Progress 09/01/19 to 08/22/23
Outputs
Target Audience: Graduate veterinarians a) Career Transition workshops for veterinarians We announced our workshops via: The announcement section of our CPCVM website Our CPCVM listserv (now over 800 members) Facebook groups (Veterinary Public Health Network, and DVMoms GAIN) Twitter and LinkedIn Virginia Tech's Continuing & Professional Education organization AVMA career development website Our August 2020 career transition workshop was attended by 45 veterinarians from at least 14 states. Our April 2021 workshop was attended by 24 veterinarians from at least 11 states. Our February 2022 workshop was attended by 45 veterinarians from at least 16 states. Our April 2023 workshop was attended by 28 veterinarians from at least 13 states, and one international participant. b) Individual career guidance to veterinarians On a regular basis, we provide pro-bono career counseling to individual veterinarians who contact us seeking advice on making a career change. 2) Veterinary students at other colleges a) As COVID restrictions eased in 2022 (25 months after the start date of this project), we were able to provide veterinary students nationwide with the opportunity to compete for travel stipends to support their externships at public practice organizations. We announced the availability of these stipends via: The announcement section of our CPCVM website Our CPCVM listserv Facebook groups (Veterinary Public Health Network, and DVMoms GAIN) Twitter and LinkedIn Other U.S. veterinary colleges (via the Associate Deans of Academic Affairs, and the Alliance for Veterinary Public Health Educators listservs) Other organizations (the SAVMA student newsletter, the National Association of Federal Veterinarians, the American Association of Food Safety and Public Health Veterinarians, and the USDA-FSIS) We awarded 15travel stipends, and all externship travel has been completed. When students return from their trip, they are required to give a presentation to their peers. To date, 118 veterinary students have attended these final presentations, with seven final presentations pending when classes resume in Fall 2023. b) In March 2021, we taught a condensed, online, asynchronous version of our full-semester academic course"Beyond Private Practice: Careers and Pathways in Veterinary Medicine" to 48 third-year DVM students at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University. Our March 2022 course was taught to 18 Tufts students Our March 2023 course was taught to eight Tufts students (Tufts charged students to take the course, which caused a drop in participant numbers). 1) Veterinarians and 2) Veterinary students at other colleges Pending: our certificate program, onceapproved, will offer veterinary students and veterinarians formal academic credentials to supplement their existing clinical training in order to be successful in public practice. 3. Other veterinary colleges Veterinary colleges, the majority of which focus on training veterinarians to enter private practice, benefit from exposing their students to the broader scope of veterinary medicine, including public and corporate veterinary opportunities. This will also help address the shortages in some of these critical sectors of veterinary medicine. We have taught veterinary students at Tufts for the past three years and are in discussions withother colleges about offering our "Beyond Private Practice:VeterinaryCareers and Pathways" course as an elective. 4) PABOs (Partnering Agencies, Businesses, or Organizations) By offering internships and externships to students and practicing veterinarians, our partners benefit by obtaining early access to potentially qualified employees who have a shared interest in their specific area of public veterinary medicine. Changes/Problems:Due to COVID travel restrictions and work-at-home policies at hosting organizations, we could not announce the availability of the student travel awards during the original two-year timeframe of this grant (September 2019 - August 2021). This grant was approved for a no-cost extension in August 2021, andwe announced the travel awards nationally in October 2021. Although the full number of stipends were awarded, three trips were canceled due to COVID. We created self-paced learning modules focused on career transitioning for veterinarians, but due to university logistical and platform licensing delays, the initial modules have been delivered through the workshops and at conventions. We are in discussions now with an external partner to potentially be able to utilize an acceptable platform for online delivery. Thechanges noted below result from the design and development of the certificate program: We broadened the originally intended audience from career-transitioning veterinarians to now include veterinary students nationwide. The goal is to develop partnerships with other US Colleges of Veterinary Medicine to incorporate the certificate courses into their curriculum and tuition structure, and thus enable the program to scale up faster and become financially sustainable sooner. We realized that the development of online courses and the certificate program are really a single initiative to share content with remote veterinary students and graduate DVMs, and thus are best developed and reported on in tandem. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The CPCVM worked closely withVirginia Tech's Technology-Enhanced Learning and Online Strategies (TLOS), primarily with a PhD student in the program with expertise in the development of online courses. TLOS played a vital role in teaching CPCVM faculty members on how to effectively design, develop, and implement online training courses. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The core intent of this effort is training and outreach that provides resources to veterinary students and practitioners about the need for, and opportunities for, veterinarians in the public sector. As noted, we focused on building a portfolio of resources that highlight opportunities in the public sector through self-paced learning modules, multi-day workshops, condensed academic courses for other colleges, a certificate program, and experiential opportunities for students and veterinarians. In parallel, we have worked to develop communication and distribution channels via our website, social media, delivering content to other colleges, and partnering with agencies and professional organizations in order to share our expertise. In addition, we also gave presentations to the following audiences during the period of this grant: - Tuskegee University's College of Veterinary Medicine, to summer research students about careers in the public practice arena (May 2020) - The Virtual