Texas Tech Pursuing Veterinary Medicine School

There is a growing demand on the agricultural industry to produce not only more food and fiber, but also provide a healthier and safer food supply. As the demand grows the number of veterinarians who practice in rural areas treating both large and small animals is not keeping pace.

Veterinarians trained specifically to treat large animals such as cattle, horses, goats, sheep and pigs are in short supply as are veterinarians who will live in rural areas and operate mixed animal practices.

The Texas Tech University System is developing a veterinary school with a specific focus on training large animal and rural veterinarians.

Texas is the nation’s leading producer of cattle, a $10.5 billion industry in 2012 with another $1.8 billion coming from the dairy industry, according to the Texas Department of Agriculture. There also are more than 248,000 ranches and farms in Texas, the most of any state in the U.S., many with large animals and food-producing livestock.

In 2016, the National Institute of Food and Agriculture at the United States Department of Agriculture recognized more than 40 states with veterinarian shortages. Texas is among the states with the most shortages. The report shows eight regions accounting for 19 counties, identified as shortage areas.

A 2009 Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board report to the Texas Legislature noted that of the 10 most populous states, Texas has the highest number of horses and food and fiber animals. The same report notes that Texas ranks ninth among the 10 most populous states and 45th overall among all states in the number of veterinarians per 100,000 population.

The report further states that only 16 percent of American veterinarians currently work with food supply animals and estimated that the demand for food and fiber veterinarians would rise 12 percent by 2016, with the supply of these veterinarians shrinking 4-5 percent annually.

Addressing the veterinary education needs in Texas is crucial not only because of the region and state’s deep-rooted history with agriculture and ranching, but also because of its continued prosperity, said Robert Duncan, Texas Tech University System chancellor. Our vision goes beyond the establishment of a veterinary school. We are setting out to transform the landscape of veterinary medicine education and provide innovative solutions for the industry’s future.

The developing veterinary school is truly a collaborative endeavor. Texas Tech University’s College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, one of the largest non-land grant agricultural schools in the nation with its internationally recognized research in animal science and food safety and security, serves as the umbrella for the initial idea. A partnership with the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center and its strong schools of pharmacy and medicine creates a synergy of researchers and educators already focused on animal and human health.

We realize that the health of humans is directly connected to the health of animals, said Duncan. The Texas Tech University System is in a unique position to bring to bear the strengths of two great universities to solve a critical need in our region, state and nation.

This is not the first time the Texas Tech University System has stepped up to correct a shortage of medical practitioners in the state. In 1969, the system’s first School of Medicine was created to train and keep family practitioners in underserved areas across the state. At the time there were dozens of rural counties, particularly in West Texas, with no physician. Their success is unmistakable. Today there is physician in virtually every county in Texas and the school has grown into the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, a comprehensive health-related university with five schools and locations in Abilene, Amarillo, Dallas/Fort Worth, Lubbock, Midland and Odessa.

This time the Texas Tech University System is dedicating its resources to meet the needs of agriculture, the state and nation. The veterinary school would be headquartered on the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center campus in Amarillo, the heart of the nation’s animal production area. In the 2012 Census of Agriculture, more than 3.3 million head of cattle were located in the Panhandle region. The region also has a rapidly growing dairy population and one of the greatest concentrations of horses and other food and fiber animals such as swine, sheep and goats.

No one is better positioned or equipped to address this problem, said Tedd Mitchell, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center president. It is similar to the issue we faced in 1969, as there simply were not enough family physicians practicing in this area. The Texas Tech University System was a huge part of the solution to that issue. Now we’re determined to meet another vital need.

The discussion of creating a veterinary school at the Texas Tech University System goes back decades. The recent decision to pursue a veterinary school comes after intensive internal planning, dialogue with higher education colleagues and notable support from agricultural industry representatives and philanthropists.

Since its announcement in December 2015, the Texas Tech University System has continued to develop its plans for a veterinary school and receive reassurance of this critical need and initiative. Industry and academic experts have been hired to further refine the model and strengthen academic departments and research programs involving veterinary medicine.

Solving the agricultural challenges of today, specifically in providing more rural veterinarians and food and fiber animal veterinarians, requires an innovative approach, said Michael Galyean, College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources dean. The Texas Tech University System is pioneering a new, cost-effective model for its veterinary school that will graduate students with hands-on experience, answer the needs of the industry and enrich the veterinary medicine profession.

The model will provide opportunities for accelerated programming and hands-on experience immersed in a culture of food animal medicine. System and university officials will continue developments throughout 2016 and will seek appropriate approvals by the Texas Legislature and Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

About the Texas Tech University System

The Texas Tech University System is one of the top public university systems in Texas and the nation, consisting of four component institutions—Texas Tech University, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Angelo State University and Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso—and operating at more than a dozen sites and centers. Headquartered in Lubbock, Texas, the Texas Tech University System has an annual operating budget of nearly $2 billion and approximately 19,000 employees focused on advancing higher education, health care, research and outreach.

In 2015, the system’s endowment exceeded $1.1 billion, total research expenditures were approximately $215 million and total enrollment approached 50,000 students. Whether it’s contributing billions of dollars annually in economic impact or being the only system in Texas to house an academic institution, law school, and health-related institution at the same location, the Texas Tech University System continues to prove that anything is possible.

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