Proportion of Ross and St. George's DVM Graduates in the US during the Last 30 Years

By Donald F. Smith, Cornell University (1)

In a story posted here on February 27^th, I reported that alumni of Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine alumni have contributed to the US veterinary workforce since their first class graduated in 1985 (2). Likewise, St. George’s University graduates have worked in the US since 2003. Over half of those graduates reside in the seven most populous states and in the three eastern states of New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

This posting shows the proportion of AVMA-member Caribbean graduates to the total AVMA-member veterinary workforce. In the following graph, the percentage of Ross and St. George’s graduates is compared to all DVMs in five-year intervals over the past 30 years. Even considering that many of the graduates of the two schools are not AVMA members (and are, therefore, not enumerated here), the number is slightly over 5.5% of the total AVMA members who graduated since 1985, most of whom reside in the US.

Percentage of AVMA-member graduates from Caribbean veterinary schools, since their first graduating classes (Ross and St. George's, in 1985 and 2003, respectively), as a proportion of all AVMA-membe graduates during the same five-year periods. (3)

Throughout our history, US citizens have traveled to foreign countries to receive a veterinary education. During the late 19^th and early 20^th century, large numbers of US citizens bypassed veterinary colleges in New York and other northern states and received veterinary degrees in Toronto and Montreal.  For example, during the first 40 years operation of the Ontario Veterinary College (located at the time in Toronto), over 1,750 of the graduates were from the US.  Most returned to their home states, where they entered practice. Some became teaching faculty and, at least in one case, the dean of a US veterinary college.

During the 1960s and 1970s, substantial numbers of US citizens were educated abroad, travelling to Italy or the Philippines and returning to the US to practice.  Many of these are still active in the profession.

With the opening of Ross University’s veterinary school in the 1980s, and St. George’s two decades later, many US citizens migrated to the Caribbean for their veterinary education.

More recently, Americans have also traveled to Canada and overseas to receive their veterinary degrees.  There are almost 2,000 AVMA-members currently in the US who graduated from Canada, Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand, alone.  Substantial proportions of faculty in US colleges are foreign graduates, and many have served as deans of our veterinary colleges, especially during the last 30 years. (4)

(1) The author is a member of the Board of Trustees of Ross University
(2) Smith, Donald F. Distribution of Ross and St. George's DVM Graduates in the United States, Veterinary Legacy, February 27, 2015
(3) AVMA Directory, Member accessible (February 2015)
(4) Smith, Donald F. Foreign-Born Deans of Veterinary Medicine. Perspectives in Veterinary Medicine, December 5, 2014

Distribution of Ross and St. George's DVM Graduates in the United States

By Donald F. Smith, Cornell University (1)

Over 3,800 AVMA-member veterinarians have graduated from Ross University in St. Kitts and from St. George's University in Grenada since 1985 and 2003, respectively. (2)

As of this posting, 58% percent (2,224) of these AVMA-member veterinarians reside in the seven most populous states (California, Texas, Florida, New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Ohio), plus the three eastern states of New Jersey, Virginia and Massachusetts. The actual number is considerably higher because, as for other colleges, a significant number of graduates do not list any personal or professional information on the AVMA member site, and therefore we have no accessible record for where they reside and work.

The graph below shows the AVMA-member Ross and St. George’s graduates from the ten states listed above, ordered from the highest (New York), to the tenth (Massachusetts). Using New York State as the example, Caribbean graduates, shown in red, comprise 15.1% of the State's veterinarians. Cornell graduates (the in-state college for New York) comprise 32.4% of the total of 4,100 veterinarians, and slightly over half are graduates from neither Cornell nor the Caribbean schools.

Number of AVMA-member veterinarians from the ten states with the greatest number of Ross and St. George's graduates.  Also shown are numbers of graduates from the respective in-state college and other colleges.
Data from AVMA directory, February 2015

The total number of AVMA-members graduates from these ten states is shown in the following table, along with the number of graduates from the two Caribbean colleges, the veterinarians from the respective in-state colleges and graduates from other colleges.

	Total Vets	Carib  Grads	In State  Grads	Other Grads
NY	4,110	619	1,330	2,161
FL	5,241	354	1,336	3,551
CA	7,008	251	2,680	4,077
TX	6,231	190	3,867	2,174
PA	3,480	154	1,545	1,781
NJ	1,884	150	0	1,734
OH	3,106	134	2,281	691
IL	3,277	133	1,760	1,384
VA	2,762	129	862	1,771
MA	2,025	110	654	1,261

In the absence of demographic data indicating the residence of the Ross and St. George’s students prior to matriculation, it is not possible to draw conclusions as to the proportion of veterinary graduates returning to their home state after receiving their DVM degrees.  That deserves further examination.

