Essential Facts

The Tuskegee University College of Veterinary Medicine, Nursing & Allied Health (CVMNAH)

                 

Background

The College (CVMNAH) is composed of the School of Veterinary Medicine (Animal Health) and the School of Nursing & Allied Health (Human Health). This College is the only one of its kind in USA where Animal Health (Veterinary Medicine) and Human Health (Nursing & Allied Health) are interlinked and merged under one College within the framework of the One Health~ One Medicine approach.

  • The Tuskegee University School of Veterinary Medicine (TUSVM) is fully accredited by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA).
  • The TUSVM is one of 28 Schools/Colleges of Veterinary Medicine in the USA. But it is the only one in USA that is fully integrated serving African-Americans, Caucasian students, Hispanics, Asians, Native Americans and even international students.
  • The TUSVM historically was established in 1945 for the training of African Americans (AA) at a time when AA did not have other opportunities to study veterinary medicine due to segregation and other racial impediments. In 1945, the USA had only ten Schools of Veterinary Medicine. It is estimated that fewer than five AA were located in the Southern States at that time. It graduated its first class of fully qualified veterinarians in 1949. Now the nation has 28 schools of veterinary medicine and only one (TUSVM) caters to serving AA as well as others in a fully integrated manner.
  • The TUSVM is the most balanced racially, ethnically and culturally among all schools of veterinary medicine. It is a unique place where true diversity shines in a school of veterinary medicine in the nation. The TUSVM has educated over 70% of the nation's AA veterinarians. It is estimated that 10% of all Hispanic veterinarians and more than 59% of all AA veterinarians who graduated during the last 5 - 7 years were educated at TUSVM.
  • The TUSVM offers six academic programs including the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) degree, two Master of Science degrees (veterinary science and tropical animal health), a dual DVM/MS degree and the PhD in Integrative Biosciences.
  • The faculty are dedicated, sensitive and of high caliber in their chosen fields of veterinary medicine with most having the DVM and the terminal degree (PhD) and/or are Board certified in their disciplines. Just like the students the faculty are diverse with national and international renown. At least 75% of the basic sciences faculty hold both the DVM and PhD and nearly 60% are tenured.

TUSVM Accomplishments

The TUSVM has served a singular role in expanding diversity of the veterinary profession. Since 1985 until now, the Schools and Colleges of Veterinary Medicine in the USA had about 2% of the student population being AA. For example, in 2006, there were 198 AA in the 28 Schools and Colleges of Veterinary Medicine in the USA. Nearly 50% of these were at TUSVM. This roughly equates to about 4 AA students (or one AA in each class) in each of the other 27 Schools and Colleges of Veterinary Medicine while the TUSVM averaged about 27 AA students per class. Thus the TUSVM carries a disproportionate load for training AA and other disadvantaged ethnic groups including whites and Hispanics and others.

  • According to the Comparative Data maintained by the American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC), while overall minority enrollment in veterinary medicine is increasing in the 27 schools of veterinary medicine, the total enrollment of AA in the other 27 School/Colleges is actually decreasing slightly or at best has remained at the same level over the past 20 years.
  • The TUSVM, as its parent institution, Tuskegee University, is a semi-private institution. The State of Alabama or the federal government does not allocate an annual budget for the operation of the School. It relies on tuition, grants, contracts and donations or support provided by individuals and selected organizations. Because of this and due its commitment to serving students of racial and disadvantaged economic backgrounds, the TUSVM lacks adequate resources for its operation.
  • Although not supported by tax or public funds like other Land Grant Institutions in USA, the TUSVM remains to be first-rate academic institution.
  • The TUSVM graduates have excelled in private clinical practice, in public practice such as in the government, in the military and in corporations such as the pharmaceutical industry (e.g. at Banfield etc.).
  • TUSVM graduates hold key leadership positions in government, the military, in the academy and in the international arena. For example, four TUSVM graduates currently serve as Deans or Associate Deans in the USA.

What the TUSVM Needs

  • Nationally, there is critical shortage of veterinarians who could provide public health services in several areas such as USDA, CDC, Homeland Security, Rural Communities and selected urban centers where minority subpopulations congregate. The current shortage of veterinarians is estimated to be about 1500 veterinarians and this shortage is projected to increase to 15,000 by 2025. Since the majority of USA population will be composed of people of color by 2050 (somewhat reflecting the rest of the global population), due to these two projections, the nation's need of AA and other minority veterinarians that diversify the profession will become more critical and urgent.
  • At a time when the nation needs additional trained veterinarians to join the public health workforce due to demands in homeland defense and biosecurity concerns, the TUSVM has to gear up and prepare itself to play its most important role in the profession and health workforce of the new century.
  • Although the TUSVM is in a unique position to provide opportunities both to majority and minority students, due to its limited resources and because of recent accreditation related requirements, it needs additional resources and facilities for it to continue to serve the nation as a premier institution that trains the nations diverse health workforce of the 21 st century.
  • The TUSVM has limited resources. It needs additional advanced clinical and biomedical instrumentation and related resources as well as updated state of the art teaching and learning facilities. Above all, it needs a new and modern clinical services facility where state of the art clinical services and clinical teaching can be provided.
  • The CVMNAH and its SVM envision to create a unique health systems complex that serves the unique role that the college stands for by interlinking animal health and human health via the One Medicine framework.
  •   The plan is to build a facility of complexes that serves as a first rate clinical teaching and healthcare facility for companion animal medicine and food animal medicine, but also serves for providing preventive and health promotion for people, i.e. providing health services for the entire family of pets, children and parents. The preventive human health services that could be provided through the integrated health systems complex will include:
    • Consulting on nutrition and health and exercise
    • Cholesterol tests, obesity and diabetes tests, blood pressure examinations etc.
    • Consulting on behavioral problems such as drug use, safe sex practices,
    • Promoting the human-animal bond and related services.

     

 

We envision a time and place at TU where families could come with their pets and the pets receive veterinary care while children and families could also receive human health related primary care services. As the boomer generation ages and retires, promoting the animal-human bond will become much stronger.

 

  • This way, in such a new faculty of the 21 st century, human health faculty and students (nurses, occupational therapy and clinical laboratory professionals) could play a key role in putting the One Medicine~One Health approach along veterinary professionals and those that link the two disciplines much closer.
  • Such a facility will require modern and advanced equipment to train and prepare healthcare professionals that could play special roles by interrelating animal and human health practices. This is especially pertinent in the rural Black Belt Counties of the Southern USA where TUSVM is located. The rural and underserved and economically disadvantaged communities where majority AA live and work often under unending cycle of poverty require such an integrative approach to healthcare services. This could also serve as a model even for other countries of the world.
  • We encourage all individuals and organizations that are willing to support this institution of unique legacy and high achievement to contact the Dean's Office @334-727-8174 or via email (habtemart@tuskegee.edu)