Global Veterinary Career Summit workshop, on careers for veterinarians in government (June 2020) - VMCVM Alumni Awards ceremony: "The Wide World of Veterinary Medicine" (November 2020) - AAVMC Catalyze 2021 event, in partnership with Tufts University, entitled "A National Center of Excellence in Public and Corporate Veterinary Medicine: Moving towards a collaborative model for veterinary medical education" (March 2021) - We presented this content at the AVMA convention and were featured in a follow-on article in JAVMA (July 2021) https://www.avma.org/javma-news/2021-07-15/thinking-career-transition-assess-yourself-first - United States Animal Health Association 2021 annual meeting in the Diagnostic Laboratory and Veterinary Workforce Committee - Two presentations at the AVMA convention on public practice and the development of experiential opportunities for veterinarians (July 2022) - Eight hours of presentations at the Southwest Veterinary Symposium in 2019 and 2022 on career transitioning and career opportunities in veterinary public practice. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Objective 1.1: Due to COVID travel restrictions and work-at-home policies at hosting organizations, we could not announce the availability of the travel awards during the original two-year time frame of this grant. This grant was approved for a no-cost extension;we announced the travel awards nationally in October 2021. By the end of this grant, a total of 15students from eightcolleges of veterinary medicine were awarded travel funding. Students completed externships in public health, epidemiology, and food safety at diverse locations including the CDC Epi Elective program in Atlanta, GA; USDA-APHIS (Aquaculture Health, Center for Epidemiology and Animal Health, NYC Import Center); and state agencies (South Dakota Animal Industry Board and Indiana Board of Animal Health). Students were required to complete a post-trip survey and present their experience to other students and faculty at their respective colleges. To date, an additional 118 veterinary students have been made aware of these career opportunities. Seven final presentations for trips taken during the Spring and Summer of 2023 are pending when classes resume in the fall of 2023, after the end date of this grant. After the remaining awardees complete their presentations, the post-experience surveys will be compiled in a report summarizing the students' experiences and the impact on their understanding of careers in the fields of public health, epidemiology, and food safety. This will be used to solicit funding for similar travel opportunities in the future with our partner agencies and organizations. For example, we are currently working on an MOU with a veterinary professional organization to sponsor similar travel awards for students. Objective 2.1: We created an online, for-credit academic course, "Beyond Private Practice: Veterinary Careers and Pathways", which was initially delivered to 3rd year students at Tufts University Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine in March 2021. In the course, students explore career opportunities in veterinary medicine outside of private clinical practice, with a focus on pathways to determining and pursuing a successful and personally fulfilling career choice. The initial course was very well received; 98% of the students indicated that they would recommend the course to a peer when asked, "Now that you have taken this course, would you recommend this course to other veterinary students? The course was taught again in 2022 and 2023, with similar positive student reviews. Based on the feedback, we are confident that this abbreviated version of our full-semester course is achieving its objective of merging the discovery of student career interests with exposure to the opportunities available in the veterinary profession beyond private practice. A second course, "Veterinarians and Public Policy", has been moved to an online format but has not yet been delivered externally. Our goal is to make these courses availableto other colleges through negotiated financial or other agreements. Objective 2.2: In December 2022, we finalized program development for a new certificate in veterinary public practice and submitted it for University approval. We proposed a five-course (10-credit) asynchronous online graduate certificate, geared toward veterinary students nationwide as well as veterinarians planning a career transition. As of this writing, the program has been reviewed and endorsed at the first stage of University review (Institutional Planning Committee) and is moving sequentially through the remaining institutional review and approval steps. We broadened the originally intended audience from career-transitioning veterinarians to now include veterinary students nationwide. The goal is to develop partnerships with other US Colleges of Veterinary Medicine to incorporate the certificate courses into their curriculum and tuition structure. This will qualify the program to offer student financial aid, which should make it appealing to more participants, and thus enable the program to scale up faster and become financially sustainable sooner. We expect final approval in Fall 2024, at which time we will formalize the experiential component of the program with select public agencies and organizations. We currently anticipate a Fall 2025 program launch. Objective 3.1: Consistent with Aim 3 to be a "centralized resource for veterinarians seeking to transition to a public practice career", we have made significant progress in our goal to become a national Center of Excellence for veterinary students and veterinarians interested in working in areas other than private clinical practice. a). We reconfigured our "Career Transition for Veterinarians" workshop from an in-person to an online format. By eliminating the travel cost and traveltime required of an in-person activity, participation now costs significantly less and reaches more veterinarians from across the country and internationally. We include presentations from veterinarians working for the federal government, state governments, industry, a veterinary recruiter, and an AVMA representative. In August 2020, we delivered our first online workshop, with an industry focus. We then delivered additional workshops in April 2021, February 2022, and April 2023, alternating between an industry focus and a government focus. Following all of our workshops, we solicit feedback. One question we ask is, "Would you recommend the workshop to a colleague?" We have received scores that range from 9.1 to 9.7 on a 10-point scale. Our workshops are well-received, financially self-sustaining, and provide funds for other initiatives. b) We created 