New business-focused certification available for cattle veterinarians

An education program that helps swine veterinarians' careers will be available to beef-focused bovine veterinarians in 2017, according to representatives at the University of Illinois and Kansas State University.

The two schools are collaborating on new courses for an executive veterinary program (EVP) in Beef Health Management to be available to DVMs interested in postgraduate work beginning April 2017. The program is modeled on an EVP in Swine Health Management launched in 1991, which has been offered six times with 222 graduates from 16 states and three countries.

"These are things you don't learn in veterinary school."

"Today's food animal veterinarians need not only a robust understanding of medicine, but also leadership, systems management, communication and data analysis," says Jim Lowe, DVM, the associate professor from the College of Veterinary Medicine at Illinois who's coordinating the program. "These are things you don't learn in veterinary school."

Lowe planned the program with Dan Thomson, DVM, the Jones Professor of Production Medicine and Epidemiology at Kansas State University. Subjects will include "Improving outcomes through clinical reasoning," "Human impacts on disease occurrence and detection" and "Understanding our customers and the food supply chain of the 21st century." The program consists of 10 two-day modules spread over 18 months.

Thomson was a speaker for the most recent EVP Swine program and says he thinks there's a need for the same program for beef-focused bovine practitioners.

"I told the program leaders that beef veterinarians need [these] skills and networking opportunities."

"I was impressed by the way the EVP Swine participants spoke about the impact the program was having on their careers," Thomson says. "I told the program leaders at Illinois that beef veterinarians need the skills and networking opportunities EVP created just as much as swine vets do."

Enrollment for EVP Beef is open to 40 participants. They'll meet at Kansas State University's newest campus in Olathe, Kansas.

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