Mission: ACVPM certifies veterinarians globally who are dedicated to improving the health of animals, humans, and the environment.
President's Commentary
The start of a new year is a good time to reflect on the many ways veterinary preventive medicine makes a difference. The work of our members is incredibly diverse, spanning a wide range of roles and responsibilities, all contributing to healthier animals, people, and communities. It’s one of the aspects of this field, and of the College, that I value most. Nominations are currently open for the Helwig-Jennings Award and the Distinguished Diplomate Award. These awards give us an opportunity to recognize colleagues whose service, leadership, and contributions have made a real impact on the College and on the specialty of veterinary preventive medicine. I encourage you to take a few minutes to nominate a deserving colleague. In addition, nominations for elected ACVPM Executive Board officer positions, President-Elect and Councilor, are open. Serving in an elected role is a great way to help shape the direction of the College and support our members and mission. Please consider nominating yourself or a colleague, and don’t hesitate to reach out to current Executive Board members if you would like more information about the open positions. I also want to thank our committee members for the time and energy you put into keeping ACVPM activities moving forward. Much of this work happens behind the scenes, and your commitment truly makes a difference. Committee volunteer positions will open this summer, so if you’re interested in getting more involved in College activities, I encourage you to consider putting your name forward. Finally, thank you to all ACVPM members for your continued engagement and support of the College and of veterinary preventive medicine. I’m looking forward to the year ahead and to continuing this work together. Kristen Voehl President, ACVPM
Table of Contents
- Epidemiology Specialty Update from Dr. Mike Sanderson
- Meet a New Epidemiology Diplomate: Charles Cummings, DVM, DACVPM (Epidemiology)
- ACVPM Diplomate Representation at AVMA Veterinary Leadership Conference: Jose Denis-Robichaud, DVM, PhD, MSc, DACVPM (Epidemiology)
Meet the Diplomate
- Sunoh Che, DVM, MSc, PhD, DACVPM
- Doug Lewis, DVM, DACVPM
News Items and Information
- 1- Mid-Year Diplomate Update Webinar Recording
- 2- Annual Fees
- 3- ACVPM Profile Updates
- 4- New Committee and Executive Board Email Addresses
- 5- Diplomate Recognition and Publication Reporting
- 6- New National Veterinary Accreditation Program Module
- 7- Upcoming position vacancies: ACVPM President-Elect and Councilor
- 8- OSU Veterinary Public Health Residency Opportunity
Committee Corner
- Continuing Education Committe
- Communications Committee
- Finance Committee
- Matinenance of Certification Committee
- Marketing and Outreach Committee
- Internal Affairs Committee
- Strategic Planning Committee
President of the ACVPM Epidemiology Specialty’s Column Greetings again from Kansas State University! Things are rolling along in the Epidemiology specialty. A big thanks to the credentials committee for their work, they certified 6 applications to sit for the Epidemiology certification exam in June. The exam committee is busy preparing for the exam that will be offered in June 2026. The Maintenance of certification committee received one application for recertification this January. We were asked to identify priorities from the ACVPM strategic plan to focus on this year. One priority we chose was to focus on Strengthening Member Engagement and Professional Connectivity. Strong and stable leadership and timely reliable turnover are crucial if the Epidemiology specialty is to grow and thrive. While we have plans for growth and extended service, it is all dependent on a membership that is engaged and supportive of that growth. The best way to engage and direct future plans is to volunteer to serve. Please think about how you or other members could serve. Early this year we will be reaching out to committees and individual members for help and guidance in identifying candidates for service. We need to identify candidates for President elect and Secretary elect for terms starting in July 2026. These positions will provide continuity of leadership and spread the load over a larger executive team. We also need to identify 3 members for our Strategic Planning committee to help plan for an expanding specialty. Finally, we need to identify candidates for committee position replacements to assure continuity of the key functions of our specialty. The committees and officer positions are described in our bylaws. If you have any interest, please contact me at sandersn@ksu.edu or Brandy at bjdarby@gmail.com. This month’s “meet a new Epi diplomate” is Charles Cummings from the Lincoln Park Zoo. Please see his bio and pic below. Mike Sanderson President, ACVPM Epidemiology Specialty
Meet a new Epidemiology Diplomate
Charlie began his career studying fisheries & wildlife biology at the University of Minnesota. He then completed a doctorate in veterinary medicine at Tufts University in 2019. Charlie followed this with a zoological medicine internship at Louisiana State University and a return to Tufts to pursue a PhD in clinical & translational sciences. In 2023, Charlie started an American and European College of Zoological Medicine-accredited residency at Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago. Charlie became a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Preventive Medicine and a member of ACVPM’s Epidemiology specialty in 2024 and 2025, respectively. In late 2025, he successfully defended his PhD entitled “Leveraging Limited Data and Expert Opinion to Support Decision-Making in Zoological Medicine.” His primary research interests are in methods to account for euthanasia in veterinary research and the applications of evidence-based medicine and decision analysis to zoological medicine. Outside of veterinary medicine, he enjoys travel, reading, playing (poorly) and listening to Irish traditional music, fly-fishing, birding, and playing and watching different sports, especially basketball. He currently lives in Chicago with his veterinary criticalist partner, two dogs, two cats, a ball python, gecko, and a frog.