12 self-paced learning modules focused on career transitioning for veterinarians, to supplement the career transition workshops.Due to university logistical and platform licensing delays, the initial modules have been delivered through the workshops and at conventions. We are in discussions now with an external partner to potentially be able to utilize an acceptable platform for online delivery. These modules provide veterinarians with general, actionable overviews on self-assessment, career opportunities,and veterinary career planning. c) We created a career self-assessment tool specific to the veterinary profession. This survey focuses on personal attributes and preferences, as well as highlights the nature of specific public sector veterinary jobs, as an initial, thoughtful step in the career transition process. On a regular basis, we provide pro-bono career counseling to veterinarians, and the self-assessment tool has streamlined the counseling engagement. d) We created a new CPCVM website. In 2021, we established a new website that focuses on veterinary careers in public and corporate practice, with dedicated sections addressing the needs of the three types of populations we serve: veterinary students, veterinarians, and organizations that employ veterinarians. In 2022, we added a testimonials page with brief narratives from 12of our public and corporate veterinary graduates so that practicing veterinarians, as well as veterinary students at other colleges, can gain a perspective on the variety of career opportunities and paths. Objective 3.2: The AAVSB - RACE™ committee approved our online "Career Transition for Veterinarians"workshop (industry focus) for 8.0 continuing education credits and our workshop (public/government focus) for 10.5 credits. Objective 3.3: Formal agreements with the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians (AAVLD) and USDA Food Safety and Infection Service (FSIS) and implementation documents have been drafted to provide short term experiential opportunities for veterinarians who would like to gain exposure to particular fields as part of the career decision making process. FSIS is currently working with their administration on liability issues and we are waiting on agencies to finalize and initiate the programs.
Publications
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Progress 09/01/21 to 08/31/22
Outputs
Target Audience: 1) Practicing veterinarians. Our February 2022 career transition workshop was attended by 45 veterinarians. In our follow-on survey, we received a 9.3 on a 0 - 10 scale to the question "Would you recommend the workshop to a colleague?". On a regular basis, we continue to provide pro-bono career counseling to veterinarians who contact us seeking advice on making a career change. 2) Veterinary students at other colleges. As COVID restrictions eased this year, we wereable to support veterinary students nationally with competitively-awarded travel stipends to experiential externships at public practice organizations. We awarded seven travel stipends, and paid four (three were cancelled due to COVID). In March 2022, we taught a condensed online asynchronous version of our full semester academic course "Beyond Private Practice: Careers and Pathways in Veterinary Medicine" to 3rd-year DVM students at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University. In our follow-on survey, we included the question "Would you recommend this course to other veterinary students?", 100% of this year's students responded that they would. 3)Veterinary Colleges - In addition to Tufts,we are in discussions withanother collegeabout having access toour online Career and Pathways course. 4)PABOs (PartneringAgencies, Businesses, or Organizations) We are finalizing cooperative relationships with one federal agency and with one professional organization. 5) For those who wish to support our mission. For veterinarians who wish to compensate us for individual career guidance - or for anyone who wishes to support our mission - we established a new foundation fund, the Center for Public & Corporate Veterinary Medicine Annual Fund, in order to accept external donations in a simple, seamless manner. Donations will be used to support the development of additional resources for veterinary students and veterinarians nationally. Outreach Summary from Sept 2021 - August 2022: 1)Graduate Veterinarians - Attended workshops = 45 ?2)Veterinary Students - Awarded travel stipends = 7 Colleges of veterinary medicine represented (awarded) = 5 Traveled to externship (3 were cancelled per COVID) = 4 Colleges of veterinary medicine represented (traveled) = 3 Student post-externship survey completed = 3 Student post-externship presentations given = 1** Attended presentations from award recipients = 14** Participated in online Careers & Pathways course = 17 ** One student did her externship in the Spring, and gave a presentation about her experience to an audience of fourteen before the 2021-2022 academic year ended. The remaining three awarded students will give their presentations in Fall 2022 when the school year resumes. 3)Veterinary Colleges - Colleges who have, or we are in discussions with, hosting our online courses = 2 4)PABOs - Agencies, businesses, or organizations we partnered with= 2 *** *** does not include our academic partner for some career transition workshops, or the wide variety of organizations represented at workshops. Changes/Problems:1. Prohibitions on travel due to COVID-19 forced the continued suspension of the experiential component of the student learning experience until mid-way thru this past academic year, 2021- 2022. As a result, we were not able to offer any travel awards during the original grant's 2-year period, and only mid-way through the third-year extension. As of January 2022, we were fully operational. We have received a one year no-cost extension to allow us to award the remaining funds. 2. In 2021, we wrote a requirements document specifying the features that an online platform would need to provide in order for us to host our learning modules. Our intention was to determine the best, low-cost provider so that our modules would be affordable to the veterinary community while allowing us to recover the costs of hosting, paying for the AAVSB RACE content review, approval, and distribution of continuing education credit.Determining final platform and technical requirements, and logistical constraints related to hosting video content were a prerequisite to video production, therefore we had to delay module availabilityuntil those constraints were addressed. Professional-level recording of the modules in a studio will be initiated August 30, 2022. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?
