In early January 2017, nine veterinary students represented Texas A&M University at the 65^thInternational Veterinary Students’ Association (IVSA) Special General Assembly and Symposium at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina. The nine Texas A&M representatives, Branden Nettles, Laura Hurst, Tony Blanco, Chandani Bahkta, Jillian Athey, Jivanni Shah, Jannina Saastamoinen, Selina Zalesak, and Taylor Strange, were among 113 veterinary students from across the globe who gathered to learn about the IVSA and the opportunities the organization offers. Travel funding for the Texas A&M students were provided by several entities including the Texas A&M One Health Initiative.

“Since the IVSA is an organization of veterinary students from a diverse array of countries, we discussed veterinary medicine with colleagues who have had an education different from our own,” the Texas A&M representatives said of their experience. “With how globalized our profession is becoming, hearing from colleagues with these fresh perspectives was one of the best opportunities we were given. We also had the chance to get a behind the scenes tour of a sea turtle rescue, explore the North Carolina aquarium, practice novel technical skills, and have some fun with a trip to a roller rink. One of the favorite nights of the IVSA event was cultural night, where students wore outfits from their country and brought food and drinks to share. This was a unique way to see the similarities/differences in cultures around the world, and have a good time with our new friends.”

The IVSA is a non-profit organization led by volunteer veterinary students from around the world. Their aim is to improve the standard of veterinary education internationally through the exchange of ideas, knowledge, and culture; ultimately pursuing their mission of benefiting the animals and people of the world by harnessing the potential and dedication of veterinary students to promote the international application of veterinary skills, education, and knowledge. Specific IVSA opportunities presented at the symposium included participating in international student exchanges, helping to raise funding for veterinary students in low gross domestic product areas, and making connections from all over the world.

“The week we spent at the IVSA conference changed our lives,” the students reflected. ”From creating global connections within veterinary medicine, to seeing so many different languages popping up on Facebook, to having a deeper understanding of the world we live in, IVSA now has a place in all our hearts.”

For more information about the Texas A&M chapter of IVSA, please visit tx.ag/cWcvqjl.
For more information about the IVSA, please visit tx.ag/Pmoge8E.

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Twelve veterinary medical students and two faculty members from the School of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (VMBS) represented Texas A&M University at the Sixth Biennial Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Veterinary Student Day, held Jan. 22–23, 2017, at CDC headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.

Veterinary students Laura Hurst ’18, Sam McDonald ’19, Chris Beck ’19, Michelle Kurkowski’18, Mikaela Stanislav ’19, Luke Tomaso ’20, Branden Nettles ’19, Emily Crews ’20, Clare Brooks ’18, Chandani Bhakta ’18, Cara Finstad ’18, and Chloe Goodwin ’18, accompanied by faculty mentors Dr. Glennon Mays and Dr. Christine Budke, joined over 400 veterinary students and faculty from across North America to learn more about the impact of veterinary medicine on public health.

“CDC Veterinary Students Day is a wonderful opportunity to introduce veterinary students to the important contributions that veterinarians make to public health,” Budke said. “This event allows participating students to hear first-hand about the work that veterinarians perform at the CDC and other U.S. and international agencies.”

This year’s event, “The Secret Life of Pets and Vets,” featured speakers from the CDC, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Federal Drug Administration (FDA), the American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC), and the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA). Topics included emerging zoonotic and infectious diseases; epidemiology; global health challenges, strategies, migration, and health; and environmental health. In addition to educational opportunities, this event highlighted career opportunities within the federal government that are available to veterinarians.

“It was valuable to meet with other veterinary students from around the country who are also interested in public health,” Tomaso said. “Most of my peers realize that our profession has a profound impact on animal health, but many don’t realize that impact extends to human and environmental health.”

The VMBS Professional Programs Office and the Texas A&M One Health Initiative provided travel funding for the Texas A&M students.

For more information about One Health activities at the CDC, please visit tx.ag/jjocb8W.
For more information about One Health opportunities at Texas A&M University, please visit tx.ag/PihbW1A.

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Eagle Scout Michael Kinsey is collaborating with Dr. Maria D. Esteve-Gassent, assistant professor at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (CVM), to perform a statewide tick drag as part of his Eagle Scout project.

Kinsey initiated the project after hearing about Esteve-Gassent’s research to map the presence of ticks in Texas and to test for pathogens the ticks may be carrying, such as Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain spotted fever.

As part of the project, Boy Scouts across the state are conducting tick drags and sending their samples to Esteve-Gassent’s lab for testing. In the process of collecting samples, Boy Scout troops will learn how to avoid tick bites at campground sites.