ACVPM Diplomate Representation at AVMA Veterinary Leadership Conference
The ACVPM sponsored travel and registration for three Diplomates to attend the annual AVMA’s Veterinary Leadership Conference in January. The College does this to help grow the future leaders of the ACVPM. Two of the attendees, Dr. Sierra Guynn and Dr. Chika Okafor provided their thoughts on the VLC during the ACVPM’s Mid-Year Diplomate Update held on 3 February. The third VLC attendee provides the following.
Dr. José Denis-Robichaud Leadership Lessons from AVMA VLC 2026: Finding Courage in Candor
With the support of the ACVPM, I had the privilege of attending the 2026 AVMA Veterinary Leadership Conference in Chicago, and I'm returning energized and equipped with tools that will shape how I lead—both professionally and personally. Among the many powerful sessions, one concept resonated deeply: radical candor. It's the art of saying what needs to be said while genuinely caring about the person you're saying it to. For too long, I've struggled with the tension between being honest and being kind, as if the two were mutually exclusive. This conference showed me they're not just compatible—they're essential partners. Whether it's addressing a performance concern, navigating a difficult conversation, or offering feedback, I learned that clarity delivered with compassion isn't just more effective—it's more respectful. The sessions on resilience, core values, and belonging reinforced that great leadership isn't about perfection; it's about intentionality. I loved the reminder that we can "wobble and get back up, again and again," and that building psychological safety starts with leaders who model vulnerability and courage. The frameworks I discovered—from anticipating adversity to grounding myself before tough conversations—are already shifting how I approach challenges. If you're looking to strengthen your leadership skills, I can't recommend the VLC enough. It's not just a conference—it's a catalyst for becoming the leader you want to be.
Meet the ACVPM Diplomate Profiles
Dr. Sunoh Che is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Animal and Avian Sciences at the University of Maryland. She became board-certified by the ACVPM in 2021 while completing her PhD at the Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, in Canada. Her decision to pursue ACVPM certification was strongly influenced by her PhD mentor, Dr. Csaba Varga, at the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign (UIUC). Originally from South Korea, Dr. Che was raised on a diversified livestock farm with beef cattle, swine, and backyard chickens. She completed her DVM and obtained her veterinary license in South Korea. Before entering academia, Dr. Che served for more than a decade as a government veterinarian, auditing and inspecting domestic and international meat processing plants. A major component of her work involved conducting import risk assessments for meat products. These assessments considered the exporting country’s animal health status, veterinary service capacity, surveillance and control programs, processing and storage conditions, and national residue and microbiological monitoring programs. Academically, Dr. Che holds two Master of Science degrees, one from Murdoch University in Australia and another from the University of Prince Edward Island in Canada, specializing in epidemiology. Her doctoral research investigated broiler breast myopathies, particularly woody breast, white striping, and spaghetti meat. By leveraging processing plant datasets, she conducted risk factor analyses to better understand how genetics, nutrition, and management interact under modern production pressures. Currently, Dr. Che’s research focuses on broiler breast myopathies as indicators of the complex interplay among rapid growth, muscle metabolism, and vascular development. Her team integrates field epidemiology, carcass scoring, and molecular tools such as transcriptomics to identify mechanisms driving these conditions, ranging from localized hypoxia to imbalances between muscle growth and metabolic support. She applies epidemiologic and biostatistical methods to poultry production problems, treating outcomes such as myopathy incidence and yield differences as measurable “events” that can be modeled with the same rigor as disease outbreaks. Through statistical modeling, risk factor analysis, and the selective use of machine learning, her work translates complex farm and processing data into actionable insights for improving animal health, product quality, and production efficiency. In addition to her research and teaching, through the ACVPM Candidacy Mentorship Program, her mentor, Dr. William Sander at the UIUC, advised her on how to prioritize topics and choose study resources, and now Dr. Che is eager to pay that support forward to her own mentees.
