After graduation from Yale with a degree in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Dr. Yanong worked at Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine, studying neoplasia in soft-shell clams from Boston Harbor. Two years later, he attended the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine where he concentrated in aquatic animal medicine and received his V.M.D. in 1992. Read about how Dr. Yanong's longtime interest as an aquarium hobbyist led to career in aquatic medicine.
Q. What factors influenced your decision to pursue veterinary medicine as a career?
As a first-generation-Filipino-American-Chicagoan, it was almost a foregone conclusion that I would go into human medicine. My MD parents bought me my first doctor’s kit at age five, in a “subtle” attempt to lure me and my two sisters toward human medicine. Three of my father’s brothers and sisters were also physicians working in Chicago, and others were pharmacists or dentists. But a genetic predisposition to all things aquatic; a steady diet of James Herriot (author of the All Creatures Great and Small series), Jacques Cousteau, and Marlin Perkins (with the oft “endangered” Jim Fowler of Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom); wet, winged, and tail-wagging pets; and frequent trips to aquaria, zoos, and wild animal parks in Chicago and Florida drew me to veterinary medicine.
After graduation from Yale in 1986, I decided to spend a year or two in aquatic research. One of my biology professors connected me with a researcher at Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine, Dr. Carole Reinisch, who was studying a blood neoplasia in soft-shell clams in Boston Harbor. It was while I was working at her lab in Woods Hole, Massachusetts that I learned about the Aquavet Program there, jointly organized by the veterinary schools at Penn and Cornell.
Q. What did you like about attending the University of Pennsylvania - School of Veterinary Medicine?
Penn Vet had an excellent program both in the classroom and in clinics. The small animal hospital was based in Philadelphia (“the city”) and the large animal clinic, in Kennett Square (“the country”) so that our case load was extraordinarily heavy. At the time, the Aquavet Program was the only one of its kind, and introduced me and my fellow Aquavet alumni to aquatic veterinary medicine, my primary passion. Several classmates and I started an Aquatics Club, and our club mentors became my own mentors and now good friends, Dr. Greg Lewbart (NC State) and Dr. Brent Whitaker (National Aquarium). Although I thoroughly enjoyed my small and large animal rotations, I was also able to take 16 weeks of external rotations and used this time to gain clinical experience at the Bronx Zoo, the National Aquarium in Baltimore, and Sea World Orlando.
I also became heavily involved in student government and admissions, serving multiple years in each, and learning more about the inner workings of the school. But what really made my time at Penn special was my class. The Penn Vet Class of 1992 was full of amazing, brilliant, and crazy characters, each of us with our own quirks and interests, but always full of laughter, love, and support through challenging times. Many in my class, to this day, I still consider very close friends.
Q. What would be an interview question you would ask an applicant applying to veterinary school? Please provide explanation on why this question.
Compare and contrast production medicine vs. companion animal medicine. How do you reconcile the importance of each to society, given their very different “end goals”?
I am concerned that the urbanization of America has led many to forget the importance of farms and the veterinarian’s role in animal production- through continual improvements in healthy, husbandry and welfare. In fact, the shift to cities and electronic media, and away from farms and nature has turned many “against” animal source of protein and, sadly, the devaluation food production medicine.
Q. How did you make yourself stand out as an applicant to veterinary school?
There were several factors that made me “different”: my undergraduate education- majoring in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry at Yale; my interest in aquatic animal medicine; and, my experience working at the Lincoln Park Zoo for two summers (at the Farm-in-the-zoo, and the traveling zoo program); I also did well on my GREs, MCAT, and VAT (back then, veterinary schools had not harmonized testing requirements, so for the schools to which I applied, I had to take all three exams).
Q. What are you passionate about in terms of your specialty?
I get to work outside, and I get to work in or near water- whether it is fresh, brackish, or salt. I also enjoy working with fish farmers and aquaculture. My area of concentration is fish and aquatic invertebrate medicine, both still very much on the “frontier.” The wide diversity of species and “sub-fields” in aquatics means that there is still so much to learn about fish and aquatic invertebrate medicine and so much knowledge to contribute. Our training in comparative medicine helps us to bridge gaps in knowledge and ask relevant questions.
Aquatic medicine includes areas many are already familiar with- food animal, bait, pet, and display aquaria. In addition, veterinarians are become more engaged in aquatic natural resources, including coral reef health and oyster reef restoration. Zebrafish are an important medical model research animal, and more lab animal veterinarians are working with these animals. There are also aquatic opportunities in regulatory medicine through state and federal agencies, including the USDA and FDA. The list of opportunities will hopefully continue to increase.
Q. What do you want the attendees to leave with after your presentation at the conference this October?
Several key points:
Don't miss the opportunity to meet Dr. Yanong in person at the conference for his presentation on Saturday, October 10 and Sunday, October 11. To register for the conference, please click here.