Nothing Reported
How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?In the past year, we discussed the results of our work on grant related activities in several presentations. The first was at the United States Animal Health Association 2021 annual meeting in the Diagnostic Laboratory and Veterinary Workforce Committee. In July 2022, Dr. Valerie Ragan gave 2 presentations at the AVMA convention on public practice and the development of experiential opportunities for veterinarians. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The grant received a 1-year no-cost extension to allow for the award and distribution of student travel stipends suspended by COVID. We plan to distribute the remainder of the student travel funds by August 2023.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Aim 1 - Objective 1.1: In the first two years of this grant, we suspended awardingtravel stipends to veterinary studentsdue to COVID-related restrictions. The travel award announcementwasdistributed in October 2021 via the Associate Deans of Academic Affairs listserv (hosted by AAVMC), and through the SAVMA student newsletter. The announcement was also posted to the CPCVM website. It was distributed again through similar channels, as well as via the National Association of Federal Veterinarians and USDA-FSIS in February 2022. We awarded funding to seven qualified students from five different colleges, however three eventually declined the funding because their clerkships were cancelled due to COVID. The four students who participated were from three different veterinary schools. One student did her externship in the Spring of 2022, and gave a presentation about her experience to an audience of fourteen other students before the 2021-2022 academic year ended. The remaining three awarded students traveled during the summer of 2022, and will give their presentations in Fall 2022 when the school year resumes. As a result of the delay in awarding travel stipends, we have not yet received sufficient post-externship feedback to provide us with the assessment data and narratives necessary to share the value of externships to the hosting organizations, in order to solicit future travel award sponsorships. Aim 2 - Objective 2.1: During this past year, the 1-credit "Beyond Private Practice: Careers and Pathways in Veterinary Medicine" was taught for a second time to Tufts third-year veterinary students. Before both "Beyond Private Practice" courses were taught, we issued a pre-course survey to assess awareness of careers in veterinary medicine, and student interests. A total of 64 students from both Tufts course offerings participated in the survey. When asked the career awareness question of "How well do you feel you understand career options and opportunities in veterinary medicine?", only three students (5%) indicated "a lot", 58 students (88%) selected "some", while five students (8%) indicated "I know about private practice but not much about other opportunities". When asked "Have you considered a career in veterinary medicine in an area other than private clinical practice?" 30 students (47%) selected "Yes, a career other than private clinical practice is my intended career path", and another 31 (48%) indicated "Yes, I've considered other areas, but I'm not sure they're right for me". Of the remaining, 2 students (3%) indicated "No, I never really thought about veterinarians doing anything other than private clinical practice", while 1 student (2%) indicated "No, I'm private clinical practice all the way". In the post-course survey after both"Beyond Private Practice"courses were taught, we asked "overall, after taking this course, how well do you feel you understand the career options and opportunities in veterinary medicine?" Of the 63 responses, 41 students (65%) indicated "a lot better", with the remaining 22 (35%) indicating "somewhat better". No students selected "about the same as before the course". We also inquired "Now that you have taken this course, would you recommend this course to other veterinary students?" With a 100% response rate fromboth classes,98% of the students indicated that they would recommend the course to a peer. Therefore,we are confident that the asynchronous online version of our full semester CVCVM course that merges the discovery of individual student career interests with exposure to the opportunities available in the veterinary profession is achieving its objective. Tufts hasrequested access to the course again in 2023. In addition, we are currently in discussions with a second college of veterinary medicine regarding providing the course to their students as well. The dean from that college is very interested in providing the course, and the course syllabus has been provided for consideration by their curriculum committee. Representatives from two additional veterinary colleges have informally approached us to start discussions about potentially having access to the course as well. We have initiated the development of a second online asynchronous course "Veterinarians and Public Policy". The materials are well underway, and we plan to potentially offer this in 2023, Since we have been approached by several colleges interested our "Beyond Private Practice: Veterinary Careers and Pathways" class, we want to ensure we have successfully scaled up delivery of that course first before offering a second course. Aim 2 - Objective 2.2: The design of this certificate program - both the course work as well as the related internships - will be modeled on our newly developed asynchronous online courses. We have recently hired a new faculty member who joined us on August 1, 2022, with an extensive background in veterinary public practice, academia, and program development. One of her primary responsibilities is the development of this certificate program. Aim 3 -Objective 3.1: Website: As a part of the VMCVM college website, our Center focuses on the topic of "veterinary careers in public practice", with content specifically addressing the needs of the three types of populations we serve: veterinary students, veterinarians, and organizations with veterinarians on staff. This past year we added a testimonial page from our public and corporate veterinary graduates to highlight the variety of positions they hold. Learning modules: This year, we created two on-line, self-paced learning modules. We have been working with Virginia Tech media specialists to ensure quality and delivery of the modules, and these modules are now scheduled to be formally recorded in a Virginia Tech studio at the end of August and September. They will be posted online shortly thereafter. These initial free modules are intended to provide the practicing veterinarian with a general, actionable overview on self-assessment and career planning. These modules are the first in a series of planned modules, some of which will be eligible for AAVSB RACE™ continuing education credit. Aim 3 - Objective 3.2: Workshops: We conducted an additional career transition workshop in February of this year, delivered in the evenings and on weekends to maximize the opportunity for veterinarians in private practice to participate. Content was delivered over the span of three weeks. Once again, we partnered with Kansas State University-Olathe who provided speakers from industry. We conducted 16 sessions with 14 unique speakers, and included presentations from veterinarians working for the Federal government, State governments, as well as 6 partners in industry. There were 45 attendees despite a modest increase in our fee. The workshop was approved for 10.5 continuing education credits. Our workshops are financially self-sustaining and provide supporting funds for other initiatives. Aim 3 - Objective 3.3: We initiated a partnership with the USDA-FoodSafety and Inspection Service (FSIS) to provide short-term experiential opportunities for graduate veterinarians. Documents and registration forms have been delivered to FSIS and are being finalized. The purpose of these experiences is to provide an avenue for veterinarians to explore potential career paths with FSIS, primarily in food safety. Documents and registration forms have also been created and delivered to American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians (AAVLD) for similar short-term experiential opportunities for graduate veterinarians. They are pending review.