Tell us about your educational background and how you came to be a diplomate of the ACVPM While a student at Iowa State in the 80s, Dr. George Beran instilled in me a passion for Veterinary Public Health. That interest followed me in my career, and I made it a practice to keep current on zoonotic diseases. In 2017 at the AABP meeting, I talked with Dr. Danelle Bickett-Weddle and asked her if my dream of ACVPM board certification was possible. Of course she encouraged me to go for it! I became a diplomate in 2021. What is your current job, and what are your roles and responsibilities? I am a small animal practitioner where I focus on wellness. The Human Animal Bond is interesting to observe and be a part of in the context of American pet culture. What do you think the future holds for veterinary preventive medicine, and how can diplomates or prospective veterinarians prepare themselves? Most new diseases are zoonotic. ACVPM diplomates are well positioned to help guide our societies through these new outbreaks and discoveries. Diplomates are at the interface of these emerging One Health issues. Tell us about your most interesting career endeavor in the veterinary profession or something that is a good example of the work you do or have done. Our family spent 27 wonderful years in rural Africa working in an animal project for a national church. We worked with local livestock owners and farmers to help them improve the health and productivity of their animals for reasons of economic and food security. All the foreign animal diseases we all slept through in veterinary school were a part of the endemic landscape there. Canine rabies was endemic as well. We focused on education, which could range from a group of mostly illiterate cattle owners to veterinary students. We did hands on teaching using local animals or examples from our intensive grazing demonstration farm. Our family was there long enough to see agricultural practices shift from farm and fallow to farming the same ground using inputs of fertilizer, insecticide and fungicides. Increasing populations caused new areas to be farmed which introduced more opportunities for human impact on traditional wildlife areas. Animal agriculture became more intensive. These changes all give opportunities for zoonotic diseases to spillover. In which of the 5 major core areas of ACVPM do you focus your time? I am one of the coordinators for the Prep ACVPM course. This role keeps me current in infectious diseases and gives me the amazing opportunity to help candidates prepare for the exam.
News Items and Information
1. Mid-Year Diplomate Update Webinar Recording
The ACVPM held a Mid-Year Diplomate Update on 3 February 2026. This was in response to requests for more frequent College updates during the last Diplomate survey. A recording of the Mid-Year Diplomate Update webinar can be found at: https://youtu.be/BgxDoCzxOJE
2. Annual Fees
The ACVPM has distributed invoices to Diplomates for their 2026 Annual Diplomate renewal fee. Invoices were sent to the primary email address in the Diplomate’s ACVPM profile. The due date for the annual renewal fee is 31 March 2026. A Diplomate will be considered inactive and will have a 25% late surcharge added to their account on 1 April 2026 if their annual fee is not paid on or before 31 March 2026. If you did not receive your annual fee notification and invoice, please check your spam/junk folder first before contacting us. Should you have any questions, please send them to evp@acvpm.org, admin@acvpm.org, or operations@acvpm.org.
3. ACVPM Profile Updates
While paying your annual Diplomate fee, it is a good time to review your ACVPM profile for accuracy and to adjust any security settings you wish to modify. Below are a few tips for updating your ACVPM profile.
- Ensure your primary email address is personal, avoiding .mil, .gov, or .edu as they are subject to change and often divert emails to junk or spam folders.
- Provide a unique alternate email address so should the primary address not work, we have another way to contact you. Having the same information for both primary and alternate email address is not helpful when we are trying to reach out to Diplomates.
- Add evp@acvpm.org, admin@acvpm.org, and operations@acvpm.org email addresses to your email Contacts list. This reduces the chance of ACVPM messages being blocked as spam or junk mail. Email is our primary means of communication and we want to ensure we can communicate with our diplomates.
- Make sure you provide a current mailing address.
- We also recommend that you confirm your profile security and privacy settings while in your
profile. 3 possible icons for your Profile fields: - Private (Not Visible In Profile) - Public (Visible to Everyone) This means that an internet search may find you. - Members Only (Visible Only to Members) Should you have any questions, please send them to evp@acvpm.org, admin@acvpm.org, or operations@acvpm.org.
