Perle Zhitnitskiy, DVM, MSpVM

Associate Professor, Department of Veterinary Population Medicine (VPM)
Perle Zhitnitskiy

Contact

Office Phone
612-625-6083
Office Address

335C AS/VM
1988 Fitch Avenue
St. Paul, MN 55108
United States

Affiliations:
Swine Program
Veterinary Medicine
Veterinary Population Medicine

Education

DVM, University of Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France

MSpVM, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC

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Biography

Summary

Dr. Perle Zhitnitskiy is originally from France, where she received her DVM. After practicing for a swine-only coop in Brittany, she moved to the US to become an instructor in swine medicine at the North Carolina State University, College of Veterinary Medicine. She stayed there for 4 years, discovering a passion for education and completing a Masters in Specialized Veterinary Medicine. She then moved to Minnesota in 2016 and is now an Associate Professor in Swine Health and Production at the University of Minnesota, College of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Zhitnitskiy is currently coordinating the education efforts of the swine group and teaches throughout the four years of the DVM curriculum. Her instructional expertise covers a broad range of topics, including the diagnosis and management of swine infectious diseases, animal welfare, professional ethics, and navigating challenging conversations in the field of agriculture. Her research efforts focus on competency-based education, exploring veterinary students’ attitudes toward swine, the use of virtual reality in education, and the impact of the educational context on impostor phenomenon. In 2023, she was recognized as a distinguished expert educator by the Academy of Veterinary Educators.

Research

Research summary/interests

Dr. Zhitnitskiy divides her research efforts between farm-applied projects in adequation with the needs of pork producers and developing new educational techniques in veterinary instruction. Currently, she is looking at characterizing the negative effects of swine infectious diseases on farm results.

Teaching

Courses

  • CVM 6907: Professional Development II: What does that mean being a swine veterinarian?
  • CVM 6865 Introduction to swine production: Presentation of the swine welfare problematic
  • CVM 6963 Food and Fiber animal selective I: Therapeutics in swine medicine
  • CVM 6965 Food and Fiber animal selective II: Production systems, economics and production records
  • CVM 6967 Food and Fiber animal problems: The diagnostic process in swine medicine; application to a field case
  • CVM 6842: Diagnostics and Treatments of swine diseases