> **VETERINARY PROFESSIONAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE**

**MEETING MINUTES**

#### 6116 EXECUTIVE BLVD., SUITE 700

**JANUARY 25, 2002**

**Members Present**

CDR Sean Altekruse (FDA)

LCDR Terri Clark (NIH) []{.mark}

CAPT Randolph Daley (CDC)

LCDR Kathy Hollinger (FDA)

CAPT Bob Hoyt (USPHS, Retired) (NIH)

LCDR Brett Morse (NIH)

**Members Absent**

CDR Lowrey "Dusty" Rhodes (NIH)

**Guests Present**

CAPT Cynthia Pond (NIH)

LCDR Princess Campbell (FDA)

CDR Nancy Pate (EPA)

LCDR Jennifer McQuiston (CDC)

LT Allison Williams (CDC)

CDR Kris Bisgard (CDC)

CDR Estella Jones (FDA)

CDR Altekruse called the meeting to order at 1:05 pm. A motion was made
to approve the minutes of the meeting held on 30 November 2001. The
motion was unanimously approved.

**Comments from the CPO (CAPT Pond)**

##### **A. Information from the Office of the Surgeon General** 

A Surgeon General's listening session on the initiative on Mental
Retardation was held in December. Dr. Satcher has announced that he will
not seek re-appointment. His term ends February 13, 2002. A farewell
reception will be held on February 6 at 6:30 PM in the Natcher Center,
NIH. They are hoping for a large turnout. Registration and payment are
due now. They also need volunteers to help, if anyone is interested.

The Crisis Response Service Award has been approved for the two events
(9/11 and Anthrax response). A master list of officers who were deployed
has been generated by OEP. For those of you unfamiliar with this award,
here are the criteria:

> An officer who has participated by direct, non-routine intervention in
> a designated crisis situation, qualifies for this award. The officer
> must participate in a "hands-on" activity of the crisis. The activity
> may not be a normal part of the officer's assigned duties, and must
> directly contribute to the formal response effort for the officer's
> duration of not less than 7 days.

IHS is supporting two students at USUHS.

Opportunities for positions within the Department of Agriculture, both
senior leadership and entry level, are available.

OSG will be advertising for one or two junior officers to fill permanent
staff positions. Duties will be mainly administrative, to assist the
Chief of Staff.

The Reserve Officer Association held its midwinter meeting this week.
The President shared his areas of emphasis:

1.  improving the health of the nation,

2.  strengthening the Department of Defense

3.  rebuilding the economy

There is an Office of Inactive Reserves located within the OSG. Their
accomplishments to date include updating of the database of contact
information on officers in the inactive reserve. Approximately 2630
officers are currently listed as being part of the inactive reserve. All
were sent a request to update their records. Approximately 1300
responses have been received. The inactive reserve will provide surge
capacity during times of increased need. Legislation is needed to bring
the PHS inactive reserve component into parity with the other uniformed
services.

Changes were made to CCRF requirements. Please refer to the January CC
Bulletin for details.

The PHS flag that was flown over ground zero in New York City was
presented to Secretary Thompson.

A report to Congress on Corps revitalization is due April 1, 2002. Each
category prepared a one-page summary of their view regarding future
opportunities for growth. Secretary Thompson is very supportive of the
Commissioned Corps, and is spreading the word about our response to the
bioterrorism attacks.

OSG is looking for a senior (0-6 or above) officer to serve as advisor
to the Junior Officer Advisory Group.

A presentation was given to the CPOs on the Associate Recruiter program.
Our category's

contact is LCDR Jennifer McQuiston. They would like to have a second
officer identified from

our category.

A report was given to the CPOs by the COA Foundation. They will be
assisting in evaluating recruitment materials and helping with
recruitment.

**B. DCP Update:**

Thrift Savings Plan cutoff is January 31. If you miss this deadline,
there will be another open season later in the year.

All officers with restricted or "military" licenses must get them
updated to unrestricted status immediately. Officers who do not do this
will be subject to adverse actions. Examples of adverse actions could be
withholding of special pays and promotions.