4. New Committee and Executive Board Email Addresses
As a reminder, to enhance communication and collaboration, the ACVPM has established new group mail addresses for the Executive Board and all ACVPM Committees. The email addresses are as follows: ACVPM Executive Board: acvpm-exec-board@acvpm.org Communications Committee: acvpm-comm@acvpm.org Continuing Education Committee: acvpm-cont-ed@acvpm.org Credentials Committee: acvpm-credentials@acvpm.org Examination Committee: acvpm-exam@acvpm.org Finance Committee: acvpm-finance@acvpm.org Internal Affairs Committee: acvpm-int-affairs@acvpm.org Maintenance of Certification Committee: acvpm-maint-cert@acvpm.org Marketing & Outreach Committee: acvpm-marketing-outreach@acvpm.org Nominations & Awards Committee: acvpm-nom-awards@acvpm.org NAVLE Item Writing Committee: acvpm-navle@acvpm.org Strategic Planning Committee: acvpm-strat-plan@acvpm.org These group addresses can also be found on the ACVPM website at: https://acvpm.org/page/committee_descriptions
5. Diplomate Recognition and Publication Reporting
In preparation for the ACVPM's 3-Year Report to the American Board of Veterinary Specialties (ABVS) covering the period 2023 - 2025, we want to remind you to self report any awards or recognition you have received in addition to manuscripts published in calendar years 2023, 2024, and 2025. Doing so will allow the ACVPM Internal Affairs Committee to answer the ABVS 3-Year Report question "What activities does the RVSO/RVS conduct to advance the science supporting its discipline of veterinary medicine?" To streamline collection of this information for future reports, a website has been created which allows Diplomates to self-report awards and recognitions received and manuscripts published. Please continue to assist the IAC in self-reporting via this link: Diplomate Awards, Recognition & Publication Submission Form- American College of Veterinary Preventive Medicine
6. New National Veterinary Accreditation Program Module
NVAP Module #40: The Veterinarian’s Role in Microbial Preharvest Food Safety Veterinarians play an important role in recognizing and mitigating microbial foodborne illness hazards in the preharvest setting. Representatives of industry associations, veterinary associations, state and federal agencies, and other allied entities have worked together to create a new online veterinary training module for the USDA-APHIS National Veterinary Accreditation Program (NVAP), The Veterinarian’s Role in Microbial Preharvest Food Safety. Key topics in the module include: preharvest microbial food safety hazards; investigating foodborne outbreaks; and model practices for preharvest food safety for swine, beef, dairy products, poultry, and eggs and egg products. This module provides valuable resources and education for accredited veterinarians to help producers continue to raise healthy animals and provide the public with safe food.
7. Upcoming position vacancies: ACVPM President-Elect and Councilor
Please consider nominating yourself for a position on the ACVPM Executive Board. Upcoming position vacancies the President-elect and Councilor Both positions will be elected by a vote of Active and Emeritus Diplomates in the spring of 2026 with terms beginning on 1 August. 2026. Nominations are due no later than 15 March 2026. The President-elect is a voting member of the Executive Board and attends all Executive Board meetings and the respective committee meetings. The Diplomate in this position will serve for two years and then will assume the role of President of the College for two years followed by two years as Immediate Past President. The President-elect assumes the duties of the president in the event of the President's absence or inability to act. They also serve as a voting member of the Nominations and Awards Committee, the Finance Committee and the Strategic Planning Committee, and as a liaison representative without the right to vote to the Internal Affairs Committee. The Councilor is a voting member of the Executive Board and attends all Executive Board meetings and the respective committee meetings. Councilors act as liaisons between the Executive Board and at least 3 standing committees. Councilors will act as advisors to the Committees in a non-voting position and are responsible for providing historical context and relaying information and requests to and from the Executive Board. As an Executive Board member, Councilors have the opportunity to directly engage on issues and make decisions on College business. Both positions are fun and engaging. They provide a great opportunity to engage with multiple facets of the College! The time commitment for both positions varies but is generally between 8-10 hours/month with the weekly time commitment varying between 1-5 hours/week. Click HERE to view position descriptions for the ACVPM Executive Board positions. To nominate yourself or someone else, please click HERE and complete the nomination form. The Nominations and Awards Committee will develop a slate of qualified nominees from those nominations submitted. If you have questions, please feel free to contact Dr. Barbara Jones, Chair of the Nominations and Awards Committee at acvpm-nom-award@acvpm.org.