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1. The author is a member of Ross University Board of Trustees.
2. Approximately 75% of these veterinarians are from Ross as it is the older school and also has more graduates each year than St. George's University. An additional 12 AVMA-member graduates of the University of the West Indies between 1998 and 2011 are not included in this study as that college is not accredited by the AVMA 

Dr. Andrea Dennis-LaVigne to Become President of the Connecticut Veterinary Medical Association

By Donald F. Smith, Cornell University
Posted February 7, 2014
Recognizing Women's Leadership in Veterinary Medicine and Honoring Black History Month

An expanded version of this story was posted in Feb 10th at   http://veterinarylegacy.blogspot.com/2014/02/dr-andrea-dennis-lavigne-to-become.html

     

      "It's a great conversation piece," Dr. Andrea Dennis-LaVigne says of President Obama's personal note and signature on a poster in the Bloomfield Animal Hospital, the hospital she began 20 years ago just north of Hartford, Connecticut.

During a visit to the White House, Dr. Dennis-LaVigne
received an autograph and personal greeting from 
President Obama and Bo
Photo provided by Dr. Dennis-LaVigne.

      Dr. Dennis-LaVigne grew up in Connecticut, the oldest of three girls, raised by a single mother who taught her to be industrious and self-sufficient. At the age of 17 she went off to Cornell, but the racial tension she found there in the early 1970s proved too much for this young African-American woman, and after one year she transferred to the University of Connecticut where she continued to pursue her undergraduate degree.

      Andrea had wanted to be veterinarian since childhood, but her advisor at UCONN told her, “You’ll never be a veterinarian.” Undaunted, she switched advisors, applied as a junior and started veterinary college in 1978. She almost didn’t accept the offer from Tuskegee ―“George Wallace was governor, I can’t go there,” she said―but her advisor encouraged her, telling her to just go and she’d be fine in Alabama. He insisted that she would fulfill her dream of becoming a veterinarian and, by matriculating as a junior, would even save a year of college and tuition. “One person believed in me,” Dr. Dennis recalls sentimentally. “One person believed in me.”

     She had a wonderful time in Tuskegee. “It was a small school and the Dean, Dr. Walter Bowie was great, and everyone was a mentor. Everyone had my back.” 

      After graduation, Dr. Dennis completed an internship in large animal medicine and surgery at the University of California, Davis, then taught for a year at the newly-opened Ross School of Veterinary Medicine. Ross was still located on the island of Dominica when she started, and she actually experienced the move to the island of St. Kitts.

      But after the year, she decided to go into practice back in the Northeast and, for the next eight years, worked in two small animal practices. While she learned a great deal observing how these owners ran their practices, she yearned to start her own business.

      So in 1992, she started out on her own. Using a house that she co-owned with her mother as collateral, she borrowed $100,000 from the bank and acquired a wonderful array of used equipment given to her by the the local hospital to complement new equipment purchases. Even in her first year, the business at her Bloomfield Animal Hospital business was above expectations and she has never looked back. In 1997, she was joined by Dr. Eva Ceranowicz and together they have built a thriving practice with a diverse and supportive clientele.

Dr. Andrea Dennis-LaVigne and her associate, Dr. Eva Ceranowicz
Photo provided by Dr. Dennis LaVigne

      Dr. Dennis-LaVigne is passionate about giving back and supporting her community. She has held many leadership positions at her undergraduate alma mater, the University of Connecticut, and currently serves on it Board of Trustees. In 2011, she gave the commencement address for the university in front of some 8,000 graduates, family members and friends.

      A firm believer in organized veterinary medicine, Dr. Dennis-LaVigne will become the sixth woman president since 2000, of the Connecticut Veterinary Medical Association. Just as she was the first African American veterinarian in Connecticut, she will also carry that distinction to the presidency. 

I thank Ms. Julie Kumble, Interim CEO, Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts, Easthampton, MA 01027, for arranging an interview for the two of us with Dr. Dennis-LaVigne on January 28, 2014. The information in this blog is based upon that interview to support our ongoing research in women's leadership in veterinary medicine.