Auburn Vet Med contributing to transformative rural health partnership
The College of Veterinary Medicine will play a major role in the Auburn University Health Transformation Collaborative (AUHTC), a partnership among eight Auburn colleges led by the Harrison College of Pharmacy. Supported by a $15.3 million state allocation announced by Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, the AUHTC will improve health in rural communities while preparing a workforce to meet the needs of rural Alabamians.
Auburn Vet Med will contribute a One Health perspective, linking human, animal, agricultural, environmental, and community health to address urgent rural health challenges.
The College of Vet Med is already recognized nationally for addressing the rural veterinarian shortage, advancing population-based medicine and contributing to interprofessional education at Auburn. Through the AUHTC, these strengths will be expanded through investments in the Public and One Health baccalaureate major, rural student recruitment, scholarships, DVM externships and preceptorships, rural veterinary loan repayment, and faculty-led experiential learning that benefits people, animals, and communities.
The AUHTC also will establish the Rural Workforce Academy, where veterinary medicine and public health will be integrated with pharmacy, nursing, nutrition, physical therapy, medical laboratory science, and behavioral health. This interprofessional model will help Auburn prepare students to support a more holistic, prevention-focused approach to rural health.
The college will direct its funding toward training pathways that build long-term rural workforce capacity through the following goals:
- Recruit students from rural Alabama counties into the Public and One Health baccalaureate major by awarding scholarships of approximately $10,000 per year.
- Retain veterinarians in rural Alabama through loan repayment fellowships of approximately $25,000 per year for veterinarians who commit to rural service for up to five years.
- Create a steady pipeline of DVM trainees for rural practice by awarding student fellowships of approximately $2,500 for preceptorships or externships in rural communities.
- Support a DVM faculty member to establish rural veterinary training programs, including residencies, externships, and practice-based learning experiences.
- Build faculty capacity in interprofessional education by hiring a coordinator to represent the College on Auburn’s new Interprofessional Education Council.
- Add two faculty members to the Public and One Health program to deliver rural health coursework and establish service-learning sites in rural Alabama.