8. OSU Veterinary Public Health Residency Opportunity
The Veterinary Public Health (VPH) program at The Ohio State University is seeking a Veterinary Public Health Resident with a primary focus on Animal Health Emergency Management. This Residency, offered in partnership with the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA), provides a unique opportunity to receive advanced training in veterinary public health, including animal health emergency preparedness and response. Please see the attached position description for full details. The 3-Year VPH Residency is divided into three tracks:
- Academic Training: This ACVPM‑certified residency provides comprehensive training across the American College of Veterinary Preventive Medicine’s five core focus areas: epidemiology, biostatistics, environmental health, public health administration, and food protection. The Resident will concurrently pursue a Master of Public Health with a specialization in Veterinary Public Health (MPH‑VPH) on a part‑time basis. Additionally, the Resident will actively contribute to the MPH‑VPH program through teaching, mentoring, and engagement in other scholarly activities.
- Animal Health Emergency Management: The Resident will be co-located at the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) and will work closely with the State Veterinarian as well as other state and federal officials on animal health emergency management initiatives. Key responsibilities include developing state-level emergency response plans for Ohio, designing and facilitating tabletop and field exercises, and actively participating in response activities during foreign animal disease (FAD) outbreaks or other animal health emergencies.
- ACVPM Board Preparation: The VPH Residency, structured according to the ACVPM Model Curriculum, prepares the Resident to be eligible to sit for the ACVPM Board Certification Examination upon completion of the program. Graduates of this residency have achieved a 95% pass rate on the ACVPM Board Exam. The OSU VPH program is also one of only five ACVPM‑certified residencies in the nation that provides graduates with direct eligibility to take the examination.
Please share this information with any potential candidates who meet the qualifications. For interested candidates, please complete the VPH Residency Inquiry form. For questions or additional information, feel free to contact Allison Bevinger, VPH Program Coordinator, at Bevinger.3@osu.edu, or the VPH Director, at hoet.1@osu.edu.
Committee Corner
Hello fellow Diplomates! A new year is upon us! And there is no time like the present to start earning Continuing Education (CE) credits that match your interests! The Continuing Education Committee (CEC) offers 1 hr of FREE CE about 10 times a year with your desired topics. As mentioned in our mid-year update, please fill out the below survey to indicate your interest in two new ways to potentially earn CE. These ways are a 3-hour “workshop webinar” to replace 1 monthly webinar and the CEC providing asynchronous CE credit with our webinars. Filling out this survey lets us know how to continue to best support you! ACVPM Continuing Education Survey Feb 2026 Thursday March 26th, 2026 @ 4pm ET Dr. Lonnie King will be sharing “One Health - Reflections, Challenges and the Need for Professional Transformation”’ which is sure to be an interesting seminar on the accomplishments in one health over the last few decades. A discussion will be held on current challenges facing one health and new strategies available to expand the scope and scale of One Health and assure its significance and relevance to improving the health and wellbeing of people, animals, environment and diverse ecosystems. This is sure to be a presentation that has relevance to all of us. In April, we will be hearing again from Dr. Tori Moore on development of a vaccine for Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever for dogs and our One Health Approach to Disease Management. Date and time to be announced. Remember webinars are FREE for diplomates and those preparing for the exam, so pay attention to emails from Dr. Torring - he sends out webinar registrations multiple times. Also keep the CE Committee in mind if you are doing some interesting research or working on something you would like to present. You can complete the speaker volunteer form located on this link. If you have a suggestion or a “lead”, email us ACVPM-cont-ed@acvpm.org and we’ll do our best to track an expert down. ***NOTICE - the email has changed***
Communications Committee Members and contact: acvpm-comm@acvpm.org
- Dr. Holly Richmond-Woods: Chair (hrichmond@savannahvet.com)
- Dr, Rahul Shankar: SPC Representative (vetrahulshankar@gmail.com)
- Dr. Caitlin Cotter: Newsletter Editor (caitlincotter@gmail.com)
- Dr. Elvira Hall Robinson: Social Media and Listserv Manager (elvira.hall.robinson@hhs.gov)
- Dr. Linda Pimentel: Councilor (linda.capewell@gmail.com)
Calling all ACVPM diplomates! Thank you for taking the time to read our ACVPM Newsletter! We truly hope it helps you to keep abreast of opportunities, new directions, goals, and happenings within the College. As your Communications Committee, we aim to provide informative quarterly newsletters, post ACVPM-related items on social media (Facebook, LinkedIn), and distribute communications through the internal ACVPM email listserv. We hear about all the information we provide through Diplomates like you, so please contact us whenever you have anything you would like to share with fellow Diplomates. Also, remember that inward-facing LinkedIn and Facebook groups can be posted to by any Diplomate who is a member of these groups. Everyone here is welcome to post and share. The Communications Committee would love to help amplify your recent publications on the college's social media platforms. If you have authored any articles, papers, or other works that you would like us to share, please send the links to the committee at acvpm-comm@acvpm.org. We are excited to showcase the important research and writing being done by our diplomates as well as other veterinary preventive medicine works. Spreading the word about the important work of ACVPM members will help raise the profile of our college and discipline.
