The Anatomic Pathology Residency Program at the University of Minnesota is designed to provide broad exposure to basic and applied aspects of veterinary pathology and to prepare the trainee for a career in veterinary pathology and diagnostic medicine. Residents successfully completing the program are qualified to take the ACVP Board examination.
Pathology residents develop skills in gross pathology and histopathology by participating in a busy diagnostic laboratory service. These basic pathology skills are supplemented by training in clinical and comparative pathology, as well as population-based diagnostic medicine.
Residents also participate in pathology teaching for the veterinary student pathology laboratories and instruct senior veterinary students on necropsy rotations. Residents are expected to actively participate in weekly seminars in gross, microscopic, and clinical pathology; and other specialty pathology rounds.
Our faculty
A diverse faculty comprised of 12 ACVP certified anatomic or clinical pathologists and 6 production animal diagnosticians support this program.
Caseload
The caseload includes a wide variety of domestic, wild and exotic animals, and birds submitted to the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory.
Opportunities after completing the program
After completion of the residency program, qualified individuals may pursue focused research training leading to the PhD degree through the institution’s NIH-funded T32 post-doctoral training program in Comparative Medicine and Pathology.
Current residents
Ariel de Aguiar, DVM
Dr. Ariel de Aguiar is a Brazilian veterinarian. She graduated from Universidade Federal do Acre in 2019 and then had a residency in Veterinary Pathology at Universidade Estadual de Londrina until February, 2021. Dr. Aguiar earned her Master’s in Anatomic Pathology at Universidade Federal de Santa Maria in October, 2022 where she also integrated into their veterinary pathology team at the Laboratory of Veterinary Pathology. For her, the discipline of pathology is an amazing world just waiting to be explored by those who love it. She believes each animal gives us a unique opportunity to dive deeper into the disease's ocean of discovery. She is enthusiastic about infectious disease and loves teaching. Dr. Aguiar joined the University of Minnesota Anatomic Pathology residency program this July and is super excited to learn and develop a broad understanding of animal diseases and their processes.
Joanna Echenique, DVM
Joanna V.Z. Echenique is a Brazilian vet born in Rio de Janeiro but raised in Pelotas, a municipality in upstate Rio Grande do Sul, Southernmost Brazil. She graduated from Universidade Federal de Pelotas in 2016 with a Master's in animal science with pathology emphasis in 2019. From March 2019 until June 2023 she integrated into the veterinary pathology team of Setor de Patologia Veterinária at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul in Porto Alegre first as resident and later as a PhD student evaluating central nervous system diseases in wild mammals. During her entire journey she always have been keen in wildlife and sees in pathology a way of enhancing health in captive and wildlife populations, and also with a way to actively contribute to the One Health initiative. Dr. Echenique joined the University of Minnesota Anatomic Pathology residency program this July and is super excited to learn and develop a broad understanding of animal diseases and their processes.
Caylie Hake, DVM
Dr. Caylie Hake graduated from The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine in 2019 and began work as a primary and urgent care veterinarian in Pennsylvania. She moved to Minnesota in late 2020 and proceeded to explore an array of potential career pathways through relief and volunteer work, including small animal general practice, small animal emergency medicine, shelter medicine and surgery, and regulatory work with the West Virginia Racing Commission. She has always been interested in wildlife, and most recently completed an internship at the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Minnesota. Caylie joined the University of Minnesota anatomic pathology residency program in November 2022, and is looking forward to developing a greater understanding of disease processes in domestic and wild animals with goals of contributing to wildlife conservation and management research.
Dansong Seo, DVM
Dr. Dansong Seo graduated from Seoul National University’s College of Veterinary Medicine in February 2020. While studying veterinary medicine, she discovered a passion for diagnostics and decided to focus on pathology. She earned her Master’s in Clinical Pathology at Seoul National University in 2022, developing a special interest in cytology and microscopic diagnostics. After gaining experience in clinical pathology, she wanted to further her training in histopathology and gross pathology to get a complete understanding of diagnostics and animal diseases. In July 2024, Dansong joined the University of Minnesota's Anatomic Pathology Residency Program and is excited to dive into this new chapter in pathology.
Sidhartha Deshmukh, MS, DVM, PhD
Dr. Sidhartha Deshmukh (Sid) has completed his DVM (BVSc and AH) and MS (MVSc) in Veterinary Pathology from College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Palampur, India in 2002 and began to work as avian pathologists cum veterinarian in Venky’s India Limited, Chandigarh. He later moved to drug discovery research institute (Pharmaceutical industry) as Research scientist in 2005. He did his PhD from Institute of Veterinary Disease Biology, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Denmark in 2013. Because of his strong interest in academics, he joined Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University as Assistant Professor (Veterinary Pathology) in 2007. He was a Fulbright scholar at University of Minnesota from October 2021 to June 2022.
Sid has always preferred teaching over private practice/industry jobs and continued to teach Veterinary pathology in Veterinary school until he joins us. He has broad research interest on understanding avian health, host pathogen interaction leading to immunological responses and has received number of awards and honors. Besides, handling clinical cases, he has handled extra mural research projects in India as Principal investigator and Co- investigator respectively. He has published research articles on infectious diseases of poultry and fish, in addition to diseases of large animals.
Sid joined University of Minnesota Veterinary Anatomic Pathology residency program in October 2024 and is excitingly looking forward to improve, develop and exchange of knowledge and hone up diagnostic skills in evaluating disease conditions at par with international standards besides controlling disease outbreaks in wildlife and in domestic animals at state and national level.