This continuing professional development (CPD) training will focus on the disease progression mechanisms, describing lesions, and using critical thinking skills to create a list of differential diagnoses. Participants will practice performing postmortem examinations (i.e. necropsies) on mammalian species (privately owned animals or small ruminants) and/or other animal species (e.g, poultry), writing a complete necropsy report, and packaging samples for transport to the laboratory. The connections between the field and the laboratory (to include veterinary public health) will be reinforced, helping both field veterinarians and laboratorians to solve disease problems in the field in a concerted manner.