Though Kinsey has suffered from Lyme disease for six years, he has learned to overcome the challenges associated with this disease. He hopes this project will accelerate Esteve-Gassent’s research and positively impact human and veterinary medicine regarding diseases spread by ticks.

Kinsey’s Eagle Scout project ends April 2017. To learn more about this project, or to help or donate, visit tickdrag.com.

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COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Texas A&M University School of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (VMBS) announces Dr. Gerald W. Parker as the new Associate Dean for Global One Health. The appointment is housed within the VMBS.

In this role, he will serve as Campus Director for Global One Health for Texas A&M University and also will hold joint appointments in the College of Agriculture & Life Sciences, as strategic advisor of the Institute for Infectious Animal Diseases in AgriLife Research, and the Bush School of Government & Public Service, as Director of the Biosecurity and Pandemic Policy Program.

Parker will lead, coordinate, and expand the Global One Health program to meet its goals of improving global health and actively engage both national and international partners in pursuing innovated health solutions.

A U.S. Army veteran with combined military and civilian federal public service of more than 36 years, Parker’s federal experience culminated with his service as the deputy assistant Secretary of Defense for chemical and biological defense in the U.S. Department of Defense.

Parker also served as the principal deputy assistant secretary within the Department of Health and Human Services’ (DHHS) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response. Parker led the coordination of DHHS-wide efforts to prepare for and respond to public health and medical emergencies.  In this role, he also served as a focal point for operational and policy coordination with the White House, Congress, other federal departments, state and local officials, private sector leaders, and international authorities that includes disaster responses to Hurricane Katrina to the Haiti earthquake, and the 2009 influenza pandemic.

Prior to joining the School of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Dr. Parker served as the interim director of the Institute for Infectious Animal Diseases and associate vice president for public health preparedness and response at the Texas A&M Health Science Center.

“We are honored to have Dr. Parker join our team in the School of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences,” said Dr. Eleanor Green, the Carl B. King dean of veterinary medicine. “With his many talents, career experiences, and widespread reputation, he will help us realize our goals of synergizing the unique strengths across campus, nationally and internationally, to advance animal, human, and environmental health in a shared ecosystem.”

In 2015, Parker was one of 27 individuals named to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Advisory Committee (HSSTAC), which advises the department’s Undersecretary for Science and Technology on matters related to the expansion of technological capabilities.  He also serves as an ex officio member of the Biodefense Blue Ribbon Panel co-chaired by former Governor Ridge and former Senator Lieberman.

“Dr. Parker is a remarkable scholar, a remarkable administrator, and a remarkable practitioner,” said Mark A. Welsh III, Dean of the Bush School of Government and Public Service. “We are honored to have him join the Bush School faculty in this role and believe he has the talent, experience, and leadership skills to take biosecurity and pandemic policy discussions in this country to a new level.”

During his military career, he served in many roles, including former commander and deputy commander of the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases.

In 2009, Parker was recognized with the Distinguished Executive Presidential Rank Award, the highest annual recognition for senior executive service personnel and the Secretary of Defense Medal for Civilian Meritorious Service in 2013.

Parker holds a doctorate of veterinary medicine from Texas A&M University, a doctorate in physiology from Baylor College of Medicine, and a master’s degree in resourcing the national strategy from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces.

Texas A&M University One Health is the collaborative effort of multiple disciplines working locally, nationally, and globally to attain sustainable optimal health for the ecosystem.

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For more information about Texas A&M Global One Health and the Texas A&M School of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, please visit our website at vetmed.tamu.edu or join us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Contact Information: Megan Palsa, Executive Director of Communications, Media & Public Relations, Texas A&M School of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Science; mpalsa@cvm.tamu.edu; 979-862-4216; 979-421-3121 (cell)

View the original press release (posted March 14, 2017)

Posted April 24, 2017

Dr. Garry Adams participates at the AVMA Global Food Security Summit. Photo courtesy of the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA)

Four faculty members from the College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (CVM) attended the American Veterinary Medical Association’s (AVMA) Global Food Security Summit, held in Washington, D.C., Feb. 9-11, 2017.

The summit, titled “Food Security–Understanding the Role of Animal Health and Well-Being,” introduced and explored constructive public and private stakeholder partnerships between national and international relief and development organizations and the veterinary community to promote and enhance global food security.

Drs. Garry Adams, Angela Arenas, Rosina (Tammi) C. Krecek, and Linda Logan were among 115 attendees who engaged in active dialogue to explore and define the role of animal-source foods in enhancing global food security.

