House Officer Reflections
The Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine is the workplace of hundreds of individuals, ranging from students eager to grow into doctors to veteran professors shaping the future.
Among those are House Officers: a group of licensed veterinarians who are earning specialized training after earning their Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree. Some follow an internship path, where they spend one year either rotating among clinical settings or focusing on one area to gain more experience. Others spend three years working towards a board-certified specialization as a resident. Regardless of the path each veterinarian takes, all grow through their residencies and internships.
Post-graduate students come from near and far to advance their clinical skills at the Animal Health Center in Starkville. For some, like Small Animal Rotating Intern Dr. Sori Yang, the decision to further pursue veterinary medicine brought him halfway around the world.
“Looking back, my year as a rotating intern at MSU has been an incredibly rewarding and memorable journey,” Yang said. “Coming from South Korea, navigating a completely different clinical environment and a new language brought unexpected challenges and adaptation difficulties. However, thanks to the immense support, patience and kindness of my colleagues and mentors, I was able to successfully complete this transition.”
Yang will remain in Starkville with his wife and daughters as he steps into a Veterinary Neurology Specialty Intern position beginning in July. He hopes to secure a neurology residency in the future.
Meanwhile, some house officers are already making that coveted transition from intern to resident. Dr. Maria Ibañez Vilanova currently serves as the college’s Ophthalmology Specialty Intern, but she’s set to continue her journey as a resident in the department.
“Since day one, the MSU family has made me feel welcome and supported in every way,” Vilanova said. “It is truly a special place to work. Everyone in the hospital greets you with a smile and a, ‘Good morning,’ creating a warm and positive environment. I am very excited to continue growing and learning from such amazing mentors and to be part of a team that is so dedicated to supporting one another and providing excellent care to patients.”
As summer continues, a new batch of house officers will be making themselves at home in the Wise Center with big goals in mind. 2026 DVM graduate Alex Jones, who wants to focus on farm animal medicine, hopes that she will continue to grow with advanced training.
“I decided to stay as an intern simply because I thought I needed to gain more experience, and I developed a family here,” Jones explained. She went on to share that she hopes to potentially pursue a residency in the future.
Christopher Larson, on the other hand, is very new to the Starkville area. As a graduate of Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tenn., Larson completed much of his internship in Oregon before having to take a short leave. He will finish up the final weeks of his internship at Mississippi State – a school that was his top choice for postgraduate studies-- before transitioning into a role as an anesthesia resident.
Larson shared that he visited the college in person during his interview process, and it left a lasting impression on him.
“Seeing the hospital, meeting everybody and seeing how personal and personable the environment is made me drawn to it, especially as an incoming solo resident on that service,” he said. “It made me feel more comfortable compared to the larger hospitals that I get lost in, and I feel I can have a better connection with everybody here.”