**Comments from the PAC Chair (CDR Altekruse)**

CDR Altekruse thanked the following officers for their service to the
PAC:

CAPT Randy Elkins for his service as Chair of the 2001 Vet PAC; CAPT
Judy Davis, LCDR Kris Bisgard, and CAPT John Bartholomew for their
service as PAC members; and CDR Marianne Ross for her service as
Executive Secretary.

The Junior Officer Advisory Group (JOAG) was chartered by the Surgeon
General in December 2001 to provides advice and consultation on issues
affecting junior officers in the USPHS Commissioned Corps. Membership is
open to active duty officers at the rank of TGRADE 0-4 or below in the
USPHS Commissioned Corps and meets monthly. Members are expected to
participate in subcommittee activities. LCDR Kamela Evans-Davis is our
category representative and LT Allison Williams is our alternate
representative. If you are interesting in participating in JOAG, please
contact LCDR Michelle Jordan at the following address:

LCDR Michelle Jordan

Chair, Junior Officer Advisory Group

E-mail: <Mjordan@hrsa.gov>

Telephone: 301-443-7037

The Student Chapter AVMA meeting will be held in Ft. Collins, Colorado
March 14-16. We may be able to schedule a speaker, or at least, send
brochures to the school. If you are interested, please see the website
for more information:
http://www.cvmbs.colostate.edu/scavma/symposium/homepage.htm

Our category sponsored the Uniformed Services Veterinary Holiday Prom.
The contributions of LCDR Terri Clark, CAPT Marissa Miller, CDR Marianne
Ross, CAPT Randy Elkins and others made the event a great success.

Both CAPT Stephanie Ostrowski and CDR David Ashford submitted articles
to the Commissioned Corps Bulletin about recent deployments (Foot and
Mouth Disease control in the United Kingdom and Response to the World
Trade Attack, respectively). CAPT Ostrowski's article was published and
CDR Ashford's article is in press.

To commemorate and Honor Dr. Satcher\'s term as Surgeon General the
veterinary category will present him with a memento: A framed print of
Edward Hicks\' Peaceable Kingdom was selected.

The dedication plate reads:

To Surgeon General David Satcher

In appreciation for your leadership

From the PHS Veterinary Category

February 2002

If you would like to honor Dr. Satcher by making a contribution to the
gift, please send a check to our Chief Professional Officer:

CAPT Cynthia L. Pond\
NCI/ODDES/OCTR\
6116 Executive Boulevard, Suite 7011, MSC 8346\
Rockville, MD 20892-8346

## 

## New Business

# **A. Communications** 

# 

# There is interest in updating our Category's brochure. Ideally we would like to have a new brochure by the July 2002 AVMA Meeting. Officers who would like to read or comment can obtain a copy of the draft brochure from LCDR Hollinger or CDR Altekruse. CAPT Pond receives frequent requests for this brochure. Recently AVMA, for example, requested 20 copies.

Several Categories have adopted a Standard *Curriculum vitae* format. It
has been proposed that a similar format be developed for the
consideration of officers in our category. If there is interest, it
would be helpful to distribute the format to officers by the end of
September 2002.

Additional effort will be made to send the VetPAC minutes to the
category within weeks. CAPT Pond also offered to send out "date
sensitive" announcements to the Category ahead of the minutes.

**B. Veterinary Category Website** (<http://www.fda.gov/cvm/links/vcc/>)

LCDR Hollinger continues to take a lead role in maintaining the
Categories website. She requests comments and suggestions for the site
including updating the logo and site appearance. Please note that the
site is linked to the CC web page. Recently posted information includes
the VetPAC minutes and mentoring information. It was suggested that
recent awards presented to Officers in the Category be posted on this
site.