Publications
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Progress 09/01/20 to 08/31/21
Outputs
Target Audience:Target audience (reached): 1) In our previous annual progress report, we mentioned that we had organized our first-ever online, multi-day career transition workshop for veterinarians, and were prepared to deliver it within a few weeks (August 2020). Working with an academic partner (Kansas State University), this workshop featured 16 sessions with 14 unique speakers, and included presentations from veterinarians working for the Federal government, State governments, as well as 6 partners in industry. - 45 veterinarians attended the multi-day workshop. - in our follow-on survey, we included the question "Would you recommend the workshop to a colleague?". We received an average of 9.1 on 0 - 10 scale. 2) We performed a similar workshop in April 2021. - 24 veterinarians attended the multi-day workshop. - in our follow-on survey, we included the question "Would you recommend the workshop to a colleague?". We received an average of 9.7 on 0 - 10 scale. 3) We created an intensive, online asynchronous version of our full semester academic course "Beyond Private Practice: Careers and Pathways in Veterinary Medicine". We delivered it to 3rd-year DVM students at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University on a pilot basis, in exchange for student and college feedback. - 46 veterinary students took the pilot course. - in our follow-on survey, we included the question "Would you recommend this course to other veterinary students?". 87% responded with "Yes, absolutely", while 11% indicated "Yes, but with modifications". 4) On a regular basis, we continued to provide pro-bono career counseling to veterinarians seeking a career change. Target audience (developed, but not reached per COVID-19): In our previous annual progress report, we mentioned that we planned and prepared to reach veterinary students for experiential externships at public practice organizations during the Spring 2020 semester, but COVID-related travel restrictions and work-from-home rules at sponsoring organizations prohibited this part of the program from occurring. As COVID precautions extended through the Spring semester of 2021, we continued our suspension of this effort. We are currently monitoring the COVID status, and are hoping to be able to support experiential externships this coming academic year, 2021 - 2022. Changes/Problems:Factors external to the project affected our progress in the second year of this grant. As a result, we requested and were granted a no-cost extension from a 2-year duration to 3 years. 1. Prohibitions on travel due to COVID-19 forced the continued suspension of the experiential component of the student learning experience. We anticipate administering this program once it is considered safe to do so (as determined by the Virginia Tech vet school's COVID-19 Task Force). We have as much of the necessary infrastructure in place as is possible at this time. 2. The Co-PI for this grant, Dr. Cassidy Rist, was absent (maternity leave) for 2-months of this reporting period. 3. The unanticipated nature of the pandemic required the PI and co-PI, who are on the faculty at Virginia Tech's school of veterinary medicine, to abruptly redirect their efforts to converting all regular classes from a lecture format to an online format. This took significant time, and delayed some of the development of the new, asynchronous online courses for external use that are in scope for this grant. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?
