Maura Ambron

Contact details

• email mambron@rvc.ac.uk

About me

• I'm a fourth year international veterinary student at The Royal Veterinary College.

• I grew up in Northern California, but my family moved to Colorado when I was nineteen.

• I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1999 and a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of Colorado at Denver in 2004.

• I have a male hand-fed cockatiel named Sydney. Other then dogs, Sydney is the most amazing pet I have ever had! He has taught me that size doesn't mean anything. Although he's small, his personality makes up for it ten fold. When he wants to show off Sydney says, "Whatcha doing?", "Pretty Bird", and "Pretty Boy". He also imitates all kinds of sounds! The most important thing about Syndney is that he helps me to not take myself so seriously.

What I hope to get out of this project

I hope to gain experience editing a wiki. Also, as a vet student I realize that this will be a valuable resource for learning the cardiovascular system.

My best learning experience in the past

• Learning to horseback ride using an English saddle. I showed up with jeans, cowboy boots, and a big belt buckle! Some habits never die.

• Academically, I have learned the best from the use of color, pictures, pneumonics, flash cards, mindmaps and tables. Anything that breaks down large amounts of information into more tangible pieces is great.

Curriculum area that interests me

Small Animal cardiology and dermatology are two of my favorite modules.

I also enjoy learning about avian and exotic medicine.

Topics that are difficult

• Experience has taught me that even difficult information can be broken down so that it makes sense. I find topics that require huge amounts of memorization the most difficult.

Day one thoughts

The world is my oyster.

What (three things) Have I learned today?

• How to edit a wiki page

• An overview of the WikiVet project this summer

• How to drive to Nottingham Vet School the long way!!!

What I still need to learn

I need to learn how to put images, tables, and links into the wiki page.

How I feel about what has happened today

I'm excited to be a part of the Wiki Vet project!

Three weeks into the wikivet project (or thereabouts)

Sections I've been working on

• Arrhythmias

• Parasites

What I feel I've gained so far from being involved in the project

• I have reviewed some of the major topics in the cardiovascular module and I have learned how to edit a Wiki.

Problems or issues that I've had or can forsee

• I think we could run into problems not having a separation between large and small animal information on the WikiVet site.

• At the RVC, our cardiovascular module deals mostly with small animals and so I have reflected this in the Cardiovascular ClinicalWiki. However, there were some important topics in large animal medicine that I have left out simply because I have run out of time.