engaging the next generation of veterinary professionals

The CVMA wants to ensure that tomorrow’s veterinary professionals start off on the right foot by providing free membership for students attending UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and Western University of Health Sciences College of Veterinary Medicine.

In addition to enjoying all of CVMA’s member benefits, students can also take advantage of:

• Exclusive discounts on continuing education

• Student poster presentations at the Pacific Veterinary Conference

• Networking at alumni receptions at the Pacific Veterinary Conference

• Complimentary school ceremonies, dinners, and labs

• Scholarships to help with the student debt load

• Free liability coverage sponsored by VISC through all four years of school

• Involvement in CVMA leadership as a representative to the Board of Governors, House of Delegates, committees, or task forces

• The Summer Work Experience Program (SWEP)

New graduates receive:

• Their first year of membership for free, followed by discounted rates for the next three years

• Exclusive discounted rates on continuing education

• Access to job postings

• Networking opportunities twitter.com/thecvma

• And more!

Utilizing social media and our website, the CVMA promotes veterinary care and provides educational information and resources to the public.

The CVMA’s Find-a-Veterinarian Directory is a searchable listing that allows potential clients to find CVMA members by name, city, and practice type. Members’ practice websites may be linked to their listing, making it easy for the public to connect.

Social media campaigns through Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter include information on pet health, the importance of regular veterinary care, and other related issues. These social media posts include a referral to our Find-a-Veterinarian directory.

By embracing differences, veterinary medicine will benefit from a broader range of perspectives, ideas, and values and will be better able to serve the population.

The CVMA’s mission is to serve our membership and community through innovative leadership and to improve animal and human health in an ethically and socially responsible manner. This mission cannot be fulfilled unless the profession is open and welcoming to all.

The CVMA is taking steps to address this complex issue through:

• A series of articles entitled “Unity” in California Veterinarian magazine aiming to shed light on various aspects of the topic.

• Identifying a diversity of individuals to be leaders in the CVMA and making recommendations for diversity and inclusionrelated topics, speakers, and authors in CVMA presentations and publications.

• Educating and bringing awareness to leadership within the CVMA. One example is a recent presentation and workshop on implicit bias presented at the CVMA Leadership forum, which was attended by the CVMA Board of Governors and House of Delegates.

Diversity, Equity,

and Inclusion

resources may be found under the Resources tab at cvma.net.

Access To Care

Barriers to access to veterinary care impact both animals and the humans that care for them — owners and veterinarians alike.

Factors such as financial difficulties, lack of transportation, geographic barriers, uncertainty regarding how and where to get care, and lack of equipment to facilitate animal transportation are just a few parts of this multi-faceted problem.

The CVMA has assembled an Access to Care Task Force to examine the problem and to help formulate positions and policy regarding how to best address access-related challenges faced by the veterinary community and the people and animals it serves.

One Health

The global One Health Initiative is an integrative approach to healthcare that arises out of the interaction between humans, animals, and the environment.

It involves the cooperation of human healthcare providers (doctors, nurses, epidemiologists), animal healthcare providers (veterinarians, technicians, agricultural workers), environmentalists (ecologists, wildlife workers), and other experts. While One Health is not a new concept, it has become progressively more important due to changing environmental considerations and increasingly close interactions between humans and animals worldwide.

The CVMA’s One Health Task Force has developed the following policy statement:

The One Health Initiative is the integrative effort of multiple disciplines working locally, nationally, and globally to attain optimal health for people, animals, and the environment, which together represent the “three pillars” of One Health. Veterinarians play an important role in ensuring the strength of these pillars by providing veterinary care to animal patients as well as monitoring food safety, environmental welfare, and zoonotic and exotic diseases.

The CVMA supports the advancement and awareness of One Health, including the development of translational medicine that brings physicians, veterinarians, and researchers together into the One Health sphere. The CVMA is committed to educating the veterinary profession on One Health-related concepts and perspectives.