Let me assure you that you’ve been getting your $125 worth in annual dues (and if you think that is a broad hint to pay online with our Pay Pal station, I’m guilty). Your Executive Board and College committees have been very busy. Here is an excerpt of recent activity on your behalf:
 
First, and most importantly, regarding increasing the size of the College. Despite your vigorous efforts to market our College, increasing numbers of veterinary public health graduate programs, increased global awareness of the value that veterinarians bring to public health, and board certification pay for uniformed personnel, only about 30 Diplomates have joined our ranks annually over the past 5 years, giving our organization static growth at best. Application numbers this year are consistent with the past.

During this month’s teleconference, our Executive Board had an interesting discussion. Several groups have approached the ACVPM over the past decade with proposals to become sub-specialty organizations such as our own Epidemiology Specialty. The gray-haired among us will remember thoughts of a food safety group (or food protection in current parlance); we’ve been approached by Clinical Epidemiologists, Animal Welfare and most recently, the organizational committee for Shelter Medicine, all of whom were seeking ABVS recognition and wondering if they were a good fit under our ‘umbrella’ of expertise. A common complaint for these groups is that the breadth of subject matter in our general exam is off-putting if they would be required to pass the ACVPM general exam as well as their sub-specialty exam.

Then there are the results of our recent job analysis to consider, which basically validated that we are a very broad organization in terms of subject matter. This translates to an exam which covers a lot of ground but with a relatively low-order of complexity for any particular subject; yet because of the difficulty in identifying objective measures of competence across the range of public health/preventive medicine skills, the general exam remains the primary hurdle to becoming a Diplomate.

The EB discussed changing that paradigm. What if we changed the structure of the College to require sub-specialization, so that a food safety professional would be an ACVPM Diplomate in Food Protection, for example? The general exam could be much smaller, composed only of core competencies that are common between the sub-specialties, for example epidemiology, toxicology, and sanitation – but candidates would be required to take a concurrent subspecialty exam focused on more specific information just within that specialty area.

Obviously this would be a big change, and is worthy of prolonged thought. The restructured examination might be more work to produce. The existing ACVPM culture might clash with some of the groups seeking to join with us. We would have to figure out how to put existing Diplomates into a sub-specialty. It would take us several years of work to get from here to there, given our all-volunteer committee structure. But on the other hand, this is not a new idea- discussions like this have been percolating around the College for some time. It would likely create a rapid rise in new membership. And most importantly, it would infuse several existing professional groups with the principles of veterinary public health/preventive medicine.

In the end, the EB voted to put together a working group led by President-Elect Dr. Roger Krogwold and composed of Dr. Kevin Grayson (counselor), Rosalie Trevejo (Epi Speciality), John Sanders (ABVS rep) and Kelley Donham (At-Large Gray-Beard) to do some research and flesh out a proposal which we will publish in the spring newsletter and ask for your comments. After that we’ll ask the general membership for a thumbs-up or down as to whether the College leadership should pursue this in earnest. Any real change would, of course, require a comprehensive bylaws change, subject to vote by the full membership.

Other updates:

Dr. Vicky Fogelman and her Continuing Education committee have made arrangements to visit Ohio State University in late Jan/early February to evaluate their graduate program in veterinary public health/preventive medicine for College approval, and will re-visit University of Minnesota in the March timeframe for a 5-year-update inspection.

Our webmaster Joe Adam is putting the finishing touches on a newly revised website, which will put our application on-line and make it easier to track Diplomate information.

At the EB’s direction, the EVP will toughen up on delinquent dues payers. Dr Candace McCall will attempt to contact delinquent payers three times to pay their dues; if not paid by the annual meeting following the dues notice, the member will have 60 days to reinstate their membership or be stricken from the active rolls.

Dr. Bonnie Buntain has led the Internal Affairs Committee in crafting a bylaws change that would allow students enrolled in ACVPM-approved residency programs to sit for the exam during their final semester. The EB requested this change, hoping to inspire two outcomes: first, that more graduate programs in veterinary public health will seek ACVPM approval of their residency/MPH program, and secondly, that more graduates from these programs will enter our ranks. The EB plans to review the new bylaws language on our January teleconference, and will send this to the membership for a vote immediately after. I encourage you to vote yes to encourage the success of these newly created academic initiatives in veterinary public health.

Dr Scott Brooks and his Examinations committee have completed changes that will merge the communications portion of the exam with the essay portion, effective with the 2010 examination.

Anyone interested in seeking the office of Councilor or President-Elect should contact Dr. John Herbold, Chair of the Nominations Committee. The EB will recommend a slate of candidates at their next teleconference. That’s all for now! I wish you the very best during the upcoming holiday season.

Peggy Carter DVM, MS
President, ACVPM