs the first comparative oncology research program in Western Canada.
Thanks to the generosity of the Allard Foundation, the WCVM was the first veterinary college in Canada to have a PET-CT (positron emission tomography-computed tomography) unit, making USask uniquely positioned to do this work.
If you are interested in donating to this project, please contact:
WCVM Development and Alumni Relations Office
University of Saskatchewan
Tel: 306-966-7268
wcvm.supportus@usask.ca
$500,000 GOAL
At the WCVM, researchers continue to make internationally significant discoveries in a range of areas, including basic and applied sciences, clinical sciences, comparative medicine, food safety, toxicology, public health, environmental health and One Health – all aimed at improving the health and quality of life for small and large animals.
Ground-breaking research is a cornerstone of what we do, but we need your support to continue to be a leader in this area.
Through your support of funds, such as — the Companion Animal Health Fund and the Townsend Equine Health Research Fund — our research teams can continue to investigate and find solutions to important health issues such as cancer in pets and people, lameness in horses and dogs, zoonotic diseases affecting wildlife, domestic animals and people, antimicrobial resistance in pets, and genetic diseases in pets and horses.
SUPPORT INDIGENOUS ACHIEVEMENT
We are developing exciting opportunities for our veterinary students to learn more about Indigenous culture while providing essential animal health care in underserved communities.
Featured Projects:
$200,000 GOAL
The veterinary profession has a duty to support optimal health and welfare for animals, people and the environment — but many northern and remote regions lack regular access to veterinary care. While animals hold important roles in underserved communities, managing the health and welfare of animal populations is challenging without regular and sustained access to services.
To address these gaps, the WCVM has partnered with northern and Indigenous communities in Saskatchewan to offer temporary mobile veterinary clinics which provide animal care in these communities and hands-on experience for our students, and at the same time introduces veterinary careers to local youth.
The benefits are substantial: more animals will receive the care they need and more communities will benefit from the improved well-being of their animal populations. Our veterinary students also develop an appreciation for the cultural significance of animals for Indigenous peoples by meeting with and learning from local Elders, Knowledge Keepers, educators and youth. These opportunities help foster cultural humility and a sense of social accountability in our veterinary graduates, developing the next generation of leaders and change-makers in the veterinary profession.
$50,000 GOAL
With your support, we plan to increase the number and value of student awards and bursaries available for Indigenous students at the WCVM. By enabling access and providing financial support during their studies, we can prepare more Indigenous students to be future leaders and veterinary professionals that communities around the world need.
If you are interested in donating to this project, please contact:
WCVM Development and Alumni Relations Office
University of Saskatchewan
Tel: 306-966-7268
wcvm.supportus@usask.ca
$1 MILLION GOAL
We plan to expand our reach and bolster our work with Indigenous and northern communities by establishing a Northern Engagement and Community Outreach Chair position that will focus on:
- increasing veterinary access through remote clinics in northern and Indigenous communities
- providing pet wellness in the community by partnering with Indigenous and northern communities
- establishing more partnerships in Indigenous communities to help provide veterinary access
- exploring the potential for expanding into other partner provinces to offer remote clinics in other northern, Indigenous and underserved areas
- broadening cultural awareness and social accountability in our veterinary graduates
If you are interested in donating to this project, please contact:
WCVM Development and Alumni Relations Office
University of Saskatchewan
Tel: 306-966-7268
wcvm.supportus@usask.ca
INSPIRE STUDENTS TO SUCCEED
To meet the growing need for more veterinary professionals in communities across Western Canada and the North, we are developing innovative ways to train new generations. We envision having more scholarships and awards that will support our students so they can go on to be leaders the world needs.
Featured Projects:
$750,000 GOAL
Through your generous support, you can help to ensure that aspiring veterinarians can achieve their dreams, despite the pressure and cost that comes with pursuing their educational goals. Thanks to scholarships and bursaries that reward exceptional achievements and support those in financial need, your gift gives students the opportunity to better themselves, while relieving emotional and financial stress and improving their ability to focus on their studies.