As a first-generation-Filipino-American-Chicagoan, it was almost a foregone conclusion that I would go into human medicine. My MD parents bought me my first doctor’s kit at age five, in a “subtle” attempt to lure me and my two sisters toward human medicine. Three of my father’s brothers and sisters were also physicians working in Chicago, and others were pharmacists or dentists. But a genetic predisposition to all things aquatic; a steady diet of James Herriot (author of the All Creatures Great and Small series), Jacques Cousteau, and Marlin Perkins (with the oft “endangered” Jim Fowler of Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom); wet, winged, and tail-wagging pets; and frequent trips to aquaria, zoos, and wild animal parks in Chicago and Florida drew me to veterinary medicine.
After graduation from Yale in 1986, I decided to spend a year or two in aquatic research. One of my biology professors connected me with a researcher at Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine, Dr. Carole Reinisch, who was studying a blood neoplasia in soft-shell clams in Boston Harbor. It was while I was working at her lab in Woods Hole, Massachusetts that I learned about the Aquavet Program there, jointly organized by the veterinary schools at Penn and Cornell.
Q. What did you like about attending the University of Pennsylvania - School of Veterinary Medicine?
Penn Vet had an excellent program both in the classroom and in clinics. The small animal hospital was based in Philadelphia (“the city”) and the large animal clinic, in Kennett Square (“the country”) so that our case load was extraordinarily heavy. At the time, the Aquavet Program was the only one of its kind, and introduced me and my fellow Aquavet alumni to aquatic veterinary medicine, my primary passion. Several classmates and I started an Aquatics Club, and our club mentors became my own mentors and now good friends, Dr. Greg Lewbart (NC State) and Dr. Brent Whitaker (National Aquarium). Although I thoroughly enjoyed my small and large animal rotations, I was also able to take 16 weeks of external rotations and used this time to gain clinical experience at the Bronx Zoo, the National Aquarium in Baltimore, and Sea World Orlando.
I also became heavily involved in student government and admissions, serving multiple years in each, and learning more about the inner workings of the school. But what really made my time at Penn special was my class. The Penn Vet Class of 1992 was full of amazing, brilliant, and crazy characters, each of us with our own quirks and interests, but always full of laughter, love, and support through challenging times. Many in my class, to this day, I still consider very close friends.
Q. What would be an interview question you would ask an applicant applying to veterinary school? Please provide explanation on why this question.
Compare and contrast production medicine vs. companion animal medicine. How do you reconcile the importance of each to society, given their very different “end goals”?
I am concerned that the urbanization of America has led many to forget the importance of farms and the veterinarian’s role in animal production- through continual improvements in healthy, husbandry and welfare. In fact, the shift to cities and electronic media, and away from farms and nature has turned many “against” animal source of protein and, sadly, the devaluation food production medicine.
Q. How did you make yourself stand out as an applicant to veterinary school?
There were several factors that made me “different”: my undergraduate education- majoring in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry at Yale; my interest in aquatic animal medicine; and, my experience working at the Lincoln Park Zoo for two summers (at the Farm-in-the-zoo, and the traveling zoo program); I also did well on my GREs, MCAT, and VAT (back then, veterinary schools had not harmonized testing requirements, so for the schools to which I applied, I had to take all three exams).
Q. What are you passionate about in terms of your specialty?
I get to work outside, and I get to work in or near water- whether it is fresh, brackish, or salt. I also enjoy working with fish farmers and aquaculture. My area of concentration is fish and aquatic invertebrate medicine, both still very much on the “frontier.” The wide diversity of species and “sub-fields” in aquatics means that there is still so much to learn about fish and aquatic invertebrate medicine and so much knowledge to contribute. Our training in comparative medicine helps us to bridge gaps in knowledge and ask relevant questions.
Aquatic medicine includes areas many are already familiar with- food animal, bait, pet, and display aquaria. In addition, veterinarians are become more engaged in aquatic natural resources, including coral reef health and oyster reef restoration. Zebrafish are an important medical model research animal, and more lab animal veterinarians are working with these animals. There are also aquatic opportunities in regulatory medicine through state and federal agencies, including the USDA and FDA. The list of opportunities will hopefully continue to increase.
Q. What do you want the attendees to leave with after your presentation at the conference this October?
Several key points:
- Fish and invertebrate medicine are exciting areas in veterinary medicine, but there are also many other “non-traditional” areas in our profession that need veterinarians.
- Expose yourself to as many different areas in veterinary medicine as you can. Something very unexpected may light a spark in you.
- If you are interested in a “non-traditional” area of veterinary medicine – such as aquatics- use all opportunities available to you to gain experience and knowledge and connections, but always in a sincere and thoughtful way.
- There will always be naysayers- those who will attempt to negate your goals and aspirations. To those wise family, friends, or mentors whom you trust, listen, keep your passion and drive- and have a plan B and C and D and E.
- You never know when something you thought was completely irrelevant will become an important bit of knowledge that will help you solve a problem.
- “People skills,” for most areas of veterinary medicine- are as important as a solid foundation in the nuts and bolts of medicine and surgery.
- Always treat others- whether they be classmates, teachers, staff, (and of course family and friends) with respect and consideration
Don't miss the opportunity to meet Dr. Yanong in person at the conference for his presentation on Saturday, October 10 and Sunday, October 11. To register for the conference, please click here.