About 75 AAVMC officials and friends gathered to officially commemorate the move to 655 K Street during an "Open House" on October 17. The main event was held in the Learning Center's main auditorium, where guests watched a brief video titled "A New Era Unfolds" and heard welcoming and congratulatory remarks from several distinguished guests. The event included tours of the new office facilities and concluded with a rooftop reception, where guests networked and enjoyed evening views of downtown Washington, D.C. Learn more.

The AAVMC's Council on International Veterinary Medical Education (CIVME) is currently accepting grant applications from international colleges of veterinary medicine for projects that promote and share best practices in veterinary medical education around the world. The new program represents a major step forward in the development of CIVME. Projects are limited for a maximum period of 24 months and a total budget of $5,000. Preference will be given to collaborative efforts that span institutions and regions. The deadline for submissions is 11 a.m. on January 30, 2017. Email [email protected] for any questions or to submit proposals. Learn more and download an application.

Members of the academic veterinary medical and professional practice communities are rallying around the need to recognize and deal with threats to mental health and wellbeing within the profession. About 270 people recently gathered at Colorado State University for the AAVMC's 4th Annual Health and Wellness Summit to hear experts and colleagues share information and strategies for coping, confronting and correcting the problem. During opening remarks at the conference, AAVMC CEO Dr. Andrew T. Maccabe told the audience that other health professions are dealing with similar problems and that solutions involve "de-stigmatizing" the issue and engaging mental health professionals. Learn more.

	AVMA Division of Economics Director Dr. Michael Dicks addresses conference.

Practitioner salaries are up and a strong applicant pool exists; on the other hand, the debt-to-income ratio remains a vexing challenge facing the profession. Those bottom-line realities were discussed during the Fourth Annual AVMA Economic Summit held recently in Schaumburg, Illinois. Past-President Dr. Eleanor Green, CEO Dr. Andrew T. Maccabe, and Associate Executive Director Dr. Lisa Greenhill made presentations during the conference that attracted about 200 stakeholders from the organized veterinary medical community, academia, government agencies, and corporations with interests in veterinary medicine. Learn more.

Veterinary medical educators focused on instructional excellence in primary care recently gathered in Athens, Georgia, for the AAVMC's annual Primary Care Veterinary Educators' Symposium. Jointly hosted by the University of Georgia and Mississippi State University colleges of veterinary medicine, the meeting attracted 84 registrants, including representatives from 29 U.S. schools and 22 international schools. The conference offered a series of presentations and networking opportunities designed to help primary care educators generate new ideas and develop more effective educational strategies. Learn more.

The Consortium of Universities for Global Health (CUGH) is offering a Faculty Development Webinar Series called " Teaching Global Health Through an Interprofessional Lens" from October 2016 - May 2017. The six-installment series is focused on helping educators develop interprofessional approaches to teaching courses in global health and is especially useful for educators who do not have content-area experts available for co-teaching. Topics explore law, economics, One Health and other areas. The AAVMC is an active member of CUGH and AAVMC-CEO Dr. Andrew T. Maccabe is serving on the local organizing committee for their 2017 meeting in Washington, DC.

College students interested in careers in veterinary medicine can now apply for a free, six-week summer enrichment program designed to foster their success in the health professions. Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), the Summer Health Professions Education Program (SHPEP) encourages diversity and inclusion and offers students an array of academic and career experiences, including an introduction to interprofessional education that fosters collaboration across the health professions. Information about SHPEP and the application process is available at www.shpep.org. Applications for the 2017 summer season will be accepted from Nov. 1, 2016, through March 1, 2017. Learn more.

The academic veterinary medical community mourns the loss of former Cornell Dean and veterinary medical historian Dr. Donald F. Smith, who passed away on October 29 following a long illness. Smith served as dean of the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine from 1997-2007. Smith was also an eminent veterinary medical historian who wrote prolifically on both the profession and its academic foundations within the pages of the Journal of Veterinary Medical Education and in many other print and digital publications. For information on ways to memorialize Dr. Smith, please visit this site.

	Hundreds of students every year benefit from Zoetis scholarships.

Second- and third-year veterinary students in the U.S. and Caribbean are invited to apply for 2017 Zoetis Veterinary Student Scholarship Awards, which are administered by the AAVMC. Each scholarship is $2,000 and will be applicable for the upcoming 2017-2018 academic year. Awards are presented based upon academic excellence, financial need, diversity, sustainability, leadership and career interest. Scholarships will be awarded to students in all areas of professional interest, including food animal medicine, small animal clinical medicine, research, government services, public health, and organized veterinary medicine. The deadline for applications is November 30, 2016. Learn more.

Five AAVMC member institutions are among 12 organizations in 10 states awarded a total of $2.3 million in federal funding designed to help alleviate the shortage of veterinarians serving in rural areas. More than half of the total funding awarded will support university-based initiatives at the AAVMC colleges. These fiscal year 2016 competitive grants are funded through the new Veterinary Services Grant Program (VSGP), which was authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill. Funding the VSGP was a top priority for the AAVMC's government relations program, and these are the first grants to be awarded under the new program. Learn more.

	Dr. James Roth

Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine Distinguished Professor Dr. James Roth has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine for decades of work studying infectious diseases. Dr. Roth is the only member-institution veterinarian among a cohort of 70 regular and 9 international members inducted for 2016. Roth has devoted much of his career to studying the immunology of infectious diseases of livestock and management of foreign animal disease outbreaks. He has also testified before Congress on agroterrorism and foreign animal disease preparedness and served on federal advisory panels and committees for the National Research Council of the National Academies of Science. Learn more.

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