The concept for the summit originated two years ago, when the AVMA Committee on International Veterinary Affairs (CIVA) initiated a strategic discussion surrounding how the association could contribute to solving the global food production challenges of the future. The CIVA wanted to promote the value of animal source foods as necessary nutrition for healthy people in all parts of the world, as well as promote the U.S. veterinary profession’s role in progressive food production initiatives, both domestically and internationally, by exploring opportunities for members of the AVMA and Student AVMA to become engaged with the many organizations that are currently working to develop food security solutions.

The summit featured a wide breadth of speakers, including a geographer who is the Canada research chair in Global Food Security, a British agriculture economist working on the economic cost of livestock disease, a human nutritionist working on providing quality nutrients from animal-source foods produced locally to mitigate early childhood malnutrition, and representatives of funders and managers of global food security programs.

Summit participants spent three days describing and defining ways improved animal health and well-being contribute to a more secure, sustainable, safe, and nutritious food supply. They also identified pathways to integrate veterinary expertise into current and future global food security programs.

Attendee input from the facilitated discussions will be incorporated into a report developed by the summit organizing committee, finalized by CIVA, and presented to the AVMA Board of Directors later this year.

For more information about the AVMA Global Food Security Summit, visit http://atwork.avma.org/2017/03/09/veterinarians-others-gather-global-food-security-summit.

Michelle Kurkowski and Laura Hurst were the driving force behind the CVM’s participation in this year’s Disaster Day event.Thirty Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (CVM) students sprang into action on March 30 as first-time participants in the College of Nursing’s annual Disaster Day, the largest student-run mass casualty simulation event in the country.

Led by Michelle Kurkowski and Laura Hurst, veterinary students and co-presidents of the Student One Health Association, the 30 students joined close to 300 nursing, medical, and pharmacy students employed to act as care providers for more than 400 volunteers, who portrayed victims of a hurricane disaster.

The annual, interdisciplinary event—held at the Central Baptist Church’s Family Life Center in Bryan—incorporates all of the medical disciplines within the Texas A&M University System to provide students with the knowledge and skills necessary to respond in an emergency situation, according to Kurkowski.

Kurkowski and Hurst served as the veterinary medicine liaisons in charge of setting up the veterinary side of the Disaster Day scenario.

The two wrote three vet-med cases that were treated during the activity—including a child bitten amidst a dog fight, a man and his two dogs showing signs of a bacterial disease, and a girl suffering head trauma who was brought in with her service dog—in an effort to incorporate both human and animal medicine into the day’s events.

“The vet students greatly enjoyed the chance to interact with the other colleges and get in on the main action. They also remarked that they learned a lot clinically,” Kurkowski said.

“The medical and nursing students began to seek out the veterinary teams for consultations and assistance when needed; they even began to consult with the veterinary teams on cases that were not originally written as med-vet interface cases,” she said. “One student remarked that it was the first time that he had seen the concept of ‘one health’ truly in action.”

In addition, members of Texas A&M’s Veterinary Emergency Team (VET)—the largest and most sophisticated veterinary medical disaster response team in the country—set up tents outside of the center to support the cause, helping vet students understand what it’s like to deploy for a disaster on the veterinary side by working through animal cases.

“There is no question this is valuable,” said Deb Zoran, professor in the Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences and VET member. “It is a great experience that allows the fourth-year veterinary students opportunities to practice being team leaders.  Perhaps most importantly for the first-, second-, and third-year veterinary students, it is the first time they’re introduced to disaster response and the concept of triage and stabilization. It (this training) will help them as they continue in school because it’s just another way of developing the skills of thinking things through and problem solving.”

Kurkowski and Hurst also tied in an educational component to Disaster Day by providing handouts and bringing in CPR dummies after the morning simulation to teach participants about canine CPR.

“Animals are always affected when disasters hit, and canine CPR is a really popular topic with non-veterinary students because most people have pets and would like to know how to respond in an emergency situation,” Kurkowski said.

While the VET team participated in scenarios two years ago, the March 30 event represents the first time the CVM has integrated with the human side of the event. Kurkowski said she hopes to establish a greater presence for CVM in the future.

Originally posted in the July 2017 Dean’s Corner. View original article here.

Rosina (Tammi) C. Krecek, a research professor in Global One Health in Texas A&M’s College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (CVM), was featured on the news page of the national One Health Initiative website.

The article, “Experienced Texas A&M University (USA) One Health Professor Enhances a Dynamic One Health Program,” published on Thursday, June 8, examines Krecek’s work in the field since 2015 and as interim assistant dean of One Health.