Nothing Reported
How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The core intent of this effort is training and outreach - to provide resources to veterinary students and practitioners alike about the need for, and opportunities in, the public sector. Although we remain focused on building these resources (hour-long self-paced learning modules, multi-day workshops, full academic courses) and developing distribution channels (via our website / portal, licensing content to other vet colleges, partnering with agencies, professional organizations, and businesses) to share our expertise, we also gave presentations to: Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine One Health club: "A Career Path to Brucellosis: a One Health Story" (Sept 2020) VMCVM Alumni Awards ceremony: "The Wide World of Veterinary Medicine" (Nov 2020) AAVMC Catalyze 2021 event, in partnership with Tufts University, entitled "A National Center of Excellence in Public and Corporate Veterinary Medicine: Moving towards a collaborative model for veterinary medical education" (March 2021) We were also speakers on this content at the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) convention in July 2021, and were featured prominately in a follow-on article in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, which generated a lot of interest from veterinarians who have since been contacting our center. https://www.avma.org/javma-news/2021-07-15/thinking-career-transition-assess-yourself-first What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Note that the end-date of this grant has been extended from a 2-year award ending 8/2021 to a 3-year award ending 8/2022. There is no change in the award amount - we are operating on a no-cost extension due to delays caused by COVID. Therefore, the activities mentioned will be continued into the next reporting period.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
There is a deficit of veterinarians working in the areas of food safety, public health, and epidemiology. Examples of understaffed areas include "enforcement of animal health regulations, laws, and policies", "management of poultry and livestock surveillance programs", and "conducting epidemiological investigations". When government agencies cannot fill these positions, there is a direct threat to human health, animal health, and economic security caused by the inability to enforce regulatory obligations and incapacity to appropriately detect, prepare for, and respond to infectious disease threats. This shortage of public veterinary practitioners is partially the result of insufficient training and career guidance within current veterinary curricula, as well as an absence of career resources for veterinarians seeking to transition from private practice to a career in public service. To enhance the public welfare by reducing these threats, we will help remedy the shortage of veterinarians in public practice with a dual approach: First, for veterinary students, develop and make available to all veterinary colleges courses related to the breadth of opportunitues in veterinary medicine with a focus on public practice career options and opportunities, and for the development of skills needed to be successul in that sector. Second, for veterinarians who are interested in a career change but unaware of the opportunities in public service, we will develop five parallel offerings: veterinary-specific career self-assessment tools, a dedicated website with curated content related to jobs and professional organizations, and a 3-tiered educational program comprised of short online training modules, multi-day workshops, and an accredited certificate program comprised of relevant courses with a required experiential component. We expect this certificate program will be completed after the timeframe of the grant. The aims and objectives in scope for this grant are listed below, with status and commentary. Aim 1: To expand opportunities for veterinary students to explore careers in areas of food safety, public health, and epidemiology. Objective 1.1: Develop a strategy to provide travel stipends for veterinary students from all veterinary colleges to complete Public/Corporate focused externships with our collaborating agencies, businesses and organizations. As reported last year, we developed a plan to reach veterinary students for experiential externships at public practice organizations during the Spring 2020 semester, but COVID-related travel restrictions and work-from-home rules at sponsoring organizations prohibited this from occurring. This suspension remained in effect for the Fall 2020 - Spring 2021 school year. As reported previously, a student application form was created, and a post-externship assessment survey for students was created. We expect to re-initiate this student career opportunity once the COVID-19 threat and restrictions have passed. Aim 2: To expand access of veterinary public practice-related courses and curriculum materials to veterinary students and veterinarians interested in public veterinary practice careers via an online platform. Objective 2.1: Transition current veterinary student course materials to an online platform, which can be made available to students through partnerships with other colleges of veterinary medicine. We created the first on-line, asynchronous course for delivery to other veterinary colleges, "Beyond Private Practice: Careers and Pathways in Veterinary Medicine". It was 80 % complete in our progress report last year. Since then, we have completed the course development and taught it to 48 students at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University. The course was very well received and will be delivered again in 2022. Tufts administrators would like to make this a permanent supplement to their curriculum, and we are working jointly on a compensated license agreement. We initiated the development of a second online asynchronous course "Veterinarians and Public Policy". It was 10 % complete in our progress report last year, and is approximately 20% completed as of this writing as the focus has been on making recommended revisions to the "Beyond Private Practice" course for delivery again in 2022. As reported last year, we provided a survey of all incoming freshmen to Tuft University's Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, in order to understand their individual career interests and preferences, as well as level of awareness of career opportunities in veterinary medicine. That survey was distributed by Tufts in August 2020 and in September 2020 (the second year of this grant) the results were analyzed by us and a summary shared with Tufts. In January 2021, we established a foundation fund in order to be able to accept external donations to support the development of additional resources for veterinary students and veterinarians. Objective 2.2: Develop course content and internship experiences for an online certificate program targeted at veterinarians for work in areas of food safety, public health and epidemiology. The academic courses that we are in the process of transitioning from a traditional classroom format to on-line will serve as the basis for the courses to be included in the certificate program for graduate veterinarians. Further actions are planned for Year 3 of this grant. It is expected that approval and delivery of the certificate program will occur after the ending time of this grant due to lengthy university approval processes. Aim 3: To serve as a centralized resource for veterinarians seeking to transition into a public practice career. Objective 3.1: Provide online resources and a formal process to provide personalized guidance to help veterinarians find a good career fit. As reported last year, we completely revised the agenda, format, and content of our Veterinary Career Transition workshop for delivery in an on-line format, and were on schedule to deliver the workshop in mid-August 2020 in partnership with Kansas State University. We delivered that workshop successfully to 45 veterinarians. We created a dedicated website that focuses on the topic of "veterinary careers in public practice", with content specifically addressing the needs of the three types of populations we serve: veterinary students, veterinarians, and organizations with veterinarians on staff. That website is continuing to be modified and expanded. Objective 3.2: Provide continuing education opportunities related to knowledge and skills needed for public practice careers. In response to demand, we delivered a second on-line career transition workshop 8 months later, in April 2021. The American Association of Veterinary State Boards (AAVSB) RACE committee approved our April 2021 Career Transition Workshop program for 10.5 continuing education credits, an increase from the 8.0 credits we originally offered in August 2020. We created a video presentation on resumes and CVs ("Career Transition Resume Overview") to describe the prerequisites and set expectations for participants in our career transition workshops so that attendees come prepared for workshop activities. Objective 3.3: Partner with agencies, businesses, and organizations to develop short-term experiential opportunities for veterinarians considering public practice careers. We have been working with the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnostions (AAVLD) and one federal agency to develop this. Documents and registration forms have been developed which are currently under review by the AAVLD Executive Board. Further actions are planned for Year 3 of this grant.
