Replacing Animals in Medical Education and Training

The Physicians Committee was instrumental in replacing animals with simulators and other human-relevant training methods in all medical schools and pediatrics residency programs in the United States and Canada.

When the Physicians Committee was founded in 1985, most medical schools used dogs and other animals to teach medical students surgical skills and other procedures. At the end of the trainings the animals were killed. In 2016, after more than three decades of perseverance by the Physicians Committee, animals were replaced with simulators and other human-relevant methods at all surveyed U.S. and Canadian medical schools.

In 2018, after a decade-long Physicians Committee campaign, the days of using cats, ferrets, piglets, and other animals to teach future pediatricians ended in all surveyed U.S. and Canadian pediatrics residencies.

Today, the vast majority of medical training uses simulators and other human-relevant methods. But the Physicians Committee continues to work to replace animals in areas of advanced medical training, including in emergency medicine and general surgery residency programs, and in Advanced Trauma Life Support courses.

Final Medical School Ends the Use of Animals in Training Students

Dr. Barnard talks about the end of the use of animals in medical student training.

Celebrate Our Wins

Explore the Areas Where We’re Actively Creating Change

Our Surveys of Training Methods

Take Action

Please visit our Take Action page to learn more about some of the programs the Physicians Committee is actively working to change and urge them to replace animals with human-relevant training methods.

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