Animal Welfare Assessment Team

Join us to support the Animal Welfare Assessment Contest Support Fund

The Animal Welfare Assessment Contest Team at the UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine is a newly revitalized, veterinary student-led effort to compete as a team in the AVMA Animal Welfare Assessment Contest® (AWJAC®). In this contest, attendees use evidence-based, ethical reasoning to assess animal welfare in individual virtual scenarios and a team assessment at an operating animal facility.

For 12 weeks, our team members meet biweekly for guest lectures, journal clubs, discussions, and mock assessments under the supervision of a coach veterinarian and experts in animal welfare—from animal shelter design to octopus cognition, bison nutrition to the benefits of tickling lab rats—to prepare for the contest in November. Our goal is to support travel and training costs for our veterinary student team to compete in the annual Fall contest.

Recent contest participation has been funded through student organization funds in addition to limited departmental funding. Your gift ensures that veterinary students from all backgrounds can participate in this unique educational experience and meet colleagues and mentors passionate about animal welfare, by reducing out-of-pocket costs for travel, lodging, and registration. By donating, you are contributing to the education and development of future veterinarians' ability to assess, communicate, and advance animal welfare.

Thank you very much for contributing to the Animal Welfare Assessment Contest Team at the UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine. We encourage you to share our campaign with any potential donors in your life to support making this contest more accessible for all.

Video description: The video opens with UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine student, Rachel, standing outdoors under a tree. Rachel speaks directly to the camera and introduces the Animal Welfare Assessment Team. Throughout the video, details are shared about the team's participation in the American Veterinary Medical Association's Animal Welfare Assessment Contest (AWJAC), the activities, and fundraising goals as part of Crowdfund 2026. The video uses overlaid emojis to highlight different aspects of the contest, including types of assessments and species covered.

The video transitions to a past member of the Animal Welfare Assessment Team, James, speaking about his experience on the team in a hallway of the UC Davis Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital. The video also features the coach of the Animal Welfare Assessment Team, Dr. Jamie Nakatani, DVM, MPVM, speaking on the benefits of the team. The video closes with images of the Animal Welfare Assessment Team from 2023 through 2025 with an overlaid banner for the Animal Welfare Assessment Team Crowdfund October 2026 campaign.