During their fourth year at Purdue University’s School

of Veterinary Medicine, students finally get to work

with real patients, rotating among several services for

two-and-a-half to five weeks on each. As with

cardiology, internal medicine, oncology and others,

the ophthalmology service at Purdue is an opportunity

for future veterinarians to learn more about specialties

they had only heard of in lectures or read in

textbooks. Most students will go into general medicine

and not specialize in anything, but they will still need

to know at least basic information about each area

when they are doctors and seeing their own patients.

For vet students in Purdue's Class of 2003, their brief

time working in ophthalmology allowed them to

literally look into the eyes of what, at its core, their

chosen professional is about.

Click on the picture at right to begin slide show.