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Cornell University

Cornell K. Lisa Yang Center
for Wildlife Health

Blogs from the Field

A healthy future for wildlife, people, and planet.

Two healthcare professionals are attending to a goose that is under anesthesia with monitoring equipment in the background.
Wildlife Medicine The Student Experience
Hawaii
Hawai’i Wildlife Center
Cornell K. Lisa Yang Center for Wildlife Health’s Student Support Fund
Student
Student Experience
Student Experiential Learning
Student Support
Student Learning
Student Opportunities
Student Support Fund
Students
Veterinary Student
Externship
Veterinary Externship
Bird
Avian Medicine
Release
Wildlife Release
Endangered Wildlife
Endangered Seabirds
Laboratory
Wildlife Medicine
Native Wildlife
Conservation
Disease Ecology
Conservation Biology

Fledging as a Veterinary Extern at the Hawai’i Wildlife Center

October 21, 2026
I was lucky enough to spend four extraordinary weeks as a veterinary extern at the Hawai’i Wildlife Center (HWC). HWC has one goal: to support and protect Hawai'i's native terrestrial vertebrate species....
Two red-footed boobies perched on a piece of PVC pipe in an enclosure.
Wildlife Medicine Aquatic Animal Health The Student Experience
Hawai'i
Hawaii
College of Veterinary Medicine
Cornell
Student
Student Experience
Student Experiential Learning
Student Support
Student Support Fund
Cornell K. Lisa Yang Center for Wildlife Health’s Student Support Fund
Externship
Veterinary Externship
Invasive Species
Bird
Bird Colony
Seabird
Seabird Conservation
Seabirds
Rehabilitation
Wildlife Rehabilitation
Wildlife Release
Release

Saving Hawaiʻi’s Native Birds: The Intersection of Veterinary Medicine and Wildlife Rehabilitation

January 26, 2026
I had the amazing opportunity to complete a veterinary externship at the Hawaiʻi Wildlife Center on the island of Hawaiʻi...
Brenna is on the ground writing things on a clipboard as another person monitors a lion that is sedated on the ground.
Wild Carnivores The Student Experience
Victoria Falls Wildlife Trust
Zambezi
Lion
Expanding Horizons
Cornell Expanding Horizons
Expanding Horizons Program
GPS Collaring
wildlife tracking
Student
Student Experience
Student Experiential Learning
Veterinary Student
KAZA
Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area
GPS
Hippo Creek
Human-lion conflict
Human-Wildlife Conflict
Conservation Genetics
Genetic Samples
Poaching
Environmental Justice
Conservation and Community
Southern Ground Hornbill
Hwange National Park
Endangered Specied Conservation
Bird
Student Learning
Einaudi Center for International Studies

Comprehensive Conservation with Victoria Falls Wildlife Trust

January 05, 2026
March ended in quite a spectacular way for me this year. I began the month sitting in classrooms at Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine and ended it out in the Zimbabwean bush, drawing blood from a sedated lion under a nighttime African sky....
A person wearing blue gloves is focusing on a tan gerbil as they perform a blood draw from its tail.
Wildlife Medicine Planetary Health The Student Experience
Kruger National Park
Organization for Tropical Studies
Cornell Expanding Horizons
Parasite
South Africa
Skukuza Science Learning Initiative
Fieldwork
microscopic
mice
Hemoparasites
Bird
Bird Host
Zoonotic Disease
One Health
Disease Transmission
Snail
Parasitology
Freshwater
Disease Ecology
Host Ecology
Molecular Diagnostics
DNA
DNA Samples
PCR
Cornell K. Lisa Yang Center for Wildlife Health’s Student Support Fund
Student Experience
Veterinary Student
Foot and Mouth Disease
Ecosystem
Hands-on Experience
Infectious Disease Modeling
Pathogen
dehorning

Parasites, Preservation, and PCRs: A Wild Summer in the South African Bush

October 15, 2025
I had the opportunity to spend two months in the middle of Kruger National Park (KNP) in collaboration with the Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS)...