Register soon to qualify for the $50 early bird discount that's available to attend the 2012 AAVMC Annual Conference. Register by Friday, Feb. 10, to pay the optimal price for this premier conference in academic veterinary medicine. The 2012 AAVMC Annual Conference -- it's not just for deans anymore.

In January, nearly 70 leaders, representing 35 veterinary medical colleges, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), and the AAVMC met at an economic summit in Orlando, Florida, to explore solutions to the challenges facing the veterinary medical profession and veterinary medical colleges. Workforce concerns, educational debt, demand for clinical veterinary services, and public support of veterinary medical education were discussed and will be among the issues addressed in an upcoming series of meetings beginning in March.

Over the past two years, $104 million in state funding for veterinary medical education has been cut. As a result, tuitions have, on average, doubled over the past 10 years ($9,134 in 2001 for in-state students to $18,326 in 2011). In addition, the true overall cost of attending a veterinary medical program is about $41,000 per year, leaving students with an average debt of more than $140,000.

"There are a number of economic issues, pressures, and stresses impacting the profession, including cuts in state funding to veterinary schools and a decrease in the public's utilization and perceived value of our services," explains Dr. Rene Carlson, AVMA president. "The challenges before us are complex, yet there are great potential opportunities for increased animal health and welfare if we pursue them."

"I think we need to fight to sustain and garner public support, but we will also have to start looking at alternative funding sources and educational models if we want to maintain quality," says Dr. Gerhardt Schurig, AAVMC president and dean of the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine. "We also need to work with other stakeholders of academic veterinary medicine to find ways to increase student financial aid."

Progress reports will be released periodically to AVMA and AAVMC members.

Veterinarians from Morris Animal Foundation are available to travel to AAVMC member schools to lecture for one to five hours on the state of veterinary medical research, research careers, and future areas of greatest need in veterinary medical research.

The purpose of the lecture or lecture series is to provide a knowledge base so that students will be able to understand and evaluate scientific findings, and may be motivated to choose a career in research.

The Foundation will provide the lectures free of charge but requests reasonable compensation for travel and housing.

Three course topics are available:

The State of Veterinary Medical Research - The state of research largely depends on the state of research funding. This part of the lecture series will describe types, sources, scale, and amounts of funding.

Veterinary Careers in Research - Career planning for veterinary students has never been more important. This part of the lecture series will explore research careers in industry, human biotech, government, international organizations, and not-for-profits, as well as academic careers. Data on job availability, directions, and trends in employment and salary ranges will be presented.

Areas of Greatest Need - Areas of emphasis may include feeding the world of the 21st century, metabolic diseases of companion animals, genetic testing methodologies and how these new diagnostics will affect clinical practice, diseases of wildlife and how they impact both human and domesticated animal populations. This part of the course is intended to provide an overview of some of the massive problems faced by future generations, with an emphasis on those that veterinarians are in a unique position to address.

The lecturers are J. David Haworth, DVM, PhD, or Wayne Jensen, DVM, PhD, MBA. For more information, contact Dr. Haworth at dhaworth@morrisanimalfoundation.org.

The One Health Commission, a globally focused organization dedicated to the improved health of people, domestic animals, wildlife, plants, and the environment has launched a newly redesigned website where people can share accomplishments and ideas using the One Health approach for global health benefits. The site address is www.onehealthcommission.org.

The site's Resources section lists organizations from around the world that are pursuing One Health initiatives and activities.

The One Health Commission site encourages organizations to submit additional information on website links that will benefit the One Health movement. "We are seeking information about organizations with a One Health focus; One Health events and conferences; case studies of One Health successes; news highlights; anything of note in One Health," said Dr. Roger Mahr, chief executive office of the One Health Commission.

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