American College of Zoological Medicine (ACZM) Seeks Increased Participation by Veterinarians Working in Wildlife Population Health Management
An ad hoc committee that includes many of ACZM’s wildlife veterinarians was established in late 2018 by Kay Backues, ACZM President, and charged with providing a comprehensive review of what the College needs to do to be more relevant to veterinarians and organizations focused on the health, management and conservation of free-ranging wildlife. The ad hoc Committee’s report (below) was presented to, and discussed by, ACZM members who attended the annual business meeting held in St. Louis, MO in late September, 2019. The members of the ACZM ad hoc Wildlife Committee are: Sharon Deem, Mark Drew, Kirsten Gilardi, Sonia Hernandez, Dave Jessup, Stephane Lair, Kay Mehren, Dan Mulcahy, Robin Radcliffe, and Jonathan Sleeman, with Doug Whiteside, ACZM Secretary, serving as an ex-officio member.
Significant findings in the report include: 1) The mission of the ACZM, which includes emphasis on the “principles of ecology, conservation and veterinary medicine” for “free-ranging wildlife populations,” is not well served without significantly increased wildlife participation. There are a number of ways ACZM could further its mission and the original vision for the College with regard to emphasis on, and inclusion of, wildlife population health management (see full report for details: link ). 2) The College has expanded significantly over the last 2 decades, largely in the General Zoo and Zoological Companion Animal areas, but an increase in members focused on free-ranging wildlife population health management has not occurred. Consequently, there are very few College members focused on free-ranging wildlife. 3) The committee recommends that addressing the lack of candidates sitting for the wildlife specialty should be a priority for the college and, that if ACZM board certification is not made more attractive and relevant to veterinarians working in free-ranging wildlife population health management, this discipline will likely disappear from the College. 4) Major impediments to wildlife candidates are the lack of formal training (residency) programs focused on free-ranging wildlife populations, lack of wildlife organizations that recognize the specialty, and some cumbersome challenges that wildlife veterinarians face trying to credential via the ‘experiential pathway’ for ACZM certification. 5) It is apparent that a large number of veterinarians who work on free-ranging wildlife population health management are unaware of the ACZM, its scope, mission, and purpose. Addressing this will require increased ACZM outreach and cooperation with veterinarians working in this field, and the state and federal wildlife agencies that employ many of them. In the future the ACZM ad hoc Wildlife Committee will work with WDA, AAWV, TWS and other organizations to mentor and encourage veterinarians who wish to be recognized by ACZM for expertise in wildlife zoological medicine.
The ACZM leadership has asked the ad hoc Wildlife Committee to continue its work and assist with implementing the recommendations of the report, recognizing some will be relatively easy to accomplish, others more difficult, and still others may require ACZM ByLaws changes or membership approval. The wildlife committee is active and now working on priority recommendations.
Wildlife veterinarians who might consider ACZM board certification a desirable means of furthering their knowledge base and professional advancement are encouraged to follow ACZM’s progress. To learn more, visit the ACZM website (https://www.aczm.org/) or contact one of the ad hoc Wildlife Committee members.
American College of Zoological Medicine
Report of the
Ad hoc Wildlife Committee
June 2019
Making the ACZM Relevant to Wildlife Population Health Management Practitioners
Introduction and Background
Established in 1983, the American College of Zoological Medicine (ACZM) is the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) recognized veterinary specialty organization™ for certification of veterinarians with expertise in zoological medicine. The ACZM is responsible for establishing training requirements, evaluating and accrediting training programs, and examining and certifying veterinarians in the veterinary specialty of zoological medicine. As stated on our website, “zoological medicine is a discipline that integrates the principles of ecology, conservation and veterinary medicine. The ACZM is dedicated to excellence in furthering the health and welfare of individuals and populations of aquatic animals, zoological companion animals, and captive and free-ranging wild animals.” Currently, the College certifies individuals in the disciplines of Zoological Companion Animal, General Zoo, Aquatic, and Wildlife.
