The national shortage in veterinary medical manpower has been discussed for at least 25 years and is ongoing. While this shortage also affects the veterinary private practice setting, it is more acutely seen in the non-private practice arena of veterinary and animal science and public health. The severity of this shortage will negatively impact our nation for both the present decade and the foreseeable future. Of special concern today is the dramatic increase in national and international issues related to bioterrorism and food safety, which together affect the biosecurity of the United States and the world at large.

While agricultural and other bioterrorism threats are easily appreciated, only two facilities in the country, namely those at Plum Island, NY and Ames, IA, deal with reportable highly contagious animal diseases. Zoonotic diseases are studied at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta. However, none of these research facilities have Level 4 biocontainment units for studying large animals. Also, these agencies are not able to work with foreign animal diseases, such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), where confirmation of suspected cases is done overseas, and no vaccine testing is done in the US for these foreign disease agents. This situation makes it very difficult for veterinarians to study foreign diseases.

Other issues facing the veterinary profession include the fact that many animal health problems are generally not well studied. Endemic diseases still exist and have a significant medical and economic impact on animal health and well-being. Wildlife diseases are poorly studied, and the interrelationship between diseases of wild and domestic animals is not well understood.