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Progress 09/01/19 to 08/31/20
Outputs
Target Audience:Targeted audience (reached): 1) To consider how we should re-position the Career Transition Workshop from an in-person event to an on-line format, we surveyed500+ practicing veterinarians on our Interest List for their preferences for delayed, in-person vs. an on-line workshop, and if on-line, preferences for Day of week, Time of day, and technical familiarity with remote communication (Zoom). Based on survey feedback, and working with anacademic partner (Kansas State University)for this workshop we re-configured the entire workshop agenda from in-person to on-line: the schedule format, learning resources, pricing (reduced), student capacity (increased). This multi-day workshop includes presentationsfrom veterinarians working for theFederal government, State governments,as well as 6partners inindustry. At the time of this writing, we are on schedule to deliver this workshop to veterinarians interested in a career transition, on-line for the first time, in mid-August 2020. 2) We are in discussions with an academicpartner,the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University on 2 areas of collaboration: asurvey of inbound veterinary Freshmen on their career interests (including soliciting their awareness of / interest inpublic practice), and as an independent, informed partner to offerour Careers and Pathways online courseon a trial basis in exchange for student and instructor feedback. 3) The CPCVM was contacted by the U.S. Army regarding potential collaboration todevelopa formalized internship program based on their current First Year Graduate Veterinary Education program (FYGVE). Conversations are ongoing. 4) On a regular basis, we continued to provide pro-bono career counseling to veterinarians seeking a career change. 5) Finally, we review our plans and progress monthly with an Advisory Board comprised of representatives from: - Federal and stategovernment (including the U.S. Army, the Food and Drug Administration - Division of Therapeutic Drugs for Non-Food Animals, the National Institutes of Health -Division of Veterinary Resources, the Department of Homeland Security - Program Development and Analysis, the USDA - Agricultural Marketing Service Specialty Crops Program, USDA - Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service,USDA -Veterinary Services,USDA - Food Safety and Inspection Service, theVirginia Department of Health, and the Maryland Dept of Health) - Industry (Ceva Animal Health, EAS Consulting Group) -Private practicingveterinarian(one private practiceveterinarian) Targeted audience (developed, but not reached per COVID-19): We planned and prepared to reach veterinary studentsfor experientialexternshipsat public practice organizations during the Spring 2020 semester, but virus-related travel restrictions and work-from-home rules at sponsoring organizations prohibited this part of the program from occurring. A student application form was created, and a post-externship assessment survey for students of their sponsoring Org / Agency was created.We expect to re-initiate this student career opportunity once the COVID-19 public health crisis has passed. Changes/Problems:Two factors, both external to the project, affected progress in the first year of this 2-year grant: Because of the physical relocation of the NIFA offices in the Fall of 2019, the grant money was not released September 1,2019 as planned, but was delayed until November 14,2019. The delay in funds prohibited us from procuring Instructional Designer (ID) expertise from Virginia Tech's Office of Technology Enhanced Learning and Online Strategies (TELOS) to guide us in on-line course creation. We have since employed an ID, and fully expect to have the 4 on-line courses completed by the end of Year2 of this grant. For the same reason, a project manager was not hired until May, 2020. The prohibitions on travel due to the COVID-19 virus caused us to suspend the experiential component of the student experience. We anticipate administering this program once it is considered safe to do so (as determined by the Virginia Tech vet school's "COVID-19 Task Force"). We have as much of the necessary infrastructure in place as is possible at this time. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?