The ACZM has been expanding in membership and currently has 236 Diplomates. Despite this increase in College membership the Wildlife discipline remains one of the smallest, and only three individual candidates have sat for the Wildlife certifying examination since 2011, with just one person successfully passing the examination. Furthermore, as a consequence of the increase in wildlife emerging diseases and the threats to the persistence of wildlife populations, the field of wildlife population health management is also growing, and an increasing number of governmental and non-governmental institutions are hiring veterinarians to manage the health of free-ranging wildlife populations within their jurisdictions. Yet, very few of these veterinarians are ACZM Diplomates. Informal conversations with state and federal agency wildlife veterinarians have identified a number of barriers to their participation in the College; including, i) lack of clear training opportunities and pathways to becoming board-certified, ii) the content of the examination that includes materials wildlife veterinarians do not consider germane to their work, and iii) lack of recognition of the qualification and value of the credential by employers, among other barriers.
The ACZM Executive Committee recognized this challenge and the need to encourage more veterinarians working in the field of free-ranging fish and wildlife health management to consider ACZM board certification. Consequently, an ad hoc committee was formed to explore the issue and provide the Executive Committee and ACZM membership with a robust set of recommendations to increase the number of candidates willing to sit for the Wildlife certifying Day 2 examination.
The ad hoc Wildlife Committee membership includes 11 Diplomates all of whom have extensive experience working in the field of wildlife population health management and/or have served in leadership roles for the ACZM. The committee members are listed alphabetically below:
Sharon Deem Mark Drew (Co-Chair)
Kirsten Gilardi Sonia Hernandez Dave Jessup Stephane Lair Kay Mehren Dan Mulcahy Robin Radcliffe Jonathan Sleeman (Chair) Doug Whiteside (Executive Committee Liaison)
The committee conducted its work from November 2018-June 2019 via conference calls and an in-person meeting hosted by Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. The committee agreed that the overall goal of the discussion and the resulting recommendations is to make ACZM more relevant to free-ranging wildlife health population management thereby encouraging wildlife veterinarians working in this field to credential and sit for the ACZM examination. The committee recognized that important progress has been made regarding encouraging veterinarians to become ACZM board-certified, for example, the recent changes to the examination policies and procedures. The intent of the committee is to build on this important work to increase the attractiveness of the College to a wide range of veterinarians so that it can continue to grow and thrive.
The committee decided to focus on four main areas that may be impediments to candidates selecting and sitting for the Wildlife Day 2 examination and/or represent opportunities for future improvements:
1) The structure and organization of the ACZM and comparison to other specialty Colleges; 2) Training and credentialing opportunities for Wildlife discipline candidates; 3) Engagement and outreach to the free-ranging wildlife population health management community and employers; and 4) ACZM Policy and Procedures, with a focus on the credentialing process and examination structure and content.
The committee conducted several activities to gather the necessary background information. Dr. Mehren reviewed the websites and policy and procedures manuals for various American and European Veterinary Specialty Colleges that wildlife veterinarians might consider for board certification, including but not limited to, the European College of Zoological Medicine (ECZM), the American College of Veterinary Pathologists (ACVP), and the American College of Veterinary Preventive Medicine (ACVPM). Drs. Drew and Gilardi conducted a survey of current wildlife veterinarians to identify the impediments to sitting for the ACZM examination for these potential candidates. Dr. Lair conducted a review of the current training programs for candidates who wish to specialize in free-ranging wildlife population health management. The findings from these studies were presented at the meeting hosted by Cornell University during
April 4-5, 2019. The committee also engaged with the Chair of the ACZM Examination Committee and the Chair of the Examination Committee Wildlife Section during the meeting to discuss the current structure and content of the examination. The remainder of this meeting was then used to discuss these findings and develop recommendations.
At the conclusion of the meeting the committee agreed to gather additional information summarized below:
• Request the ACZM Examination Committee allow a subgroup of the ad hoc committee members to view the most recent Day 1 examination and the Day 2 Wildlife examination to evaluate the scope of material and assess whether the material reflects the job tasks most veterinarians working in free-ranging wildlife population health management perform. • Conduct a second survey of current wildlife veterinarians on the relative weights of the Job Task Analysis domains in their current positions and job duties. • Ask ACZM and non-ACZM boarded veterinarians and zoo administrators details regarding changes in the zoo community that resulted in increased recognition and acceptance of ACZM Diplomate status or requirement for board eligibility in job postings for zoo veterinarians. • Solicit a peer-review of the draft report by senior members of the College.