# **C. Awards**

A call for nominations has been sent to the Commissioned Corps Bulletin
for the PHS Veterinarian of the Year Award. Nominations due by April 1,
2002. To date, one nomination has been received. Other awards of
interest to our category include the National Association of Federal
Veterinarians Daniel E. Salmon Award (Outstanding Young Veterinarian),
AMSUS McCallum Award, AVMA Animal Welfare Award, and AVMA Award for
Distinguished Organizational Leadersip.

# **D. Upcoming Meetings**

[All Hands Meeting]{.underline}: The Veterinary Category All-Hands
Meeting is tentatively scheduled for late spring. CDR Dusty Rhodes and
LCDR Brent Morse have offered to help organize this event. An

e-mail will be sent to the Category requesting suggestions for speakers
and topics. The All Hands Meeting will be scheduled to accommodate the
speakers' schedules.

[COA Meeting]{.underline}: The meeting is scheduled for the week of
April 21. According to a COA Frontline article, if there is sufficient
interest a flight may be arranged from Andrews AFB to Atlanta. Contact
CAPT Linda Morris Brown if you are interested in this flight option.
CAPT Daley and CDR Ostrowski are the coordinators for the veterinary
category. Category Day is Wednesday April 24. Please send an e-mail to
CAPT Daley ASAP if you plan to present at this meeting. He needs to
finalize the agenda.

[AVMA Meeting]{.underline}: The AVMA Meeting will be held in Nashville
July 13-16. Please send abstracts to CDR Altekruse by April 1, 2002 if
you would like to present at the Category's meeting. Volunteers are also
needed to work at the booth.

## E. Vet PAC Maintenance

Nominations for new PAC members are due May 15, 2002. The Vet PAC
Charter calls for a minimum of seven members with geographic, agency and
demographic attributes representing the diversity of officers within our
category.

The Veterinary Professional Advisory Committee Charter is due to be
updated this year. We need to examine the Charter, and then submit a
request for any changes to the Charter. The OSG limits what changes we
can make. Our Charter presently deviates from that of the other PACs
since we solicit votes for PAC members from the entire category.

The PHS Associate Recruiter program has identified increasing the number
of Commissioned Officers as a high priority. Their specific goal is to
increase the number of active duty officers from approximately 5600 in
2002 to 7000 by 2005. There are currently 95 officers in the Veterinary
Category, a 10% decline from 10 years ago, mirroring a trend across the
Corps. As noted by CAPT Pond, our category needs additional Lead
Recruiters for the Associate Recruiter Program, ideally one for each of
the major agencies (i.e. CDC, EPA, FDA and NIH).

Other recruitment activities within our category include the AVMA Booth,
the revision of the blue brochure "The Veterinarian in the U.S. Public
Health Service", and development of an informal network of Associate
Recruiters.

CAPT Witt has proposed that a list be developed of Commissioned Corps
and Civil Service Veterinarians in the Public Health Service. This list
could be used to identify programs that hire veterinarians and improve
communications on veterinary issues. Summaries of this type of data have
been published by JAVMA in the past. Any officer that would like to work
to this is encouraged to contact CDR Altekruse.

# **Old Business**

LCDR McQuiston requested clarification of the CCRF guidelines for
practice. CAPT Daley indicated that the guidelines pertain to clinical
responsibilities of officers during a deployment. Veterinarians can be
deployed in administrative or scientific roles as well as clinical
roles. Clinical practice guidelines (i.e. minimum number of clinic hours
over the last year) only pertain if you are fulfilling a clinical
veterinary role for CCRF and would not apply to non-clinical roles
(epidemiology/surveillance, food safety, environmental health). You need
to seek out training opportunities, formal or hands-on, for example at
our clinical facilities, if you need to update your clinical skills. We
will invite a speaker from CCRF to give an update at the next VetPAC
meeting.

## Select date for next meeting

The next meeting has been scheduled tentatively for April 24, 2002,
after 2:00 PM at the COA meeting in Atlanta.

## Adjourn

The meeting was adjourned at 2:30pm.

Minutes prepared by LCDR Princess Campbell

Minutes approved electronically by VetPAC Chairperson; Vet PAC members
and Chief Professional Officer