VETERINARY EDUCATION, RESEARCH, & OUTREACH (VERO) The Veterinary Education, Research, & Outreach (VERO) program is a partnership between the Texas A&M School of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (VMBS) and West Texas A&M University (WT) to recruit and mentor young people in the region seeking careers in veterinary medicine and to serve the livestock industries and the veterinary profession through teaching, research, and outreach programs.
West Texas A&M University
VERO Professional Education Program In the fall of 2022, the VERO team welcomed the second class to the VMBS 2+2 program (2+2 Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) program) at the VERO campus. VERO faculty currently deliver the full portfolio of courses for the 1st and 2nd years of the VMBS DVM program to prepare VERO students to go to College Station for their third and fourth/clinical years. The VERO program provides a highly interactive educational environment with small class sizes and a low student-to-faculty ratio. A talented team of veterinary educators ensure 2+2 students receive the same nationally ranked veterinary medicine education as the students who complete the first 2 years of the program in College Station. VERO clinical rotations for 4th year veterinary students, initiated in August 2020, include the VERO Feedlot Rotation, VERO Dairy Rotation, VERO Rural Practice Rotation; student participation continues to increase each year.
Tarleton State University
Texas A&M University
Prairie View A&M University
Texas A&M UniversityKingsville
VERO Research Program Faculty and graduate students at VERO are pursuing collaborative research that advances animal, human, and environmental health and addresses the sustainability of animal agriculture and rural communities. VERO researchers partner with researchers and graduate students at VMBS, WT, TVMDL, and AgriLife to translate research discoveries into useful information that benefits people and agricultural economies of Texas, the U.S., and the world. A fundamental part of the VERO research initiative is to recruit and train highly qualified, highly motivated students in the skills needed to serve the future of agricultural industries and veterinary medicine. In 2022, the VERO research team included 11 master’s and doctoral students enrolled at the Texas A&M-VMBS and WT-College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences, training side-by-side as they conduct their impactful research under the mentorship of VERO Faculty. For 2021-2022, VERO Faculty have 30 total active funding awards for $5.6M. VERO faculty peer reviewed publications for 2021-2022 total 58 with VERO personnel lead author on 29 of these and VERO trainees as 1st author of 13 of these publications. On June 17, 2022, VERO Research brought together leaders of the North American cattle industries for VERO Research Strategic Visioning based on the work-to-date and strengths of the VERO Research team. Outcomes of the VERO Research Strategic Vision collaboration include delivery of highly impactful research in the areas of disease prevention and mitigation, food safety, antimicrobial use and alternatives, genomics and other cutting-edge diagnostic technologies which support more sustainable cattle production systems and an abundant and healthy food supply.
Pre-Veterinary and Veterinary Internship Educational Successes • • • • •
VERO faculty provide an annual rural practice and livestock operations tour (Food Animal Production & Rural Mixed Practice Tour) for students completing their first or second years of veterinary school at VMBS. The annual Food Animal Production and Rural Practice Tour hosted by VERO faculty provides an immersive experiential opportunity for 1st and 2nd year veterinary students to learn more about rural practice and livestock operations. VERO faculty offer mentoring of students interested in food animal practice. VERO faculty continue to teach a freshman leadership course for pre-veterinary specialization students and an anatomy & physiology course for all animal science students VERO faculty (Benjamin Newcomer, Jenna Funk, and Lisa Lunn) launch Dairy Sciences class at WT, expanding the undergraduate dairy sciences curriculum and furthering the VERO educational partnership.
Expansion of Educational Bridge to Veterinary School •
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Active recruitment in the regions of the Texas Panhandle and Texas South Plains of qualified students with rural backgrounds including visits to West Texas A&M University, Texas Tech University, Wayland Baptist University, Lubbock Christian University, Clarendon College, Amarillo College, South Plains College, Frank Phillips and Western Texas College. Recruitment of outstanding rural students from 4-H and FFA programs to consider a veterinary career. Faculty participate in the Texas State FFA convention, 4H Livestock Ambassador Programs and 4H veterinary Science Camp on the WT campus.
32 • 2022 VMBS Annual Report