$500,000 GOAL
Our students prepare for real-life veterinary practice by gaining hands-on skills, and the WCVM’s BJ Hughes Centre for Clinical Learning enables students to practise their skills on models rather than on live animals. The lab’s flexible learning space also offers the college’s faculty the opportunity to teach various levels of simulation — from running through client scenarios with actors to practising surgical techniques on computerized models.
To keep the BJ Hughes Centre for Clinical Learning current, we require further investment in simulation models and technology that our students can work with hands-on. With your donation, our students can hone their techniques and master their clinical skills in a safe learning environment education, so that they are better prepared to care for animals.
If you are interested in donating to this project, please contact:
WCVM Development and Alumni Relations Office
University of Saskatchewan
Tel: 306-966-7268
wcvm.supportus@usask.ca
DESIGN VISIONARY SPACES
Today, the pressure has never been greater to meet the growing demand for veterinarians across Canada. To address this urgent need, we need your help to expand and enhance our learning, teaching and clinical spaces at WCVM so we can educate and train more veterinary professionals.
Featured Projects:
The WCVM Veterinary Medical Centre is in urgent need of more clinical space due to a growing demand for emergency and critical care services from the public who rely on us for care of sick and injured animals, and for ongoing medical care.
Our small animal intensive care unit (ICU) is currently overcrowded, and we need more exam rooms, patient and client areas, and expanded ICU and oncology areas. Expanded space will allow to better provide specialized care to patients, conduct vital research studies, and respond to the rising demand for emergency and critical care in Western Canada. With your support, we can design and build new spaces that will allow us to provide the best care to our patients and their families.
If you are interested in donating to this project, please contact:
WCVM Development and Alumni Relations Office
University of Saskatchewan
Tel: 306-966-7268
wcvm.supportus@usask.ca
We require additional classrooms for teaching growing class sizes, as well as more clinical skills space where our veterinary students learn the hands-on skills they need to become health professionals. More clinical space will also allow us to expand our capacity to host national clinical proficiency exams for veterinarians, as WCVM is the only site where foreign-trained veterinarians can become qualified to practice in Canada.
If you are interested in donating to this project, please contact:
WCVM Development and Alumni Relations Office
University of Saskatchewan
Tel: 306-966-7268
wcvm.supportus@usask.ca
Another critical need is an investment in the hospital’s advanced technologies and medical equipment, with a new linear accelerator and a new top-model MRI being urgent requirements. Our oncology team needs this specialized technology for diagnostics, and to continue providing a range of radiation therapies to cancer patients. Having this state-of-the-art equipment in our college will allow us to better diagnose and treat cancer in animals, train our students on the most current and sophisticated techniques, and will allow us to do cutting-edge research.
Our top needs include:
- Linear accelerator — $2.5 million
- MRI — $2.5 million
- Diagnostic and general equipment — $250,000
If you are interested in donating to this project, please contact:
WCVM Development and Alumni Relations Office
University of Saskatchewan
Tel: 306-966-7268
wcvm.supportus@usask.ca
“My goal is to initiate a training program for shelter animals which is led by marginalized youths. I believe that such a program could provide a means to grow a young persons’ confidence by giving them professional skills to take into their future careers, but more importantly, foster empathy while reducing anxiety and stress for both the human and animal participants.”
Asadeh Benhnam-Shabahang
Student, co-president and founder, WCVM DIVERSE (Diversity and Inclusion in the Veterinary Environment: Respect, Solidarity, Empowerment)
Support the Western College of Veterinary Medicine
With alumni, donors and community partners like you, we will impact our students and our industry, through our campaign priority areas. All donations make a powerful difference in the lives of our students, researchers and community members.
With your donation, we can fund priorities for the Western College of Veterinary Medicine.
“The world needs more organized and collaborative initiatives efforts to overcome serious health challenges affecting us and our companion animals. It is incredibly meaningful and inspiring to help advance the comparative oncology research that can improve the quality of life and well-being of us and our pets. Further, insights gained from the study of animal cancers can lead to discovering new clinical inventions for not only pet cancers, but human cancers as well.”
Dr. Behzad Toosi
Allard Research Chair in Oncology, Western College of Veterinary Medicine