CPCVM Federal Regulatory Clerkship/Externship Opportunities

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CPCVM Federal Regulatory Clerkship/Externship Opportunities

Contact Dr. Ragan for further details on any of these clerkships/externships.

Institution	Unit & Location	Comments
Food and Drug Administration	Center for Veterinary Medicine Rockville, MD	Students develop an understanding of development and implementation of policies that guide approval of new drugs and biologics. Student gets involved in investigation of veterinary drug and biologic issues as they interact with human health.
USDA, APHIS	New York Animal Import Center Newburgh, New York	The New York Animal Import Center (NYAIC) serves as a quarantine facility for livestock and pet birds entering the United States from Europe and other parts of the world. The majority of the time NYAIC serves horses and various species of birds, but can also house ruminants, swine and zoo animals. The intern will shadow the veterinarians and animal caretakers at NYAIC, learning about the business of international livestock transportation, regulatory control of imported animals, and husbandry/veterinary care of quarantined livestock. There is also the potential for exposure to the airport entry point for NYAIC. Please visit http://www.aphis.usda.gov/vs to learn more about Veterinary Services. For further information and to apply for this externship please contact Dr. Linda Detwiler at LAVet22@aol.com or 732-580-9391.
USDA, APHIS	Animal Care Riverdale, MD	Regulatory Enforcement and Animal Care (REAC) programs throughout the US.
USDA, APHIS	Veterinary Services, National Center for Animal Health Programs Riverdale, MD	This Veterinary Services (VS) volunteer externship assignment will provide students with the opportunity to shadow the Director and Program Managers of the VS National Center for Animal Health Programs, in Riverdale, Maryland. The student will assist these managers as needed and will be given the opportunity to learn about each program; it's objectives, methods, authorities, and how VS collaborates with State animal health officials, the livestock industries, private veterinarians, other agencies, and congress. The National Center for Animal Health Programs initiates, leads, coordinates, and facilitates, national certification and eradication programs which promote, ensure, and improve U.S. animal health, by preventing, minimizing, or eradicating animal diseases of economic concern in light of constituent values. Please visit http://www.aphis.usda.gov/vs/nahps to learn more about the VS National Center for Animal Health Programs. For further information and to apply for this externship please contact Dr. Linda Detwiler at LAVet22@aol.com or 732-580-9391.
USDA, FSIS	Food Safety and Inspection Service Washington, DC	Food safety programs throughout the US. Opportunities are in Scientific Program (microbiology, pathology, residues, slaughter), Field Laboratories, and Operation Program (packing plant operations, seizure, etc).
USDA, APHIS, NCAHEM	Emergency Management Staff Riverdale, MD	The National Center for Animal Health Emergency Management (NCAHEM) has three sections. Collectively they develop strategies and policies for effective incident management and coordination of incident responses. These sections assist in the planning and delivery of training that will ensure personnel preparedness for emergency response assignments. The Interagency Coordination staff plans, organizes, and leads efforts to support and improve response preparedness, and coordinates and creates partnerships with other Federal, State, and local entities to strengthen early detection and rapid response capabilities at all levels. The Preparedness and Incident Coordination staff develops and disseminates emergency response guidelines based on the Incident Command System for responding effectively and efficiently to a foreign animal disease (FAD) or pest. This staff also ensures these guidelines are current, flexible, and adaptable to any disease or animal pest situation. They coordinate investigations and disseminate information about suspected FAD outbreaks. The National Veterinary Stockpile staff leads efforts to ensure that supplies and equipment are readily available in sufficient supply to assist personnel in a response to an animal emergency incident. The selected student will work in an office environment as part of a team of NCAHEM veterinarians and support personnel on issues related to highly contagious FAD preparedness/response and agriculture homeland security issues. The NCAHEM student coordinator may assign projects (some with a short turnaround time) that may require the student to research, organize, analyze, and present data in a Microsoft Word, Powerpoint, or Excel format suitable for presentation or distribution. The student may assist with the development of FAD or emergency management training materials, or may be assigned to another APHIS staff working collaboratively with NCAHEM. For further information and to apply for this externship please contact Dr. Linda Detwiler at LAVet22@aol.com or 732-580-9391.
