It all evolved from Dr. Musser' s fellowship in the United States Agency for International Development. The programs allow accomplished and societally aware postdoctoral to midcareer scientists and engineers to join in and contribute to the public policy-making process of the federal government. Dr. Musser's efforts exemplify the way in which veterinarians can perform a nontraditional yet vital function in the governmental process. Fellows are not expected to work specifically on the topics of their dissertations or previous postdoctoral appointments. Instead, the goal is to have fellows bring their scientific training to bear broadly on development issues and activities.
Veterinarians bring a different perspective to the agency.
We talked about the best ways to get animal health services out into the marginal areas. East Africa has many areas where there are a lot of animals and few people, like parts of our Midwest. So Africa has a lot of the same problems we have here in the states. We're also addressing the problem of privatization, because Africa is starting to privatize veterinary services. Within the conference, Dr. Musser was also part of a working group on agriculture.