Joint DVM agreement expands in China

(click image to enlarge) Rimma Driscoll, vice president of business development for Zoetis); Dr. Frank Blecha, associate dean for research in the CVM; and Xin Shengpeng, secretary–general of the Chinese Veterinary Medical Association sign a historic new agreement. Back Row: Wang Ming, vice president of the CVMA; Juan Ramon Alaix, CEO of Zoetis; Dong Zhixue, director of the Division of American and Oceanian Affairs for the China Scholarship Council; Jonathan Fritz, acting deputy chief of mission for the U.S. Embassy; Chen Guanghua, deputy director general of the Veterinary Bureau at Ministry of Agriculture in China; Jia Youling, president of the Chinese Horse Industry Association and the first president of the CVMA; Cai Xuepeng, director general of the China Institute of Veterinary Drug Control in the Ministry of Agriculture; Dr. Jishu Shi, director of the U.S.-China Center for Animal Health (at the CVM); and Mike Wang, vice president and Greater China cluster head, Zoetis.

K-State veterinary faculty recently brushed up on how to say “Hello” and “Thank You” in Chinese for a memorandum-of-understanding (MOU) signing ceremony held in Beijing, China, Oct. 19.

The ceremony was in support of the U.S.-China Joint DVM Scholarship Program, which was initiated in 2012 by the U.S.-China Center for Animal Health at Kansas State University, along with the China Agricultural University and Chinese Veterinary Medical Association. The Joint DVM Program has been sponsored by China Scholarship Council, Kansas State University and Zoetis/International Veterinary Collaboration for China (IVCC).

Zoetis originally provided funding to the program for 30 students’ pre-veterinary tuition and related activities. The China Scholarship Council has provided full-ride scholarships for four years of DVM tuition and five years for living stipends. Kansas State University has sponsored the program by providing program management service and additional scholarships.

For the new MOU, Zoetis will continue to support the program by providing pre-veterinary tuition funding for an additional 15 students with Kansas State University and the Chinese Veterinary Medical Association.

“The U.S.-China Joint DVM Program advances veterinary education and promotes the development of the animal health industry in China,” said Rimma Driscoll, vice president, Business Development and Commercial Alliances, at Zoetis. “Since 2012, Zoetis, along with the IVCC, has stood behind this remarkable program, and we look forward to continuing with that assistance.”

“The signing ceremony on Oct. 19 was a great opportunity for us to invite all supporters to celebrate and witness the U.S.-China public-private partnership on veterinary education and welcome the program inaugural DVM graduates coming back to China,” said Dr. Jishu Shi, director of the U.S.-China Center for Animal Health at Kansas State University.

The US-China Joint DVM Program is a five-year training program with one year of pre-veterinary study at Kansas State University and four years of veterinary study at Kansas State University or one of three other U.S. partnering schools. Once students receive Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) degrees, they will return to China to advance veterinary education and promote animal health, public health and food safety under the concept of “One World, One Health.”

In May, the program graduated four inaugural DVMs who are the first government-sponsored Chinese DVMs since 1949. Now, these four graduates are recruited by the China Agricultural University and Huanzhong Agricultural University as associate professors.

“Today, more than ever before, veterinary medicine has a global mission and responsibility, said Dr. Frank Blecha, associate dean for research. “With our first DVMs from this program returning to China this year, it is appropriate and exciting for all of us to re-dedicate ourselves to this important international veterinary educational program as it foretells a bright future for veterinary medical collaboration in the world.”

The signing event was held at the Grand Hyatt in Beijing, China. Along with Dr. Shi and Dr. Blecha, Kansas State University was represented by Lei Wang, manager of the U.S.-China Center for Animal Health, as its representatives who spoke at the ceremony.

Lifelines is published each month by the Marketing and Communications Office at the College of Veterinary Medicine. The editor is Joe Montgomery, jmontgom@vet.k-state.edu.

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