USDA, APHIS, Veterinary Services	Field Positions Various Locations	Veterinary Services (VS) area offices carry out the agency mission at the State level across the country. Each office has an Area-Veterinarian- in-Charge who is responsible for the actual implementation of the disease prevention, control, and eradication programs mandated by Congress. The area offices also provide the necessary services to support the importation and exportation of animals and animal products. Specific programs and services include, but are not limited to: Health certificate endorsement Export certifications Import inspections Disease surveillance for brucellosis, tuberculosis, pseudorabies, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, scrapie, and chronic wasting disease Veterinary accreditation Responding to animal health emergencies and conducting FAD investigations Cervidae tuberculosis accreditation Scrapie program Informational presentations and materials Animal health monitoring programs The selected extern would be exposed to a vast array of activities and would participate in actual field work. These activities may include drawing blood, observing the application of a comparative cervical tuberculosis test, taking samples required for disease surveillance, assisting in the development of an epidemiology work-up, and performing inspections for importation/exportation. If the selected state has a laboratory, the student may spend time learning about the variety of diagnostics tests required to support VS programs. The Center for Public and Corporate Veterinary Medicine will work with the student to secure a position in a State which is of interest. Some specific positions are listed below. To apply for any of these positions please contact Dr. Linda Detwiler at LAVet22@aol.com or 732-580-9391.
USDA, APHIS, Veterinary Services	Minnesota Area	As a primary assignment the extern will assist with various aspect of the bovine tuberculosis eradication effort in Minnesota. These duties will include both office and field assignments. There may also be opportunities to gain experience with other program diseases.
USDA, APHIS, Veterinary Services	Oklahoma Area	The selected extern would be exposed to a variety of Oklahoma Area Veterinary Services activities and would assist regulatory personnel in actual field work. These activities will include observance of biosecurity measures to prevent the spread of disease prior to field work. Activities may include blood collection from various species, assistance in necropsies and postmortem sample collection, observing the application of supplemental tuberculosis tests, observation and assistance in field epidemiological investigations for various disease programs, assisting in the development of an epidemiological work-up, observation and assistance with foreign animal disease investigations, performing inspections for importation/exportation of animals and animal products, and spending time in the state/federal laboratory learning about the variety of diagnostic tests required to support VS programs.
USDA, APHIS, Veterinary Services	Import/Export and Field Activities Southern California	The duties of USDA, APHIS, Veterinary Services in Southern California are diverse. They include all of the field position responsibilities as listed below as well as port functions. Port Functions: The California Area oversees the importation and exportation of animals and animal products at the port of Los Angeles and the Mexican border. The Los Angeles International Airport/Long Beach serves as an approved port of entry for horses, pet birds and other animals as well as animal products. Veterinary Services employees insure that imported animals and products are inspected and meet the import requirements of the United States. Specific programs and services include, but are not limited to: Health certificate endorsement Export certifications Import inspections Bird Quarantine Facility Field Responsibilities: Veterinary Services and California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) personnel work throughout Southern California. The CDFA District Office is located in Ontario. The Avian Health Group is located in Garden Grove. Specific programs and services include, but are not limited to: Disease surveillance for brucellosis, tuberculosis, pseudorabies, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, scrapie, Exotic Newcastle Disease, Avian Influenza and chronic wasting disease Veterinary accreditation Responding to animal health emergencies and conducting FAD investigations Outreach and Education Programs The selected extern would be exposed to a vast array of activities and would participate in actual field or port work. These activities may include drawing blood, observing the application of a comparative cervical tuberculosis test, taking samples required for disease surveillance, assisting in the development of an epidemiology work-up, and performing inspections for importation/exportation.
USDA, APHIS, Veterinary Services	Eastern Regional Office Raleigh, North Carolina	The Regional Offices for Veterinary Services function as a liaison between the policy staffs in Riverdale, Maryland and the field offices. This particular externship would be working with the regional import/export staff. Each student would spend time on import/export issues working on questions from the field. They would be assigned questions and provided the resources to research those questions. Their responses would be reviewed by the staff before being distributed. This will give them the opportunity to learn about the way Veterinary Services policy is communicated to staff and customers. They will also have the opportunity to work on portions of larger projects such as information gathering from the field or preparation of materials for training. If the student has an interest, the import/export staff would also be willing to help each student coordinate visits with other Eastern Regional Office personnel to learn about domestic programs. For further information and to apply for this externship please contact Dr. Linda Detwiler at LAVet22@aol.com or 732-580-9391.

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