Dachshund Rescue UK sponsorship of Queens Veterinary School Hospital, University of Cambridge

Press Release: Dachshund Rescue UK is delighted to announce two major

collaborations with the veterinary neurology service at the QVSH,

University of Cambridge.

We are fully funding a three year training position for a veterinary

neurologist (senior clinical training scholarship or residency),

which began in July 2021. The position was advertised, and

received many high quality applicants. Eventually the team

decided on Bruno Scalia (pictured below). Bruno is an Italian

veterinary surgeon who came to the UK in order to try to fulfil his

ambition to become a neurologist. He visited the QVSH prior to

the pandemic and made a very good impression. He has completed

a neurology internship in a busy private referral hospital which

gave him valuable experience, and he has already managed to

author a publication in a leading veterinary journal. The team are

confident he will be an outstanding neurologist, and during his

residency he will be conducting a study which aims to find

evidence for a surgical treatment which might reduce the

frequency of recurrences of disc disease in our breed as well as

others.

Our second project is the full funding of a one year research

project or Masters, leading to an MPhil degree for the successful

candidate. This position was advertised last year, and following a

very long process of application, interview, fulfilment of many

special conditions set by the University, and finally the granting of

a full student visa, the successful candidate is a veterinary surgeon

from Colombia called Viviana Rojas (picture below). This is a

potentially life-changing opportunity for Viviana, who will begin

her research in October 2021. She will be working as part of Paul

Freeman’s research group looking at various aspects of

intervertebral disc disease. Already this group have made some

exciting advances in the understanding of this disease, and we are

hopeful that Viviana’s work will further add to the knowledge

base, and could lead to novel treatments or preventative measures

in the future.

We are extremely excited about these collaborations, and are

looking forward very much to further developing our relationship

with the team at Cambridge for the benefit of our breed in

particular but also of course for the welfare of all breeds which

suffer neurological disease.