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About CPCVM

The Center for Public and Corporate Veterinary Medicine (CPCVM) is ideally located just minutes from Washington, D.C., on the College Park campus of the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine and is administered by a partnership between Virginia Tech and the University of Maryland, College Park.

Established more than two decades ago, the CPCVM has a long history of training veterinary students and graduate veterinarians for careers outside of traditional private clinical practice. The CPCVM was created following the publication of the Pew Report “Future Directions for Veterinary Medicine,” published in 1989, which recommended the formation of Centers of Excellence at veterinary colleges to maximize colleges’ unique advantages in specific areas of veterinary education. The CPCVM has coordinated externship opportunities and provided summer fellowship experiences for veterinary students from every veterinary college in the United States, as well as from several other countries.

Currently, veterinary medicine is at a crossroads. There have been numerous recent publications on the issue, such as the 2009 U.S. Government accountability office report on the Veterinary Workforce, which found that actions are needed to ensure sufficient capacity for protecting public and animal health. Recent congressional testimony has pointed out the growing shortage of veterinarians in public veterinary practice. To safeguard the U.S. economy, public health, and food supply, we must assure that there is an adequate supply of veterinarians who are engaged in:

  • Animal and Public health
  • Food, safety and security
  • Biomedical research
  • Pathology
  • Epidemiology
  • Ecosystem health
  • Food animal practice

The CPCVM is continuously working to enhance and expand its activities in the public and corporate sectors to better meet the demands for veterinarians in these critical areas.


Mission & Vision

Mission
To produce veterinarians with the necessary skills and knowledge to be outstanding scientists and leaders in the public and corporate sectors and to enable them to take new directions in their careers.

Vision
The CPCVM is a flexible, responsive, nationally and internationally recognized Center of Excellence that plays a key role in the development of veterinarians who serve in critical leadership roles protecting animal and human health. The CPCVM is a valued partner of the public and corporate practice communities and collaborates with these partners to address new veterinary or public health challenges.


What is "Public and Corporate Veterinary Medicine?"

Although the traditional responsibilities of diagnosing, preventing, and treating diseases of food, companion, and sporting animals will continue to be of major importance, veterinarians - particularly those with post-doctoral training - have access to a broad and diverse field of employment opportunities. Nearly 25 percent of the nation's veterinarians have careers in areas other than private practice.

Collectively, this broad area is referred to as Public and Corporate Veterinary Medicine. This includes practice within the local, state and federal government, industry, military, academia, and non-governmental organizations. It also includes regulatory veterinary medicine, zoo and wildlife medicine, public health, food safety, animal health at the national and state level, food 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.


Public and Corporate Veterinary Career Opportunities

The Center plays a vital role in introducing veterinary students to the many diverse career opportunities available to them following graduation. The Center also oversees the Public and Corporate track at VMRCVM, preparing students for public and corporate sector careers. Additionally, the Center serves as a resource for veterinarians who wish to make a career redirection. It is expected that employment opportunities in the public and corporate sectors of the profession will continue to expand especially in these areas:

  • Federal, state, and local governments
  • Industrial corporations (pharmaceutical and biological companies and contracting laboratories)
  • International organizations in the United States and overseas
  • Non-profit institutions (research institutes, zoos, primate centers, and humane societies)
  • Academic institutions

These organizations employ veterinarians in a wide range of disciplines, such as:

  • administration
  • animal welfare
  • aquatic medicine
  • behavioral research
  • biomedical research
  • comparative medicine
  • environmental medicine
  • epidemiology
  • food quality and safety
  • immunology
  • laboratory animal medicine
  • medical computing sciences
  • microbiology
  • nutrition research
  • pathology
  • public health
  • regulatory medicine
  • toxicology
  • tropical medicine
  • wildlife management

Veterinary medicine is truly a profession with wide-ranging opportunities. Those who desire to become a part of the profession must be prepared to anticipate and adapt to society's changing needs. Exciting and fulfilling careers await those who are prepared to meet the challenge.