Progress made on new veterinary hospital at Purdue

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Progress is being made on the new Veterinary Teaching Hospital at Purdue University.

The $108 million project will replace the majority of the current hospital with a 156,000-gross-square-foot facility.

The hospital will have large and small animal facilities, including a new equine hospital and a farm animal hospital.

“We’re very pleased the construction is moving forward with an estimated completion date of December 2021,” said Willie Reed, dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine, at the virtual Purdue Fish Fry. “We hope to occupy the facility in March of 2022.”

The hospital will allow expanded clinical research programs, which will help Purdue recruit new faculty and students.

The College of Veterinary Medicine admitted the Class of 2024 in August, in the midst of the global pandemic.

“We selected 84 students from an applicant pool of well over 1,600,” Reed said. “It’s a very competitive process.”

Faculty continue to have their research grants funded.

“Research funding is up above where it was this time last year,” Reed said. “We were able to secure funding for a couple of proposals to address the COVID-19 pandemic.

“One project is we’re developing a novel vaccine for COVID-19. That work is being led by Dr. Suresh Mittal. Dr. Harm Hogenesch, our associate dean for research, is also working on that project, as well as others.”

In addition, the Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory is playing a critical role in implementing the Protect Purdue plan, a campus taskforce of which Reed is co-chair.

“We’re running COVID-19 testing in our Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory,” he explained. “That lab has a wide range of capabilities providing diagnostics in the animal world. But now we’re addressing the needs on the human side.”

Learn more about the College of Veterinary Medicine at Purdue at www.vet.purdue.edu.