My sojourn to veterinary school brought me to the University of Pennsylvania where I received my VMD in 1990. I was fortunate to encounter several individuals during my undergraduate career who provided the guidance that aquaculture and veterinary medicine are not diametrically opposed. I was told that when I when I looked at a cow, horse, dog, cat etc, to think of a fish and the principles of medicine that hold true for the terrestrial animals will apply for the most part to those in the water. I was a member of the AQUAVET ® I class of 1988 and was fortunate in my senior year in veterinary school to have aquatic externships at the University of Rhode Island and with Food and Drug Administration, Fisheries Research Branch on Dauphin Island, AL. Since I was interested in an aquatic medicine position in either academia or industr--and with my interest piqued in pathology as I went through veterinary school--I enrolled in a dual PhD and anatomic pathology residency at North Carolina State University, College of Veterinary Medicine (I returned to Woods Hole in 1992 for AQUAVET ® II). In 1996, I completed that training and was hired by Mississippi State University, and worked at the Fish Diagnostic Laboratory, Stoneville, MS, for over five wonderful years, providing diagnostic services to the channel catfish industry in the Delta. Several thousands of fish necropsies later, I was provided the opportunity to return to Penn to teach, provide diagnostic services, conduct research and to direct the AQUAVET ® program. It was a great honor to direct the AQUAVET ® program from 2002 to 2007 and rub shoulders with the incredible faculty. It was also a tremendously rewarding time to be able to play a role in helping to teach the future leaders in aquatic veterinary medicine. It was thus a very difficult decision to leave Penn and return to Stoneville, MS (July, 2007) where I am currently in charge of the Aquatic Diagnostic Laboratory and providing services to the channel catfish industry.

The purpose of the laboratory session is to provide participants with the basics of a complete diagnostic work-up, including recognizing gross lesions, performing gill clips and skin scrapes. Participants will also be taught how to perform bacterial cultures, as well as phleblotomy techniques and appropriate sites.