State/Territory
Pennsylvania
Shortage Location - Must Serve
Pennsylvania
Shortage Location - May Serve
Location Center
382 W Street Road, Kennett Square, PA 19348
VSGP Status
Unavailable
VMLRP Status
(Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program)
Open
Priority of shortage
High
Fiscal year
Percent FTE
(Full Time Equivalent, based on a 40hr work week.)
49
Type of Shortage
(Veterinary Practice Area / Discipline / Specialty)
Type III Shortage: Public Practice
Other Must Serve
Other May Serve
Employer
University of Pennsylvania, School of Veterinary Medicine
Position Title
Resident in Microbiology
Disciplinary area
Food Safety
Public Health
Other disciplinary area
Laboratory diagnostics
Carry Over
Nominator Name
Erin Luley
Nominator Title
Assistant Bureau Director
Nominator Org
PA Dept. of Ag, Bureau of Animal Health and Diagnostic Services
Nominator Email
Nominator Phone
717-525-3660
Importance/Objectives of Veterinarian
New Bolton Center provides clinical care and diagnostic services to food animals, including cattle, swine, poultry, and small ruminants, and is part of the Pennsylvania Animal Diagnostic Laboratory System (PADLS). PADLS provides laboratory support for Pennsylvania's livestock and poultry producers throughout the state and into some neighboring states. The New Bolton Center (NBC) diagnostic laboratory sees approximately 12,000 submissions to the microbiology section and 19,000 submissions to the molecular diagnostics section annually. Timely and accurate testing supports the economic viability of our poultry and livestock industries by enabling exports, providing data to manage production diseases and drives early detection and stamping out of dangerous transmissible diseases/foreign animal diseases. The annual economic impacts of various animal agricultural industries in Pennsylvania are as follows: dairy $14.1 billion, beef $9.1 billion, poultry $7.1 billion, swine/sheep/goats/horses $4.3 billion combined.
Veterinarian Medical Activities & Services
This position is critical to ensure the expertise and capacity necessary for timely and accurate results for agricultural diagnostic samples submitted to PADLS. This position will oversee and participate in testing for bacterial, fungal, protozoal, and viral pathogens by various techniques including but not limited to culture methods, PCR, and other molecular assays. The resident will provide consultation to veterinarians, owners, or producers submitting specimens to the lab to aid in case management. In collaboration with other diagnosticians at the lab, this resident will participate in surveillance for diseases of significance to Pennsylvania's animal agriculture industries. This veterinarian will ensure quality and accuracy in all steps of the testing process as well as in reporting and interpreting results. This position will also oversee development of new tests and troubleshooting of existing tests to ensure accurate and timely diagnostic and surveillance testing for current and emerging animal health threats. This position may also collaborate with other clinicians at New Bolton Center to implement preventive medicine, disease management, and disease surveillance. The residency program is a 2 year training opportunity headed by Dr. Stephen Cole (board certified in microbiology) and assisted by Dr. Eman Anis and Dr. Donna Kelly.
Historical Efforts of Recruiting/Retaining a Veterinarian
The clinical microbiology residency is registered with the American College of Veterinary Microbiologists (ACVM) and listed on their website. Advertisement for the position has been posted electronically as part of the training efforts by the Institute for Infectious and Zoonotic Disease at UPenn. A new position is expected to post in 2024. Dr. Stephen Cole (co-director of Penn's Clinical Microbiology residency) currently serves as the Chair of ACVM's Communications Committee, which has focused on recruiting additional veterinarians into clinical microbiology. Efforts led by Dr. Cole include development of a standardized recruitment slide deck for distribution to all ACVM diplomats at educational institutions to broaden awareness of this specialty and benefits of the career path. Despite these efforts, the position at NBC has been difficult to fill. In 2021, the position was posted for over a year before a suitable candidate was found.
Consequences of Not Securing/Retaining a Veterinarian
Failure to attract and retain skilled veterinarians in diagnostic medicine, including clinical microbiology, for food animal species would decrease overall PADLS testing capacity for dangerous transmissible diseases such as avian influenza, pseudorabies, and brucellosis, and production diseases, including infectious laryngotracheitis and infectious coryza in poultry, Johne's disease in ruminants, and colibacillosis in many species. Salmonella surveillance programs would also suffer from reduced testing capacity. This would have profound impact on both food production stability and food safety programs. If Pennsylvania needs to respond to a disease outbreak similar to the ongoing Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza outbreak, this position is critical ensure maximum disease response and surveillance capacity while having capacity to perform routine surveillance and diagnostic testing. Furthermore, if this position is vacant, the testing required to stock the live bird markets of New Jersey and New York while a control areas exists in Pennsylvania would not be possible. The current resident in this position was essential in running a large percentage of the avian influenza PCR testing during the 2022-2023 outbreak.
Community Aspects
Kennett Square is a small community located in the rolling hills of southeastern Pennsylvania, and within commuting distance from the southern and western suburbs of Philadelphia and the northern portion of Delaware and neighboring Maryland. Southern Chester county has good school districts, cultural diversity, and a wide variety of outdoor recreational activities, including nearby state parks, the Chesapeake bay, a thriving equine community and is home to the annual Mushroom Festival. Pennsylvania leads the county in direct to consumer farm sales, and Kennett Square (and the surrounding area) have numerous options of farm-to-table dining, community shared agriculture and It is also within driving distance of Lancaster county.