Familiarization and update of USDA NIFA Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment and Veterinary Service Grant Programs

Abstract

In order to address the national need for food/large animal vet­erinary services for the public and private sectors of animal agriculture in the United States and Insular Areas, Congress passed into law the National Veterinary Medical Services Act (NVMSA) nearly 20 years ago. This Act allowed for the forma­tion, authorization of funding and appropriations of funds to allow the National Institute of Food & Agriculture (NIFA) to support the implementation of the Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program (VMLRP) in 2010. The 2014 Farm Bill au­thorized the development of the Veterinary Services Grant Pro­gram (VSGP) in 2016. In coordination with State Animal Health Officials (SAHO), the VMLRP and VSGP support veterinarians through competitively awarded educational loan repayments and grants to fill the most serious veterinary shortage situa­tions in the United States. In addition, the program determines the best possible match between specific shortage situations and applicants’ knowledge, skills, abilities and experiences to enhance the likelihood that awardees will achieve sufficient professional success and satisfaction during their term of ser­vice so that they will continue in their service to the area. The goal of this presentation is to familiarize stakeholders of these two competitive veterinary service programs offered by USDA-NIFA to encourage their involvement and suggestions for en­hancements to the programs.