Fellow Diplomates, The ACVPM fiscal year just ended in December, and we would like to share some data regarding our 2025 finances for those who missed the recent mid-year meeting. Since the Finance Committee (FC) stood up and put processes in place to accurately track ACVPM’s finances, here are the trends regarding our annual revenues, expenses, and total assets: In 2023, we moved from a fiscal year based around our June/July annual meeting to a calendar year fiscal year. That changed when our fees were collected from the end of 2023 to the beginning of 2024, so we had minimal fees revenue in 2023. However, we were right back on track in 2024! Overall, as you can see, our revenues have remained strong (except for the planned 2023 dip) and expenses have remained steady. Our total assets have increased as the FC has created a more robust investment strategy. The 2026 approved budget is projected to only have a $150 “surplus”, and we trimmed a couple of expenses to help keep ACVPM with a projected balanced budget. Revenue: So where did our revenues come from in 2025? This graph shows that our three highest sources continue to be membership fees, examination fees, and passive income. Passive Income includes interest, dividends, and capital gains associated with our investments. Currently, all of this passive income is reinvested back into ACVPM’s Vanguard investment accounts. Expenses: How about expenses in 2025? Below is the data showing that our three highest expenses in 2024 were associated with ACVPM staff (47.6%), support of the Examinations Committee and the exam processes (20.5%), and the annual ACVPM meeting (11.1%). In 2025, ACVPM staff (47.5%) was again the #1 expense, followed by professional fees (13.5%), and the annual meeting (11.7%). Professional fees were higher than expected due to psychometrician fees paid in 2025 for work conducting the required 2024 job task analysis. The annual meeting was high but within budget due to higher expenses meeting in the Washington D.C. area. Investments: The FC is especially proud of our investment strategies. As you can see in the graph below, ACVPM’s investments have earned $193,406 since 2020 in passive income and increases in market value for an overall rate of return of 6.2%. Please see tables and figures above. The College works as smoothly as it does primarily due to the work of our three staff members: Dr. Tom Berg as our Executive Vice President, Dr. Erik Torring as our Senior Vice President, and hired in 2024, Dr. Stephen Cassle as our Operations Manager. The primary mission of ACVPM is to serve as an accreditation body for Diplomates and the work of the Examinations Committee is vital for maintaining this function. We hope these figures and explanations help you to understand how the College’s finances are performing. The bottom line is that ACVPM’s finances are strong and meeting projected outcomes. I highlighted the important work of the FC but if you have any specific questions, please feel free to reach out to me at thomas.doker@gmail.com or the FC at acvpm-finance@acvpm.org. Again, if you have any questions, please contact us! Tom Thomas J. Doker, DVM, MPH, DACVPM (Epidemiology), CPH, Treasurer
2016 Diplomates: The Maintenance of Certification Committee (MOCC) is actively reviewing your recertification documents. We will forward our recommendations to the Executive Vice President (EVP) by May 1, 2026. You will then be notified of your recertification status by the EVP after the Executive board has reviewed and approved the recommendations. In the meantime, you will only hear from the MOCC if there are any questions or concerns with your recertification documents. If you do not hear from us, you may assume everything is proceeding as expected. This is the first year we are conducting this review, and we appreciate your patience as we continue to refine the process. 2017 Diplomates: Your recertification year is coming up next year! Please stay tuned regarding this process. For additional information please contact the MOC Committee at: acvpm-maint-cert@acvpm.org.
