Programs Offered
Candidates for the MVS degree are required to have a veterinary degree registerable in Victoria. A 1- to 2-year residency/graduate program with minor thesis component available in either clinical or anatomical pathology, for an MVS degree. Candidates completing an MVS are generally sufficiently prepared to successfully complete examinations of the Australian Pathobiology Chapter at the Membership level. Advanced research degrees leading to either an MVSc in 1- to 2-years or a PhD are also offered by the Department.

Facilities
The faculty of Veterinary Science exists on two sites, a basic research and teaching site associated the main University of Melbourne campus in Parkville, an inner suburb of Melbourne, and the other site situated at Werribee, approximately 30 km west of central Melbourne. The Pathology section is sited at the Werribee campus, within a large veterinary teaching hospital complex. The Department has necropsy, histopathology, and clinical pathology laboratories suitable for research and diagnostic purposes, and laboratories on site for immunohistochemistry, molecular genetics, flow cytometry, microbiology, and immunohistoparasitology.

The pathology section receives cases from the teaching hospital as well as serving as a regional veterinary diagnostic service. At Parkville, there is a diagnostic and a reference virology laboratory. The main campus has 11 facilities including a medical school, and it is well resourced with scientific equipment and laboratories. The Ludwig Institute, Murdoch Institute, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Royal Children's Hospital, Royal Women's Hospital, Royal Melbourne Hospital, the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, The Peter MacCallum Cancer Research Institute, several regional hospitals and the Victorian Institutes of Animal Science lie within close proximity to the veterinary school.

At Geelong, about an hour by car from Werribee, is the CSIRO Australian Animal Health Laboratory, which is a full containment facility where research on diseases exotic to Australia is conducted.

Community
The University is located in Melbourne, on the south-eastern coast of Australia. Melbourne consistently rates as one of the great cities of the world, has a population of 3.5 million people with wide cultural diversity, a warm temperate climate, and is a beautiful city renowned for its parks and gardens, cosmopolitan cuisine, art, culture, and sporting venues. The city lies close to some of the best surf beaches in Australia, yet in winter, ski fields, and the Australian Alps are only a few hours drive away. The University of Melbourne at Parkville is only 1.5 km from the city centre and is one of Australia's leading research and teaching institutions. The University has an academic staff of 2,000, a student population in excess of 30,000, and approximately 8,500 students are postgraduates. There are 1,700 international students on campus, originating from more than 40 countries and the university maintains formal exchange agreements with more than 90 countries. Collaborative research opportunities exist for the pathology section within the University, with the sister institutes of the CSIRO and the Victorian Institutes of Animal Science, and with an extensive network of eminent biomedical research organizations within close proximity.

Stipends and Maintenance
The department funds an MVS position annually. Funding for additional positions is generally obtained through extramural research grants, although a limited number of scholarships are available to overseas candidates through the University of Melbourne International Office.

Staff
There are 2 clinical pathologists within the section. The clinical pathology laboratory has research interests in coagulation disorders of companion animals and serves as the reference laboratory for coagulopathies within. There are 5 anatomical pathologists within the section, with research interests in respiratory pathology, avian pathology, tumor biology, and leukocyte pathobiology. In addition, members of the department include 3 senior staff in parasitology, 3 senior staff in microbiology, and one virologist. Almost all staff have diagnostic case responsibilities as well as research activities

Applications

Address inquiries to:

Professor Ron F. Slocombe
Chair, Veterinary Pathology
School of Veterinary Science
University of Melbourne
Veterinary Clinical Centre, Princes Highway
Werribee, Victoria, Australia 3030
Phone: 61-3-9741-3500
Fax: 61-3-9741-0401
Email: r.slocombe@vet.unimelb.edu.au

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