“Dr. Krecek works within a dynamic, expanding One Health program under the auspices of an extraordinary CVM Dean, Dr. Eleanor M. Green,” the article reads. “One recent dramatic example of the visionary One Health TAMU activities was demonstrated with a Scowcroft Institute of International Affairs at the Bush School of Government and Public Service report entitled ‘The Growing Threat of Pandemics: Enhancing Domestic and International Biosecurity—March 2017.’”

The article also outlines significant achievements during Krecek’s tenure as interim assistant dean of One Health at Texas A&M that have advanced the One Health initiative to the next level, including three recent grant awards for the establishment of new interdisciplinary programs, with several awarded; and the critical compilation of performance metrics for campus-wide One Health research to demonstrate positive outcomes in various research, education and outreach programs.

Krecek has more than 30 years of international experience at building sustainable One Health research, education and outreach programs in Africa, the Caribbean, and in the U.S. Her focus has been a collaborative and interdisciplinary approach for diagnosis and interventions to prevent and manage zoonotic parasitic and infectious diseases which impact resource-poor communities. She established a successful international agricultural consultancy in Sub-Saharan Africa, which addresses societal issues through novel One Health solutions.

Two of her overall strengths are establishing international sustainable strategic partnerships, and leading teams to successfully achieve their goals.

Krecek currently serves with distinction on the One Health Commission’s Board of Directors.

To read the entire article, visit http://www.onehealthinitiative.com/news.php.

Originally posted in the July 2017 Dean’s Corner. View original article here.

Two faculty members from the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (CVM) were among those from 20 universities and institutions from across the United States and Canada who participated in a two-day, interactive workshop sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Drs. Rosina “Tammi” Krecek and Angela Arenas explored relevant bioethical issues associated with contemporary animal production during the 2017 Agricultural Animal Bioethics Workshop, held in Indianapolis, from June 4-6.

The USDA Challenge Grant-funded workshop was designed to provide curriculum and resources on animal bioethics to instructors of relevant courses in agricultural sciences and veterinary medicine.

“Agricultural animal bioethics is fundamental to Global One Health programs, specifically at the animal and human intersect,” Krecek said. “This workshop provided the environment for experienced colleagues from across the U.S. and Canada to share skills necessary to develop educational modules and for teaching animal welfare. Especially valuable were discussions that explored innovative effective pedagogical approaches in both developed and developing countries.”

The core training team represented Purdue University, University of Maryland, Michigan State University, University of Alaska Anchorage, Texas A&M University, and the USDA, participants from which were instructed to examine the development and effective use of tools for bioethics instruction.

Participants were provided an opportunity to tailor materials and practice, incorporating them into moral deliberation about ethical issues in animal agriculture.

The overall aim of the event was to engage consumers, critics, and other stakeholders on relevant bioethical issues associated with contemporary animal production, including the impacts on animal welfare, the environment, small farms, social justice, “cheap” food policy, and consumer demand, which is both important and also intimidating to the animal sciences and industries, according to Krecek.

For more information on the workshop, visit https://vet.purdue.edu/CAWS/bioethics.

An important piece of bipartisan legislation is currently making its way towards authorization in our nation’s capital. The Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness and Advancing Innovation Act of 2018 provides a framework for pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response through organizational initiatives, public health efforts, and innovative medical counter measures among many other strategies outlined in the bill.

What’s especially striking about the 2018 version of the bill is the inclusion of “zoonotic disease, food, and agriculture” in our national health security strategy, thus outlining the necessity of a One Health approach.

During a Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) Committee Hearing on May 23, 2018, Senator Tina Smith (MN) described her state’s intimate knowledge of why One Health principles must be factored in to pandemic preparedness:

“Both Minnesota and Indiana were hard hit by the avian flu outbreak that we experienced a few years ago, and this outbreak led farmers to culling nearly 50 million birds and it resulted in an estimated 3.3 billion dollars in losses for our poultry farmers, animal feed producers, and related industries. And it also had a significant human public health implications because a wide ranging variety of vaccines are cultivated using eggs. So, our One Health idea gets to the point that human health and animal health are linked and that they both are related to changes in our environment, and without adopting this kind of approach and encouraging researchers to study animal and human health and encouraging them to work together, we’re not going to be able to effectively prepare for and prevent disease outbreaks that affect both animals and humans.”

The inclusion of these principles and Senator Smith’s remarks represent a growing awareness as to why the link between animal, human, and environmental health complicates our ability to maintain health security and to prevent, detect, and respond to infectious diseases with pandemic potential. It’s encouraging to see lawmakers and the public at large champion One Health as a necessary way for moving forward. Texas A&M University’s College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences and Global One Health hope to encourage this growing awareness and to continue to establish themselves as an emerging leader in global ONE HEALTH security.

Watch the entire HELP Committee hearing here.