Skip to main content

NC State-Ceva Graduates First Class of Poultry Medicine Specialists

Graduating Class
The 2020 NC-Ceva Specialists in Poultry Medicine graduating class, with mentors and CVM faculty. Photo by Ken Martin.

Two years after signing a distance learning partnership agreement, the NC State College of Veterinary Medicine and Ceva Animal Health has graduated its first class of Latin American veterinarians certified as NC State-Ceva specialists in poultry medicine. 

Twelve trainees in the inaugural class received certificates and shared dinner at the ceremony at the Park Alumni Center on NC State’s Centennial Campus. Veterinarians completing the 18-month course learned the latest strategies for promoting poultry health, food supply safety, productivity and welfare.

Dignitaries from both organizations were present, including  Luiz Sesti, head of Ceva’s veterinary services in Latin America, Fernando de Mori, Ceva’s Latin America zone director and Ceva’s Latin American Poultry Franchise Director Branko Alva, as well as CVM Dean Paul Lunn, and Oscar Fletcher, CVM dean emeritus and professor of poultry health management, who played a key role in establishing the program. 

Fletcher said prospects look good for the certificate program to grow in the future. Graduates spoke of how much at home they felt, how they had bonded as a group and how deeply grateful they were to NC State and Ceva for making the program available. 

“We’re certainly grateful to our partners at Ceva for helping us to bring this program to Latin America, and we hope to even more countries in the future,” said Lunn.