The Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech has moved its Center for Public and Corporate Veterinary Medicine to Blacksburg, Va. The center was previously located in College Park, Md. “The move allows the center to have a closer relationship with the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program in Blacksburg with greater access to students pursuing the public and corporate veterinary medicine track,” said Valerie Ragan, DVM, director of the center. Dr. Ragan took the helm of the center in 2009 following more than two decades of experience in public and corporate veterinary medicine. She and Bess Pierce, DVM, who was previously an associate professor of community practice in the Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, are joining the college’s Department of Population Health Sciences. They will continue the center’s work to teach courses, advise students, coordinate senior veterinary student clerkships, assist veterinarians wishing to transition into public practice and develop programs to advance the veterinary profession in government, industry and the nonprofit sector. The move to the Department of Population Health Sciences will also strengthen the center’s connections with the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and Master of Public Health programs and advance the college’s commitment to One Health, according to Cyril Clarke, BVSc, Ph.D., dean of the veterinary college. “We recently established a memorandum of understanding with the American Veterinary Medical Association and the National Association of Federal Veterinarians to help increase the demand for public practice veterinarians and to provide training to prepare veterinarians for careers in public and corporate veterinary practice,” Dr. Clarke said. “The center will be key to achieving this goal, as it enhances and expands its activities in the areas of public health, public policy, international veterinary medicine, organizational leadership and the One Health initiative.”
