Tufts students bring veterinary and medical anatomy together at Cad Ex
Bottom line
Students from Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine and Tufts University School of Medicine recently hosted the ninth annual Cad Ex, or Comparative Anatomy Exchange Day, bringing together about 50 veterinary, medical, and dental students for a day of presentations and anatomy lab work focused on the cardiac, pulmonary, and renal systems. A Tufts Dental Central event posting ahead of the May 2, 2026 program described Cad Ex as an interprofessional day centered on the commonalities across human, animal, and dental anatomy, with student-led presentations and guided anatomy lab sessions. The Cummings School source says the event included interactive presentations and demonstrations across multiple animal species, underscoring its role as a recurring cross-campus teaching exercise. (sites.tufts.edu)
Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, Cad Ex is a small but telling example of how schools are trying to build interprofessional skills earlier in training. Anatomy remains a core part of both veterinary and human health education, and broader literature on interprofessional anatomy teaching suggests these shared lab experiences can improve learners’ understanding of structure, clinical context, and how different professions approach patient care. That matters for a workforce increasingly expected to collaborate across One Health, public health, research, and specialty referral settings. (aavmc.org)
What to watch: Watch whether Tufts expands Cad Ex or similar One Health and anatomy collaborations as Cummings School continues broader curriculum and facility investments, including its new Veterinary Learning Center. (provost.tufts.edu)
Students from Tufts’ Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine and Tufts University School of Medicine used this year’s Cad Ex 2026 to do more than review anatomy. The ninth annual Comparative Anatomy Exchange Day brought together roughly 50 veterinary, medical, and dental students for student-led presentations and anatomy lab demonstrations focused on the cardiopulmonary and renal systems, according to Tufts materials tied to the May 2, 2026 event. The program reflects a long-running interprofessional effort at Tufts to connect veterinary and human health training through shared anatomy education. (sites.tufts.edu)
The event didn’t come out of nowhere. Tufts Dental Central described Cad Ex as a day built around “the interconnectedness and commonalities between human, animal, and dental anatomy,” with presentations followed by guided anatomy lab work across species. That framing aligns with the event’s One Health orientation and helps explain why the program has persisted into its ninth year: it gives students exposure not just to anatomy, but to how adjacent health professions observe, describe, and teach the same organ systems. (sites.tufts.edu)
The source material from Cummings School says this year’s event featured 50 D.V.M., medical, and dental students in interactive presentations and anatomy lab demonstrations spanning cardiac, pulmonary, and renal anatomy across multiple animal species. Additional Tufts information published before the event confirms the same system focus and the use of student leaders in the lab. Tufts Medical School’s anatomy laboratory is a large, technology-equipped teaching space used as an essential part of medical training, which helps illustrate the institutional infrastructure supporting this kind of cross-school exercise. (sites.tufts.edu)
While direct outside reaction to Cad Ex itself appears limited, the broader educational literature points in the same direction. A review commissioned by the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges describes anatomy as a universal cornerstone of health professions education and notes that cadaver-based teaching remains a central instructional method even as schools add simulation, imaging, and other tools. Separate published studies on interprofessional anatomy education report gains in perceived knowledge, confidence, and understanding of other professions’ roles after shared cadaver-based or anatomy-focused learning experiences. (aavmc.org)
That context matters because veterinary education has been under pressure to make interprofessional training more meaningful, not just symbolic. A scoping review focused on veterinary medicine and the human health professions argued that these initiatives are important for advancing One Health education and research. Another paper on the state of interprofessional education in veterinary medicine found that schools still face barriers, including schedule constraints and uneven perceived value, suggesting that sustained, student-facing programs like Cad Ex may be more notable than they first appear. (tandfonline.com)
Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, the significance isn’t that one student event took place. It’s that veterinary schools are continuing to test models that prepare future clinicians to communicate across disciplines from the start of training. Comparative anatomy work can sharpen species-specific knowledge while also reinforcing shared biological principles, and the interprofessional format may help future veterinarians navigate referral conversations, translational research settings, public health work, and One Health collaborations with more fluency. Inference: by keeping the event recurring and system-focused, Tufts appears to be treating Cad Ex as a practical educational bridge rather than a one-off networking exercise. (sites.tufts.edu)
There’s also a local institutional angle. Cummings School is in the middle of broader academic change, including a redesigned D.V.M. curriculum, class expansion, and construction of a new Veterinary Learning Center. Those investments suggest Tufts is actively reshaping how veterinary students learn, and Cad Ex fits that larger pattern of hands-on, collaborative training. (provost.tufts.edu)
What to watch: The next question is whether Tufts formalizes Cad Ex further, scales participation beyond roughly 50 students, or ties the model more explicitly to One Health, simulation, or new curriculum pathways as its educational infrastructure evolves. (provost.tufts.edu)