biography

From my hometown to Killin (that’s the name of the village) took over a day but it was totally worth it. The house (which actually is a farm) is sitting on a lake and is surrounded by green landscape and sheep, of course. In front of the house there is also a small caravan for guests (it was too cold for me to stay in) making the place very bucolic and magical. I would help Kathleen in the fields in the morning as she has 500 sheep to take care of. In the afternoon and until late evening we would read cytology smears and discuss clinical cases. What an amazing time; I really felt like James Herriot in those days. 

I also remembered that in the third cover there was an email address. I immediately contacted her and very kindly got an answer few days after saying “you are more than welcome to visit me whenever you want”.  At that point, I realised that was my moment and I should take this opportunity. I spent the following weeks planning the trip and also arranging a short externship at the University of Cambridge that had (and still has) a large department of Veterinary Medicine with a very active residency program.

Those weeks in the UK have been fantastic. It was my first work experience abroad and the first all dedicated to clinical pathology. The first few weeks with Dr Kathleen Freeman have been one of the best life experiences I have had so far. She leaves in a tiny village on the north parts of Scotland. The only way to reach the village (if you do not have a car) is taking a postbus that goes through the village once a day.

In 2009, two years after I graduated, I had a life changing episode that I will never forget. Just after graduating, I applied for a scholarship sponsored by SCIVAC (Italian Companion Animal Veterinary Association) for the best thesis. I thought I could have some chances as I did a large retrospective study on feline lymphoma in collaboration with the University of Padua, but I would have never thought I would have been the winner. I still remember the day I received that email. 

For the first time in my life, I had a lump sum to spend for an externship abroad. I didn’t know where to go at that time, as the veterinary clinical pathology world was kind of new to me. What I remember is that I had been fascinated by a small cytology book written by a British veterinary clinical pathologist called Kathleen Freeman.