10 Dec AAVMC Members Receive Veterinary Service Grants Program Awards

“We are pleased that our member institutions have received financial support to continue education and extension activities that allow them to serve those who need veterinary service the most.”

“We are pleased that our member institutions have received financial support to continue education and extension activities that allow them to serve those who need veterinary service the most,” says Dr. Andrew Maccabe, Chief Executive Officer of the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC) and one of the co-leads of the Veterinary Debt Initiative.

Four AAVMC member institutions and one affiliate were among the universities recently granted funding from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s Veterinary Service Grants Program (VSGP). They are the University of Georgia, Iowa State University, Texas A&M University, Michigan State University and Pennsylvania State University (affiliate).

The program allows these universities to help areas in the U.S. that have critical veterinary service needs. For example, the program will help fund Michigan State University’s efforts to improve food animal veterinary service shortage situations and provide continuing education for early career veterinarians. For Pennsylvania State University, the funding will subsidize poultry training for veterinarians in underserved Pennsylvania counties.

The VSGP was established in 2014 as companion to the Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program (VMLRP), which provides educational debt relief in exchange for veterinary service in agricultural communities and public-sector roles with the highest need.

This summary has been provided by the Veterinary Debt Initiative (VDI). Led by the American Veterinary Medical Association, the Association of the American Veterinary Medical Colleges and the Veterinary Medical Association Executives, VDI is aimed at raising awareness and providing access to helpful resources that will enable pre-veterinary students, veterinary students and veterinarians to make highly informed financial decisions. For more information, check out the VDI website at www.veterinarydebtinitiative.org.

Featured in the November issue of AAVMC Vet-Med Educator
http://aavmc.org/additional-pages/vet-med-educator-november-2018#VSGP