Micha C. Simons joins veterinary college, bringing educational, surgical expertise

The Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine welcomes Micha C. Simons, associate professor of small animal surgery, in the Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences.  

She will focus on small animal soft tissue surgery. Simons background covers everything from gastrointestinal surgeries to diagnostic biopsies to hernia repairs. In addition to performing surgery, Simons is excited to work with veterinary students.  

"My big passion is education. I took some time over the last few years to really focus on education — I gained a master’s in veterinary education during that time — and along with completing my residency in small animal surgery, I can merge the two disciplines and bring principles from both into the educational spaces in our classrooms’ clinical encounters,” said Simons.  

Simons’ interest in education originated from experiencing different approaches to veterinary medicine; Simons was born and raised in the British territory of Bermuda before coming to the U.S. for college, earning her bachelor’s degree in biology at Washington & Lee University in Lexington, Virginia.

Her education and veterinary training experiences motivated her to think more critically about her approach as an educator and to explore educational philosophy and course design principles. 

"Getting to see the fire in students when it clicks and they feel like they've done something well, or when all of their classroom learning merges and it makes sense with a clinical patient — all of those things really excite me. I feel that I owe my students and the veterinary profession more. I owe them the best I can be,” said Simons.  

Before joining the college, Simons was an education fellow and then an associate professor of veterinary medicine and surgery at Lincoln Memorial University's Center for Innovation in Veterinary Education and Technology, where she also earned her master’s of veterinary education. 

Simons graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine in 2008 and interned at Long Island Veterinary Specialists and the University of Missouri before completing a small animal surgery residency at Veterinary Specialty and Emergency Center in Levittown, Pennsylvania. Simons has also worked as a clinical assistant professor of small animal surgery at Purdue University's College of Veterinary Medicine.