Nothing Reported
How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The core intent of this effort is outreach - to provide resources to veterinary students and practitioners alike about the need for, and opportunities in the public sector. Since we are focused on building these resources (hour-long modules, multi-day workshops, full academic courses) and developing distribution channels (via our website / portal, licensing content to other vet colleges, via partnering with agencies, professional organizations, and businesses) our outreach has been somewhat limited during this first year of this 2-year project. We have performed several speaking engagements to disseminate our knowledge and experience (Tuskegee University, and the GVCS workshop) and the pending August 2020 Career Transition Workshop. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
There is a deficit of veterinarians working in the areas of food safety, public health, and epidemiology. Examples of under-staffed areas include "enforcement of animal health regulations, laws, and policies", "management of poultry and livestock surveillance programs," and "conducting epidemiological investigations." When states cannot fill these positions, there is a direct threat to human health, animal health, and economic security caused by the inability to enforce regulatory obligations and incapacity to appropriately detect, prepare for, and respond to infectious disease threats. This shortage of public veterinary practitioners is partially the result of insufficient training and career guidance within current veterinary curricula, as well as an absence of career resources for veterinarians seeking to transition from private practice to a career in public service. To enhance the public welfare by reducing these threats, we will help remedy the shortage of veterinarians in public practice with a dual approach: First, for veterinary students, develop accredited college-level courses so that they have the training for, and externship opportunities in, these underserved public practice areas as a part of their career preparation. Second, for veterinarians, primarilyin private practice, who are interested in a career change but unaware of the opportunities in public service, we will develop five parallel offerings: veterinary-specific career self-assessment tools, a dedicated website with curated content related to jobs and professional organizations, and a 3-tiered educational program comprised of short on-line training modules, multi-day workshops, and an accredited college-level program comprised of 4 courses. We are nearing the end of the first year of this 2-year effort. The Aims and Objectives in scope for this grant are listed below, with status and commentary provided for those Aims and Objectives. Aim 1: To expand opportunities for veterinary students to explore careers in areas of food safety, public health, and epidemiology. Objective 1.1: Develop a strategy to provide travel stipends for veterinary students from all veterinary colleges to complete Public/Corporate focused externships with our collaborating agencies, businesses and organizations. We developed a plan, and were prepared to reach veterinary students for experiential externships at public practice organizations during the Spring 2020 semester, but virus-related travel restrictions and work-from-home rules at sponsoring organizations prohibited this part of the program from occurring. A student application form was created, and a post-externship assessment survey for Students was created. We expect to re-initiate this student career opportunity once the COVID-19 public health crisis has passed. Aim 2: To expand access of veterinary public practice related courses and curriculum materials to veterinary students and veterinarians interested in public veterinary practice careers via an online platform. Objective 2.1: Transition current veterinary student course materials to an online platform, which can be made available to students through partnerships with other colleges of veterinary medicine. We created the first of 4 on-line, for-credit academic courses "Beyond Private Practice: Careers and Pathways in Veterinary Medicine". It is 80 % complete as of this writing. We initiated the second of 4 online academic courses "Veterinarians and Public Policy". It is 10 % complete as of this writing. Please refer also to the Changes / Problems section. We are collaboratingwith Tufts University - Cummings School of Veterinary medicine to provide the first online course "Beyond Private Practice: Careers and Pathways in Veterinary Medicine" to their students in March 2021 (when it best-fits their curriculum schedule). In exchange for this course, veterinary students will provideinitial, independent feedback, and administrators will work with us on a business plan for sustainability. Student survey: working with our partner Tufts University, all incoming Freshmen to Tuft's Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine will receive a survey to understand their individual career preferences, as well as level of awareness of career opportunities in private practice, public practice, and corporate environments (the survey is prepared; set to be distributed in August, by Tufts). Objective 2.2: Develop course content and internship experiences for an online certificate program targeted at veterinarians for work in areas of food safety, public health and epidemiology. The 4 academic courses that we are creating on-line for students will be the basis for the courses intended for practicing veterinarians. We anticipate that they will be similar, perhaps differing only based on the graduation requirements for a veterinary student as opposed to the requirements of a certification program. Actions to meet this objective are planned for Year2 of this grant. Aim 3: To serve as a centralized resource for veterinarians seeking to transition into a public practice career Objective 3.1: Provide online resources and a formal process to provide personalized guidance to help veterinarians find a good career fit. We started planning for this year's Career Transition Workshop, previously done in person, by soliciting the 500+veterinarians on our Career Transition Interest List for their preferences for delayed (per COVID-19) in-person workshops vs. on-line workshops, and if on-line, what were their scheduling preferences and technical familiarity with remote communication (Zoom). Based on survey feedback (80% intended to participate ina workshop, and of those, 80% preferred to do an on-line event soon as opposed to waiting for the virus to pass for an in-person event).We re-configured the entire workshop for on-line delivery: the agenda, schedule, learning resources, pricing (20% reduction), student capacity (25% increase) all changed. At the time of this writing, we are on schedule to deliver this workshop to veterinarians in private practice, on-line for the first time, in mid-August 2020 in partnership with Kansas State University. In addition, we created a veterinary profession-specific self-assessment tool. This individual survey focuses on personal attributes and preferences, as well as highlights the nature of specific public sector veterinary jobs, as an initial, thoughtful step in the career transition process. On a regular basis, we continue to provide pro-bono career counseling to veterinarians currently in private practice but the self-assessment tool, as an interim step, has streamlined the initial engagement. We designed, and are in the process of creating, a dedicated website that focuses on the topic of "veterinary careers in public practice". Objective 3.2: Provide continuing education opportunities related to knowledge and skills needed for public practice careers. The American Association of Veterinary State Boards (AAVSB)RACE committee has reviewed and approved our Career Transition Workshop programfor 8 continuing Education credits. Objective 3.3: Partner with agencies, businesses, and organizations to develop short-term experiential opportunities for veterinarians considering public practice careers. This will be developed in Year2 of the grant, and may be impacted by the status of COVID-19.?
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