Calling all Creatives!
The College is in need of a new banner design for booths at exhibit halls. If you are interested in taking on this design project, contact M&O by February 27 at acvpm-marketing-outreach@acvpm.org. We will provide you with the design elements and sizing specifics. Printing will be handled by the admin team. The new design will be due in late March – excited to see what you can create!
Mentorship Program
Thank you to all the Diplomates who volunteered for the Mentorship program! With your help we were able to match 43 ACVPM candidates with a Diplomate mentor to support them through the examination preparation process. Please be on the lookout for monthly voluntary prompts to generate discussions.
Student Travel Scholarship Webinar
Please join the webinar on Wednesday April 8th @ 6pm ET where 4 recipients of the American College of Veterinary Preventive Medicine travel scholarship share their externship experience in the field of veterinary preventive medicine. ACVPM, in partnership with the Center for Public and Corporate Veterinary Medicine and the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine offer $1,500 travel scholarships to support the education and training of veterinary students interested in pursuing a career in preventive medicine fields, such as public health, food safety, epidemiology, emergency management, or other One Health-related fields. Be on the lookout for a registration link in the future.
2026 AVMA Convention
ACVPM will be at the 2026 AVMA Convention from 10-14 July 2026 in Anaheim, California! In addition to a booth in the exhibit hall, ACVPM will be hosting 2 CE sessions: 1) a 2-hour interactive simulated outbreak investigation, and 2) a panelist discussion titled “Leading through Prevention”. The target audience for the discussion are mid-career practitioners, interested in specialty certification as a form of professional development or potential career change. Watch your email inbox as we will be recruiting panelists that may have followed a similar path to share their experiences. The goal is to let people know about ACVPM as a specialty, how Diplomates use the skills to benefit animal and public health, shape policy, and impact many facets of global health. There is no honorarium, or travel funds, or discounted registration - just an opportunity to “share your story” with fellow veterinarians. If you will be at AVMA and have interest in joining us, either on the panel or in the audience, we look forward to seeing you there! For more information, email us at acvpm-marketing-outreach@acvpm.org.
The Internal Affairs Committee has been hard at work on two important projects—the annual Constitution and Bylaws review and the 3-year Report to the American Board of Veterinary Specialties (ABVS). Proposed changes to the Constitution and Bylaws will be sent to the Executive Board for review and feedback before being presented to the College for a vote later this spring. The 3-year Report is due in May to ABVS, and as noted above, we greatly appreciate all Diplomates submitting any awards or recognitions received between January 2023 and December 2025 or any publications authored within that time frame. We greatly appreciate your help in highlighting the diverse contributions our members make to veterinary medicine. For questions or additional information, please contact the Internal Affairs Committee at acvpm-int-affairs@acvpm.og.
The Strategic Planning Committee did not meet in January due to how the Committee meetings fell. We met at the beginning of February and had some great updates! The SPC reviewed the Standard Operating Procedures due March 1 to the Executive Board and then moved on to updates from the Committee reps on the implementation of actions on their identified strategic goals for the year. The committees are working on moving many items into action and sustainment. The SPC is a coordinating body for the Committees as several of the goals require actions from multiple committees to be successful. Please read the individual committee updates to learn more about what the committees are working on to meet the goals of the strategic plan! The 2025-2028 ACVPM Strategic Plan is located on the ACVPM.org website under the Diplomates section for a review of what we are working towards. If you have any specific questions or additional information, please reach out to the Strategic Planning Committee at acvpm-strat-plan@acvpm.org.
In Memoriam
Please send notices, write-ups, and links to the obituaries when available to: Dr. Erik Torring admin@acvpm.org, and Dr. Tom Berg evp@acvpm.org.
Have you published something or won an award we could put on our public social media? Email the communications committee @ acvpm-comm@acvpm.org
ACVPM has an outward-facing social media for the public, students, and veterinarians interested in veterinary preventive medicine and the college. The Communications Committee encourages all Diplomates to consider following us and sharing the sites with your networks! ACVPM has inward facing groups, which are limited to Diplomates only. Please consider joining our Facebook group and/or LinkedIn private pages where we share interesting news, ACVPM announcements, and job postings. Also don’t forget to subscribe to the YouTube page for CE and more. Contact the Communications Committee if you have any questions or have something to share on our social media pages!