Veterinarians recently took to Capitol Hill to help spread the message that our country’s ability to protect its food supply - and its capacity for zoonotic and food-animal disease research - is insufficient and needs federal support.
Dr. W. Ron DeHaven, executive vice president of the American Veterinary Medical Association, was one of four veterinarians to testify January 23 before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health. He highlighted how a national shortage of veterinarians is putting our food supply at risk and could hinder our ability to prevent the spread of disease from animals to humans.
DeHaven said the number of veterinarians available to serve society in these key public health positions does not meet demand. He cited a recent study conducted at Kansas State University that projects this shortage to worsen by 4 percent to 5 percent annually well into the next decade.
“According to a recent report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, veterinary medicine ranked 9th in the list of the 30 fastest-growing occupations,” DeHaven said. “It is estimated that jobs for veterinarians will increase by 35 percent in the next several years. It is our collective responsibility to ensure that there are veterinarians to fill those positions.”
DeHaven appeared before the Subcommittee on Health to testify in support of the Veterinary Public Health Workforce Expansion Act, which would create a competitive grants program designed to produce more veterinarians and enhance the country’s capacity for research on diseases that threaten public health and food safety. If approved, the program would provide federal funding to build more classrooms, laboratory space and support facilities at the country’s 28 veterinary colleges, which are currently at or above capacity and graduate only about 2,500 veterinarians annually.
U.S. Representatives Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Mississippi Republican Charles Pickering are chief sponsors of the legislation, which was introduced last year.
“Veterinarians are uniquely positioned to view health through the lens of public health impact and to understand how human and animal health interact,” Baldwin said. “If we don’t address the shortage of veterinarians and lack of capacity in veterinary schools soon, we’ll find ourselves dangerously under-prepared and ill-equipped to deal with future public health threats.”
Subcommittee Chairman Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.) said the Veterinary Public Health Workforce Expansion Act will allow schools to increase enrollment and produce “the next generation” of veterinary medical professionals.
“It has been 30 years since the federal government has provided funding to increase the number of veterinarians in our country,” Pallone said during his opening remarks. “Considering the looming shortage of these critical public health specialists, now is the time for us to act once more.”
Joining DeHaven at the hearing was Dr. Alan M. Kelly, dean emeritus of the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania; Dr. Marguerite Pappaioanou, executive director of the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges; and Dr. Sheila W. Allen, dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Georgia.
Kelly, who held the dean’s position at the University of Pennsylvania for 12 years and who remains on the School of Veterinary Medicine’s faculty, said dramatic change is driving the need for more veterinarians.
“In the past decade there has been a convergence of animal, human and environmental health issues that has created a crisis in veterinary medicine and in the nation’s overall health infrastructure,” Kelly said. “To respond, veterinary schools must offer new curricula and new patterns of clinical training, but they cannot do so with the present limited facilities.”
Pappaioanou, a former epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said many people are unaware of the critical role veterinarians play in public health.
“Although the public at large understands the important role that veterinarians play in promoting and protecting the health of our companion animals, largely unappreciated are the essential functions and roles that veterinarians play in protecting human health, and in promoting and protecting our national security and emergency preparedness and response capabilities at international, national, state and local levels across both the public and private sectors,” she said.
Animals and humans are linked in many ways, said the University of Georgia’s Allen. That connection, whether direct or long distance, can sometimes lead to undesirable outcomes.
“Whether that interface is the milk we drink, the eggs and meat we eat, or the birds in our backyard bird feeder, veterinarians play an important role in ensuring that animal diseases are monitored for, detected and hopefully prevented so they don’t threaten the well-being of people,” Allen said. “We believe that increasing the number of veterinarians devoted to this work is vitally important, and that the US government should contribute toward this national priority.”
