Visiting Instructor - Wildlife/Exotic Rotating Medicine and Surgery - CVM

Midwestern University (MWU) offers a 2026-2027 one-year internship focused on aquatic animal and wildlife health. This program is intended to provide clinical training to prepare the intern for a career in zoological medicine and for the rigors of a residency program. Training will primarily take place off-site at two locations: OdySea Aquarium and Butterfly Wonderland (9500 E Via de Ventura, Scottsdale AZ) and Liberty Wildlife (2600 E Elwood St., Phoenix AZ 85040), a local wildlife rehabilitation facility. The intern should expect to see a variety of cases and species between both facilities. Time spent at each facility will be approximately 50% of the year. Cases seen while at OdySea Aquarium and Butterfly Wonderland include multiple taxa based on an active caseload and preventive medicine schedule including invertebrates, teleost, elasmobranchs, amphibians, reptiles, avian, terrestrial and marine mammals. Cases seen while at Liberty Wildlife will include several different taxa including reptiles, avian, and small terrestrial mammals.

The intern will gain both formal and informal teaching experience through daily interactions with students, volunteers, and rarely small animal rotating interns on the clinic floor, as well as assisting in clinical skills labs and presenting limited didactic lectures at MWU if desired. The intern is required to present two formal one-hour seminars (grand rounds and M&M) at MWU in the spring. They are also expected to participate in a journal club and mentored research, with the goal of submitting a first author publication to a peer-reviewed journal.

Orientation: Orientation will occur the week of 6/22/26-6/26/26; details to be provided via e-mail by MWU faculty.

Vacation/Sick Time: 10 days of vacation are provided annually; vacation accrues at a rate of 3.08 hours per pay period.

Degree Requirements: This position requires a doctorate in veterinary medicine (DVM) or an equivalent degree to be eligible. 

Objectives:

1. To expose the specialty intern to a wide variety of aquatic and wildlife medicine and surgery cases. The specialty intern will have primary case responsibility and will gain experience in both inpatient and outpatient management. They will become familiar with appropriate husbandry, safe handling, anatomy, and physiology of invertebrates, teleost, elasmobranchs, amphibian, reptilian, avian, small mammal, and marine mammal species.
2. To increase the specialty intern’s experience with multiple types of common aquatic and wildlife procedures, including (but not limited to) cytology, venipuncture and assessment of lab results, intraosseous catheter placement, enteral feeding tube placement, anesthesia, soft tissue surgery, avian orthopedic repair, imaging (radiographs, ultrasound, computed tomography), and wound management.
3. To facilitate the specialty intern’s participation in clinical and, when possible, didactic teaching of veterinary students.
4. To improve the specialty intern’s ability to critically evaluate scientific literature and expand their tertiary-level knowledge base via journal article and textbook chapter discussions.
5. To prepare the specialty intern for the demands of an ACZM approved residency position.

Intern Role: Depending on the case, the intern will be assigned one of the following roles

• Primary clinician
• Supervising clinician (working with clinical student)
• Assistant for anesthetic, surgical, or consult cases

Expectations: The intern will have direct supervision by faculty until proficiency is demonstrated, at which point all cases will have either direct or indirect faculty supervision. The intern is expected to seek faculty consultation on all cases unless otherwise specified. Primary caseload and level of responsibility will change throughout the year, depending on the intern’s level of competency/skill as assessed by the faculty mentor(s).

• The aquatics/wildlife intern will primarily manage a daily caseload of 5-20 cases per day (assigned by the faculty mentor and/or wildlife team), including new assessments, recheck examinations, emergency cases, and surgical procedures. Note: Prior to being the primary surgeon for orthopedic repairs, interns will assist faculty during similar procedures and practice skills on cadavers as time allows.
• Interns are expected to work a minimum of 40 hours per week. The exact daily and weekly schedule will change based on facility location but will be communicated in advance; the intern is expected to work and communicate closely with the supervising faculty to ensure thorough management of cases, while running the clinic efficiently.
• The intern is responsible for completing records and prescriptions (same day) for cases seen on their own and with students; once reviewed/approved by the intern, records have a final review performed by the supervising faculty mentor. Faculty will provide feedback and edits may be required.
• When there are slower clinical windows of time, interns are expected to enhance student learning through clinical skills practice, topic rounds, case-based discussions, etc.

For further information on the MWU internship or to submit your application, please contact:

Sean Perry, DVM, PhD, email: sperry3@midwestern.edu

Salary: $57,500

Benefits:
- Health insurance with a monthly premium
- License and liability insurance covered

Vacation: 2 weeks paid vacation accrue annually. Requests for leave must be approved by the program director.

A contract and state license are required: Faculty license is paid by the college.

Additional information for graduates of universities outside of the United States and Canada

Must be a United States citizen or lawful Permanent Resident and must be able to secure licensure in the state of Arizona.

Midwestern University is a private, not-for-profit organization that provides graduate and post-graduate education in the health sciences. The University has two campuses, one in Downers Grove, Illinois and the other in Glendale, Arizona. More than 6,000 full-time students are enrolled in graduate programs in osteopathic medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, physician assistant studies, physical therapy, occupational therapy, nurse anesthesia, cardiovascular perfusion, podiatry, optometry, clinical psychology, speech language pathology, biomedical sciences and veterinary medicine. Over 500 full-time faculty members and 400 staff members are dedicated to the education and development of our students in an environment that encourages learning, respect for all members of the health care team, service, interdisciplinary scholarly activity, and personal growth.

Midwestern University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer that does not discriminate against an employee or applicant based upon race; color; religion; creed; national origin or ancestry; ethnicity; sex (including pregnancy); gender (including gender expressions, gender identity; and sexual orientation); marital status; age; disability; citizenship; past, current, or prospective service in the uniformed services; genetic information; or any other protected class, in accord with all federal, state and local laws and regulation. Midwestern University complies with the Smoke-Free Arizona Act (A.R.S. 36-601.01) and the Smoke Free Illinois Act (410 ILCS 82/).  Midwestern University complies with the Illinois Equal Pay Act of 2003 and Arizona Equal Pay Acts.