Veterinarians working with Physicians

By Donald F. Smith, Cornell University
Posted July 15, 2012


         A 200-page report on the Workforce Needs in Veterinary Medicine was recently released. Five years in the making, the authors (mostly veterinarians and several of whom I know well) assessed the current and anticipated needs of veterinarians. They paid special attention to agricultural animals, global food security, industry, public service and biomedical research.  However, the role of practicing veterinarians in promoting the role of pets to enhance human health and well-being within the family was not given a high priority compared to other critical-need areas.
         I recently authored the following op-ed on the question, "What can physicians learn from veterinarians?" It presents a more expansive view of how veterinary medicine can enhance human health by considering our pets an integral part of a healthy family structure.  


Reprinted from Zocalo Public Square, June 17, 2012
How to work together
         "When my daughter was a first-year Yale medical student in 2006, I told her that family medicine practices would someday offer services for both people and puppies. They would enter the same door and be seen by the appropriate member(s) of a team of healthcare professionals that included physicians, veterinarians, clinical psychologists, and veterinary behaviorists for annual checkups; nutrition, exercise, and disorder counseling; noninvasive imaging; and family planning.
         "There was a time when physicians and veterinarians worked together, and when Harvard and New York University’s medical and veterinary students learned side-by-side. But the replacement of the horse by the automobile led to the closure of almost all of the large urban veterinary colleges by the mid 1920s, and the medical disciplines drifted apart. However, the modern resurgence of comparative medicine has given the once-accepted concept of one medicine, one health new hope as more physicians recognize what they have in common with veterinarians.
         "As a veterinarian, I dream of a day when cancer wards of hospitals, assisted living homes for the aged, and hospice centers for the dying welcome pets to provide comfort, reduce pain and suffering, relieve anxiety, and smooth the transition from machine-living to compassionate-passing. I dream of a day when we consider substituting pets for prescriptions, and when we can modulate high blood pressure and cholesterol levels by more dog-walking and less pill-popping.
         "I long for the day when the NIH funds research that examines the positive role that pets can have on children with mental disorders, on returning veterans with PTSD, and on prisoners as they return to society.
         "I am ever hopeful for the day when physicians partner with veterinarians—with their education in comparative medicine and their sensitivity to the human-animal bond—to advance human health and reduce the cost of healthcare."


Dr. Smith invites comments at dfs6@cornell.edu      

Veterinary Medicine in the Post Land-Grant Era

By Donald F. Smith DVM, Cornell University

Posted June 25, 2012

I seldom use this blog as a forum to share personal opinions. This posting is an exception, however, and does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of Cornell University or the AVMA. Comments are welcome on this blog or by writing me at dfs6@cornell.edu

         A century ago, there were three types of veterinary colleges. The majority were for-profit schools of varying quality, located in major cities with their focus on horses. These schools could not be sustained past the 1920s because of decreased enrollment when the horse lost its dominance to the internal combustion engine. An additional factor in their demise was the increased scrutiny given private, for profit medical and veterinary schools as the professions improved their regulatory standards. 

         A small handful of veterinary programs were affiliated with their respective medical schools, for example, those at Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, NYU and George Washington University. Only Penn survived. 

         The third type of veterinary college was part of the land-grant initiative. Established in response to the Morrill Act of 1862, land-grant institutions (one per state or territory and mostly located in towns or small cities) were designed to provide practical education for rural youth in agriculture, engineering and the sciences. Starting with Cornell University in 1868, veterinary programs developed at nine land grant universities in the next few decades. Iowa State University became the first public-funded (land-grant) veterinary college in 1879. 

         Another cluster of land-grant veterinary colleges was established in the post World War II era, and a final cluster in the 1970s. Like the early veterinary schools, most of these later colleges were also located in smaller communities apart from major medical schools. In some states, the colleges were located in towns without major transportation hubs. The agricultural lobby was often the dominant political force in justifying the new veterinary college and all but four of the current 28 veterinary colleges are located at land-grant universities. There is also an imbalance favoring locations of colleges in the Midwest and southern states compared to the most populous areas of the country.  Unlike major medical schools which are most prevalent in large metropolitan areas, only two veterinary colleges (Penn and the Ohio State) are located in the 40 most populous U.S. cities.

         In the early 20th century, it could be said that the land-grant system saved veterinary medicine. Without the emphasis on livestock and food production, as well as having state governments providing core financial support, veterinary medicine might otherwise have floundered as the horse lost its central role in transportation and industry. 

         However, in today's world, I believe that the dominance of the land grant system in veterinary education represents a serious challenge for our profession's sustainability. Starting in the years following the Great Depression, migration from rural to urban and suburban areas was accompanied by a massive growth in numbers of household pets and other companion animals. Meanwhile, livestock production was concentrated on larger agricultural units requiring veterinarians.  Today, fewer than 10% of veterinarians work with livestock or the food production systems. About 80% of veterinarians in private practice work with household pets. Another 10% work with horses, zoo animals, wildlife and laboratory animals. 

Beau is an important member of our family.
 Good nutrition, twice-daily scheduled exercise without fail, 
and quality veterinary medical care have given him health and mobility in his 16th year of life.
Photo by the author in 2007.

         Despite the dramatic expansion of the mission of veterinary medicine, state support for veterinary colleges is still largely defined based upon the needs for livestock and safe food production. While these remain a fundamental responsibility of veterinarians, they do not address adequately the larger and more diverse missions of veterinary medicine, especially the role of healthy and well-adjusted pets in supporting human health and well-being.

         To assure sustainability of veterinary colleges in the present era, we need to embrace enthusiastically the role that veterinarians play in an expanded family profile that often includes pets. In responding to this opportunity, we must adapt a bold new approach for public funding that emphasizes the role of veterinarians as critical members of the medical health community. This includes the veterinarians' role in public health and the prevention and control of diseases that are transmitted from animals to people. But it also needs to acknowledge the role of household pets and other companion animals in promoting both physical and emotional health of people at all stages of life. 

         In practical terms, the public funding of veterinary colleges should be broadened and not remain solely the provenance of departments of agriculture.

Dr. Smith invites comments at dfs6@cornell.edu