LSU SVM at a Glance

History

The school admitted its first students to the professional curriculum during the 1973–74 academic year. The original entering class consisted of 36 students, all residents of Louisiana. Class size increased significantly in subsequent years. The school participates in the Southern Regional Education Board’s program for education in veterinary medicine. Training contracts provide a limited number of entering spaces for qualified candidates from Arkansas. In addition, a limited number of highly qualified, nonresident applicants are admitted under the school’s special admission policy.

The LSU SVM was the 19th veterinary school in the United States and was founded in 1968.

We accepted our first class of students in 1973, and 35 men and women (all from Louisiana) received their DVM degrees in 1977. We have granted over 2,800 DVM degrees since 1977 and more than 400 MS and PhD degrees. 

Facts

The school has an excellent faculty supported by modern equipment. The Veterinary Medicine Building, located on the west side of the campus near the Mississippi River, was dedicated in October 1978. It houses three academic departments plus the Veterinary Medicine Library, the Veterinary Teaching Hospital & Clinics, and the Louisiana Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory. The facilities at the Veterinary Teaching Hospital & Clinics are used as laboratories where students are introduced to clinical cases and animal disease problems, as well as to methods and techniques used in their solution. The clinical case load at the hospital, in-field services, and herd health programs offer ample opportunities for the education of the complete veterinarian.

The school library, located in the Veterinary Medicine Building, provides a resource sufficient to support programs in instruction, research, and service.

Research

Total extramural funding for the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine’s research programs was $38.7M in 2013-14. The majority of these dollars come from the federal government followed by state, foundation and industry funds.

Department of Pathobiological Sciences in the School of Veterinary Medicine is currently ranked #1 in research productivity at LSU. The research emphasis is on infectious diseases, with strong programs in viral and bacterial pathogenesis, immunity and resistance to infectious agents, vector-borne diseases and the use of Geographic Information Systems to study disease distribution and risk factors.

Outreach

Our Veterinary Teaching Hospital sees more than 21,000 cases each year.

Our Wildlife Hospital treats 1,800 wildlife cases each year. The goal is to treat and release these animals back into the wild. Our release rate is 45 percent, which is slightly higher than the national average.

Our Annual Open House sees more than 5,000 visitors annually and takes place in January or February of each year.