Carol Wang - Thailand
This summer, I had the pleasure of traveling to Saraburi, Thailand to join the National Primate Research Center of Thailand at Chulalongkorn University. I had a couple goals for my trip. Primarily, I wanted to gain clinical skills with long-tailed macaques, a species that I had never worked with before. But I was also excited to get hands-on histopathological experience, observe monkeys in their natural habitat, and to understand how different culture and societal perceptions on animal use impact animal research.
The NPRCT was established in 2011 and is home to over 700 cynomolgus macaques, and over 300 marmosets. Dr. Bob, the attending veterinarian of the center and my primary mentor, took me on a huge tour my first week. He, along with Professor Suchinda, the director, showed me all the details of the center, from the laundry and material transportation, to the food supply, waste management, the air pressure of the research rooms, and even the materials used to build the structures. While I was there, they had a construction company working on their sixth breeding facility. Bob and I met with them to consult on the new caging. He explained to me that with each iteration of their building design, they incorporate new improvements, as they learn new things about the needs of both the animals and animal care staff. During this week, I truly got to see how an animal research facility is built from the ground up.
The bulk of my externship was involved with the semi-annual health check. For a week, I worked with veterinarians, technicians, and animal care staff to perform health checks on hundreds of breeding monkeys. The veterinary team taught me how to conduct physical exams, blood collections, radiographs, ultrasounds, and even ophthalmic exams. I got to master many clinical skills during this time. There was also a research project going on which required the necropsy of a few animals. I participated in and practiced different necropsy and fixation techniques for primates. In addition, I got some one-on-one mentorship with the pathologist who was kind enough to walk me through specific interesting cases, and I got to further refine my skills in slide and biopsy interpretation.
In the third week, we traveled to Koh Pei Island, also known as “Monkey Island,” on the southeast coast of Thailand. This is where Professor Suchinda and her students are conducting a study on the use of tools in long-tailed macaques. This study is especially exciting because this is one of the first documented instances of this species of macaques using tools. On this trip, I got lectures in stone tool-use, and I learned how to turn subjective observational data into objective analyzable results.
Finally, I got time to myself to further explore Thailand’s culture. I took a trip to Bangkok, hiked through the beautiful rainforest, and of course ate lots and lots of great food. For me, it was very interesting to learn how Thai’s culture, which has heavy Buddhist influence, reconciles ethical animal research. I also learned, through my conversations with vets and technicians, about the differences in our veterinary educations and industries. But while I was looking for all these ways in which Thailand and America are different, I ultimately found many more similarities. Veterinarians still through similar struggles, but still find similar solace and fulfillment in their roles whether that be a small animal practitioner or research scientist or lab animal vet.
Overall, I had a wonderful time, made beautiful friendships, and reaffirmed how much I love this field and the people from all around the world who contribute to it.