"I was so grateful to the vets for helping me and my horse," she says. "And I thought, ‘This would be a great career for me.'"
With her first year of veterinary medicine completed, Wilson is spending her summer working in the College's student research program with Dr. Gillian Muir, a professor in the WCVM's Department of Veterinary Biomedical Sciences.
Wilson's project focuses on the use of a non-invasive treatment for a partial spinal cord injury known as intermittent hypoxia (IH) — a procedure in which subjects (in this case, rats) are alternately exposed to low oxygen levels (hypoxia) and normal oxygen levels.
"I'll be exploring whether or not daily exercise, in combination with the intermittent hypoxia treatment, will have a positive effect on recovery," she explains.
While this novel treatment can be applied to spinal-injured pets, the primary goal is to develop it as a human therapy. "Spinal cord trauma is a significant and debilitating condition in people," Wilson says, adding that the study will help give further insight into the robustness of the IH treatment – something that Muir's lab has been investigating since 2008.
Originally from Tugaske, Sask., Wilson spends a lot of her spare time playing sports such as volleyball, basketball and curling. She also has two horses, Rainy and Jack, whom she trains and uses for pleasure riding.
No stranger to research, Wilson was also involved in a nutritional study working with sheep at the University of Saskatchewan's College of Agriculture and Bioresources during the summer of 2011.
"I wrote and published a paper in the Journal of Animal Science," says Wilson, who was also given the opportunity to present her findings at the 2011 American Dairy Science Association–American Society of Animal Science Joint Meeting in New Orleans.
After she graduates in 2015, Wilson hopes to continue participating in research. "I find it very rewarding and my experience has exposed me to various areas of research," she says.
"I'd advise any future WCVM students to spend a summer doing research even if you're not considering it as a career. You'll learn a lot and you may find it quite enjoyable."
With her first year of veterinary medicine completed, Wilson is spending her summer working in the College's student research program with Dr. Gillian Muir, a professor in the WCVM's Department of Veterinary Biomedical Sciences.
Wilson's project focuses on the use of a non-invasive treatment for a partial spinal cord injury known as intermittent hypoxia (IH) — a procedure in which subjects (in this case, rats) are alternately exposed to low oxygen levels (hypoxia) and normal oxygen levels.
"I'll be exploring whether or not daily exercise, in combination with the intermittent hypoxia treatment, will have a positive effect on recovery," she explains.
While this novel treatment can be applied to spinal-injured pets, the primary goal is to develop it as a human therapy. "Spinal cord trauma is a significant and debilitating condition in people," Wilson says, adding that the study will help give further insight into the robustness of the IH treatment – something that Muir's lab has been investigating since 2008.
Originally from Tugaske, Sask., Wilson spends a lot of her spare time playing sports such as volleyball, basketball and curling. She also has two horses, Rainy and Jack, whom she trains and uses for pleasure riding.
No stranger to research, Wilson was also involved in a nutritional study working with sheep at the University of Saskatchewan's College of Agriculture and Bioresources during the summer of 2011.
"I wrote and published a paper in the Journal of Animal Science," says Wilson, who was also given the opportunity to present her findings at the 2011 American Dairy Science Association–American Society of Animal Science Joint Meeting in New Orleans.
After she graduates in 2015, Wilson hopes to continue participating in research. "I find it very rewarding and my experience has exposed me to various areas of research," she says.
"I'd advise any future WCVM students to spend a summer doing research even if you're not considering it as a career. You'll learn a lot and you may find it quite enjoyable."
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