Veterinary Services

The following are some of the veterinary services available to assist you with animal activities. 

Requesting Veterinary Care for Your IACUC Protocol

Select one of the following before submitting your IACUC protocol:

  1.  AVS Veterinarians Will Provide Veterinary Care
    Please complete and submit Policy 15 Form for veterinary review. After review, additions or changes to the experimental methods and procedures may be required. The AVS veterinarian will email a confirmation to the Principal Investigator (PI). Section Veterinary Care on the IACUC Vertebrate Animal Use Protocol Form is used to document that the AVS veterinarian and the PI have conferred and the AVS veterinarian has consented to provide veterinary care.
  2. Department or College Veterinarian Affiliated With the UH will Provide Veterinary Care
    The Office of the University Veterinarian (UV) will contact the PI and the Department or College Veterinarian associated with the UH notifying them of the Veterinary Care expectations. See System-wide Memo for details.
  3. Local or Contract Veterinarian Not Affiliated With the University System Will Be Providing Care
    Please attach a signed Consultant Veterinarian Letter to the IACUC protocol from the local or contract veterinarian documenting that the veterinarian has agreed to serve on protocol. The UV will contact the PI and the Veterinarian notifying each of the Veterinary Care expectations. See System-wide Memo for details.
  4. Veterinary Care is Not Required or is Inaccessible
    In rare cases, it may not be possible to use the services of a veterinarian; however, the PI must provide a strong justification and receive IACUC approval for this deviation from the Federal requirements.

 

Documentation of Proficiency for Hands-on Training Using Animals for Biomedical Research and Teaching

Biomedical Investigators and staff are not allowed to work independently until demonstrating proficiency for certain procedures to the AVS veterinarians or designees. Training covering CO2 euthanasia is provided at the time of their vivarium orientation. If anesthesia and/or analgesia, aseptic surgery technique, physical methods of euthanasia, oral gavage, injections, or blood collection are part of the protocol, the research staff will train with AVS staff or the Principal Investigator (PI) until ready to demonstrate proficiency. Documentation of training from workshops or prior research facilities may serve in lieu of demonstration and copies should be forwarded to the AVS veterinary staff. Failure to comply with the policy disallows untrained personnel from participating and engaging in an approved IACUC protocol. If untrained personnel are observed and/or reported to have participated or engaged in animal activities covered by an approved protocol, the approval to do the activity may be revoked, the work suspended, and a formal investigation into the matter initiated by the IACUC. PIs and/or lab managers must ensure that their staff have documentation of demonstrating proficiencies. During annual review of a protocol, the Principal Investigator may be asked to document any relevant hands-on protocol specific training that each person has completed during the year. For more details see IACUC Policy on Documentation of Training in Biomedical Research Techniques.

Contact AVS Staff, Michael Wong, DVM (wongmich@hawaii.edu) or Lisa Sato (lisaho@hawaii.edu) to schedule an appointment for documentation of proficiency prior to their staff working independently.

 

Personnel Training

All personnel involved with animal activities on behalf of the University of Hawai‘i must be adequately trained and qualified to do so. Please see the following for more details: Policy 13 Requirements for Personnel Training.

The AVS veterinary staff will provide guidance to investigators and all personnel involved with the care and use of animals to ensure appropriate husbandry, survival surgery, perioperative care of animals, handling/restraint, medical treatment, immobilization, sedation, analgesia, anesthesia, and euthanasia. It is very important to seek veterinary guidance for writing protocols that involve more than momentary pain or distress (category D&E). Hands-on training and workshops are available through AVS.

Contact AVS Staff, Michael Wong, DVM (wongmich@hawaii.edu) or Lisa Sato (lisaho@hawaii.edu) to schedule an appointment for training opportunities available through AVS.

 

Protocol Specific Zoonoses Training

All personnel listed on an approved IACUC protocol or involved in an IACUC exempt activity that involves exposure to potential zoonoses (diseases that can be transmitted between animals and humans) will be required to complete protocol specific zoonoses training before working independently or prior to the annual review of the protocol, whichever comes first. The University Veterinarian or designee will provide training materials to the Principal Investigator to share with personnel listed on his/her protocol. The PI will be responsible to provide names of personnel and dates to the UV of those who have completed the zoonoses training. The AVS veterinarians are available to assist PIs in writing a zoonotic exposure plan as part of the project’s overall occupational and health and safety plan.

Contact Michael Wong, DVM (wongmich@hawaii.edu) or Jenee Odani, DVM (jsodani@hawaii.edu) for more information about zoonoses training.

 

Custom Veterinary Services

The veterinary staff can provide fee for service protocol assistance for the following:

  • Research support protocol-specific animal procedures
  • Quarantine animal testing for inter-institutional animal imports
  • Necropsy, parasitology (tissue collection for diagnostics, histopathology)
  • Venipuncture and injections
  • Minor surgical procedures
  • Tissue collection for genotyping
  • Animal identification (ear tagging/notching)
  • Animal Euthanasia requests

Contact AVS Staff, Michael Wong, DVM (wongmich@hawaii.edu) or Lisa Sato (lisaho@hawaii.edu) to request custom veterinary services.