§1161x School of veterinary medicine competitive grant program

Summary

The Health and Human Services Secretary must give competitive grants to public or nonprofit veterinary schools and related programs. The goal is to improve public health preparedness by increasing the number of veterinarians working in public health. Eligible groups include accredited veterinary schools; accredited departments or schools (like comparative medicine, veterinary science, public health, or medicine) that offer graduate training for veterinarians in public health; and public or nonprofit organizations that run veterinary residency programs approved by a specialty group recognized by the American Veterinary Medical Association and that offer postgraduate public health training. Applicants must apply in the time, form, and with the information the Secretary requires. The Secretary must use strict review rules and award grants based on an applicant’s ability to train more veterinarians in certain public health areas, increase research capacity on high‑priority disease agents, or other factors the Secretary decides. Preference is given to projects that involve more than one school, department, or residency program. Grant money can pay for expanding academic and postgraduate programs and for minor renovations to classrooms, libraries, and labs. Public health practice areas include bioterrorism and emergency preparedness; environmental health; food safety and food security; regulatory medicine; diagnostic laboratory medicine; and biomedical research. Money may be provided as needed for fiscal year 2009 and each of the five following fiscal years, and those funds remain available until spent.