April 2024

Advocacy Day 2024

Members of faculty representing University of Wisconsin -Madison (L to R) Drs. Michelle Turek, Jonathan Levine, Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI), Mark Markel and Kristi V. Thorson

Nikki Budzinski (D-IL) met with faculty representing University of Illinois

Advocacy Day photos - AAVMC/Imagine Photography DC

Release of VMLRP Fiscal Year 2023 Annual Report

Food animal veterinarians are critical to maintaining a healthy, secure, and safe food supply. Today, there is a critical shortage of food animal veterinarians in both private and public practice, particularly in rural communities in the U.S. and insular areas. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program (VMLRP) provides approximately $9 million per year in funding to help eligible veterinarians offset a significant portion of debt incurred in pursuit of their veterinary medical degrees in return for their service in certain high-priority veterinary shortage situations. These are both critical programs for AAVMC advocacy efforts.

On April 23, 2024, NIFA published the VMLRP Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 annual report which provides a detailed review of the program, applicant and awardee statistics, DVM programs with funded alumni and shortage areas awarded. The FY23 annual report is available at the following link.



For more information about VMLRP please visit here.

NIH to increase pay levels for pre- and postdoctoral scholars at grantee institutions

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced an increase in pay levels for predoctoral and postdoctoral scholars at NIH-funded external institutions. This is for recipients of the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards (NRSA). More information about this increase can be found here.

Proposed rule for student debt relief

The Biden Administration announced a proposed rule for student debt relief for several loan programs, including the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program (Direct Loans), the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program, the Federal Perkins Loan (Perkins) Program, and the Health Education Assistance Loan (HEAL) Program. The rule is open for public comment through May 17th, 2024 and can be found here.



Gainful employment reporting delayed amid political pressure

The Department of Education announced that it has delayed the initial reporting requirements for its Gainful Employment regulation. This issue has been a concern for several of our members and for higher education in general. AAVMC sent the attached letter to the Department requesting more specific information about the metrics that the Department intends to use going forward. Information on the delay can be found here.

View letter from AAVMC here.

Advocacy Letters



The AAVMC continues to work closely with a wide array of organizations that share our interests in supporting the advancement of academic veterinary medicine, food security and public health. The letters below reflect some of that recent activity.

• Letter opposing further recessions of CDC Covid Funds
• Letter in support of FY 2025 funding for the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (SARE)
• Food and Agriculture Climate Alliance (FACA) appropriations request letter for FY 2025
• Letter supporting FY 2025 funding for the National Wildlife Health Center
• Letter supporting FY 2025 funding for the National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development
• Letter in support of FY 2025 funding for the Vector Borne Disease Network
• Letter supporting funding for the CDC in FY 2025
• Letter supporting funding for the Agriculture and Food Research Institute (AFRI) in FY 2025
• Letter supporting funding for the Agriculture Research Service (ARS) in FY 2025

AAVMC Government Affairs



Please contact: Kevin Cain, Director for Government Affairs at kcain@aavmc.org or 202-371-9195 (ext. 117) with any comments, questions and suggestions about our program.

AAVMC Newsletters

The AAVMC is working hard to create a culture of diversity and inclusion in every dimension of academic veterinary medicine. To foster this goal, the photographs and illustrations which are used in our communications programs are aspirational, and do not necessarily reflect the levels of diversity and inclusion that currently exist.

Sign up to receive the Vet-Med Educator in your inbox here. See past issues here. 

Sign up here to receive FOCUS, a newsletter that examines prominent issues in academic veterinary medicine. See past issues here.

Sign up for our Advocacy newsletter here. Read past issues here.