Description

This webinar was established to give US and Canadian veterinary students the opportunity to learn more about public practice career opportunities from a five-member panel of veterinarians with a wide variety of experience in this important area of veterinary medicine.

Each panel member will give a brief overview of their career and the path they followed into public practice.  The panel will then open the webinar to questions from the attendees.  Questions can be submitted live via the chat function, or they can be submitted ahead of time by sending them to NAFV@nafv.org with the subject line “Public Practice Careers Webinar.”

Panel members include:

• Panel Chair:  Melanie Barham (Canada - Chair of Workforce Committee at USAHA)
• Donna Debonis (AAFSPHV) & Military
• Joe Annelli (NAFV)
• Joy Bennett (ACVPM)
• Mike Gilsdorf (retired USDA)
• Wanda Wilson-Egbe (USPHS)
• Amanda Fark (AVMA)
• Valerie Regan (VMCVM, CPCVM)

When most people think of veterinarians, their vision is primarily that of a private practitioner, but there are many options to consider

By Valerie E. Ragan, DVM, and W. Ron DeHaven, DVM, MBA

While it is true the majority of veterinarians are in private clinical practice, approximately 25 to 30 percent of veterinarians serve in a public practice capacity. It’s a segment of the profession that is growing and has huge growth potential. So what do we mean by “public practice”?

Essentially, veterinary public practice refers to any practice except a private clinical one, and it can lead to tremendously diverse opportunities, including careers within the local, state, and federal government, corporate/industry, military, academia, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and veterinary associations. Further, public practice incorporates the following:

• regulatory veterinary medicine;
• zoo and wildlife medicine;
• public health;
• animal health at the national and state level;
• food safety and security;
• emerging infectious diseases;
• prevention and control of foreign animal diseases;
• epidemiology;
• risk analysis;
• risk management;
• prevention and control of emergency and infectious diseases;
• administration;
• management; and
• research.