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Samantha HartwigPosition/Title: M.Sc. Candidate email: shartwig@uoguelph.ca Phone: Office:
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Education
B.Sc. Honours, Major in Animal Biology (2018 – 2022)
M.Sc. Animal Nutrition (2022 – current)
Current Academics
I am currently completing my MSc by coursework studying Animal Nutrition under the supervision of Dr. Anna Kate Shoveller. I first became interested in nutrition when I started working in a companion animal hospital in 2016. I was astounded by the number of different ways nutrition could affect the health of animals as well as aid in the treatment of some diseases. I completed courses and attended seminars outside of university that focused on animal nutrition and soon began working with owners to optimize their pet’s nutrition and help them understand the importance of it. Throughout my undergraduate degree, I further expanded my knowledge of nutrition by taking various elective courses focusing on species specific nutrition.
I will soon be working on a project with PhD student, Scarlett Burron, that will be studying the effects of different supplemental oils on inflammatory biomarkers in healthy adult horses. Camelina oil has been explored as a sustainable alternative to other common supplemental oils (e.g. flaxseed oil) in both equine and canine diets. This oil also provides multiple health benefits as it contains an ideal omega 3:6 ratio and high levels of natural antioxidants. I will be analyzing data from the equine feeding trial conducted in January 2022 and this will be the focus of my MSc major research paper.
In the future, I hope to help optimize animal nutrition through better understanding and exploration of nutritional supplementation. In my free time, you can find me hiking, horseback riding, planning events for the Off Campus University Students club here on campus or spending time with my cat Jinx.