Diana Care, class of 2011, recently spent six weeks at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, GA as part of the Epidemiological Elective for Senior Medical and Veterinary Students (Epi Elective). The elective provides fourth-year medical and veterinary students with hands-on experience in epidemiology and public health, as well as a chance to experience life at the CDC. During the elective, Care learned that the CDC employs approximately 100 veterinarians to work in a diverse array of fields including outbreak investigation, communication, pathology, occupational health, and the surveillance and control of zoonotic, vector-borne, and food-borne diseases. She discovered that veterinarians are well respected and sought-after in the field of public health. 
The CDC employees she talked to repeatedly expressed how impressed they were with the veterinarians that worked there; especially with their medical knowledge, practicality, and flexibility. Care worked with the Influenza Division, where she learned about influenza surveillance in the United States, and the impact of the ‘swine flu’ H1N1 outbreak of 2009.
Care initially became interested in this elective two years ago when veterinarian Willy Lanier spoke to students at the College. Lanier was about to begin the CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) Officer Training Program. The CDC website states that “EIS officers are on the public health front lines, conducting epidemiologic investigations, research, and public health surveillance both nationally and internationally.” Care says the EIS accepts 80-90 professionals a year, of which approximately 10 are veterinarians. Care had the opportunity to meet Lanier again in Atlanta, and expressed her gratitude for his presentation at OSU.
Care says the Epi Elective experience has broadened her horizons. “There are no limits for what veterinarians can do, not only in public health but in the greater scientific community. As veterinarians, we are well-versed in science and medicine and we are trained to think critically. We can ‘speak science’ with doctors and researchers, bringing a valuable ‘population-based’ view of medicine and disease to the table—a perspective which stems from our training in herd health. It was great to see how useful, capable and respected veterinarians truly are.”
