Tell the University of Tennessee College of Medicine Chattanooga: Stop Using Animals for Medical Student Surgery Skills Training
Action Alert from All-Creatures.org

FROM

Physicians Committee
January 2015

ACTION

Please urge University of Tennessee College of Medicine Chattanooga (UTCOMC) dean David C. Seaberg, M.D., to replace the use of pigs in the school’s surgery clerkship with validated human-based methods. We have provided text for you, but if you decide to write your own message, please be polite and encouraging. Here are some talking points:

  • Please replace the use of animals in the surgery clerkship at the University of Tennessee College of Medicine Chattanooga.
  • UTCOMC is the only medical school in Tennessee that continues to use animals for this purpose.
  • UTCOMC has a state-of-the-art simulation center that could immediately replace the use of pigs with human-based methods. 

Sign an online petition here.

And/Or better yet, make direct contact:

David C. Seaberg, MD
910 Madison, Suite 1002
Memphis, TN 38163
phone (901) 448-5529
fax (901) 448-7683

INFORMATION / TALKING POINTS

Physicians Committee billboards recently warned motorists that the University of Tennessee College of Medicine Chattanooga’s use of live animals for medical training is substandard. Local member physician Jane Gumnick, M.D., also presented the university with a petition signed by 365 Tennessee physicians asking for a switch to human-based methods.

Drivers approaching the university saw a billboard warning that they were entering a substandard medical training zone:

animal use medical training

After passing the university, they saw a sign alerting them that they survived:

animal use medical training

Of the 187 accredited medical schools in the United States and Canada, only two other schools use live animals to train students in surgery techniques. The remaining 98 percent of programs use nonanimal methods, including human-based medical simulation and task trainers. The University of Mississippi Medical Center uses animals to teach physiology.

The other campuses of the University of Tennessee College of Medicine already use nonanimal methods, and Chattanooga has a state-of-the-art Clinical Skills and Simulation Center that could immediately replace the use of animals for teaching students basic surgery skills.

Thank you for everything you do for animals!

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