All the background materials, presentations, and reports the committee has generated are available in a separate appendix to this report.
Key Findings
It is the committee’s conclusion that there are several ways the ACZM could further its mission and the original vision for the College with regards to emphasis on, and inclusion, of wildlife population health management. The College has expanded significantly in membership focused on the Zoological Companion Animal discipline; however, a similar expansion of membership focused on free-ranging wildlife population health management has not occurred. Consequently, there are very few College members focused on integrating the “principles of ecology, conservation and veterinary medicine” for free-ranging wildlife populations, which is a stated definition of zoological medicine, and a purpose of the College. It is also apparent that a large number of veterinarians who work in free-ranging wildlife population health management are unaware of the ACZM, its mission, and purpose.
The committee believes addressing the lack of candidates sitting for the Wildlife Day 2 examination should be a priority. Diplomates who have successfully completed the Wildlife Day 2 examination currently make up less than 5% of the College membership. The current number of candidates sitting for the Wildlife Day 2 examination is not sufficient for this discipline to be sustainable within the College, and it is the committee’s belief that unless ACZM can become more attractive and relevant to veterinarians working in free-ranging
wildlife population health management that this discipline will likely disappear from the College. Other colleges with a focus on population health such as ECZM, ACVP, and the ACPVM offer real alternatives for veterinarians working in this field to become board-certified.
Our recommendations are designed to increase the number of candidates for the Wildlife Day 2 examination and, therefore, further integrate this discipline within the ACZM, and help ensure its sustainability moving forward.
Findings and Recommendations
The following outlines the conclusions the committee reached based on its research and the associated recommendations.
There is currently a lack of recognition among potential employers in the field of free-ranging wildlife population health management of the value of hiring ACZM Diplomates. There is a lack of awareness and understanding of the value of the training required to become an ACZM Diplomate and of the value to the mission of the institution/agency from employing ACZM board-certified veterinarians. There is also the perception that ACZM-boarded veterinarians focus on individual animal medicine and not population health. This current situation is reminiscent of the situation for zoo veterinarians in 1983, when the ACZM was formed, illustrating some potential solutions.
The committee recommends the following actions:
a) Develop a briefing document about the ACZM, the examination process, and the product (Diplomate) value to government agencies and ask for and use feedback from government agency leadership regarding roles and responsibilities of veterinarians in wildlife management agencies so that the College can align the credentialing process and examination with these job tasks. The committee recommends the ACZM actively engage with the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (AFWA) to implement this outreach and dialogue with these agencies and institutions. b) Offer assistance to agencies in the development of a definition of a wildlife veterinarian and the inherent skill set needed to perform work on free-ranging wildlife population health management as well as a model position description for wildlife veterinarians for use by agencies or NGOs.
There is a lack of awareness of the ACZM and its mission and purpose among veterinarians working in free-ranging wildlife population health management and there is the perception that the ACZM focuses largely on clinical or zoo medicine. While the ACZM mission statement includes health of free-ranging wild animals, statements in the Policy and Procedures Manual focus largely on clinical medicine, which exacerbates the perception by potential candidates and employers that the College does not focus on
population health. For example, the quote below is from the ACZM Policy and Procedures Manual, 2019 (D. Examination Procedures and Protocols).
“2. Assurance that the Examination Reflects Professional Activities of Diplomates
a. Given the broad umbrella that the ACZM provides, the examination is broad-based in both question topics and question scope. The primary patient care responsibilities of Diplomates dictate that the majority of the examination be clinically-based. Given the broad diversity of taxonomic groups to which Diplomates are required to provide clinical service, much of the examination is broad in scope and shallow in depth in many topic areas.” Excerpt from the ACZM Policy and Procedures Manual
The committee believes this lack of emphasis on wildlife population health management is a significant impediment to potential candidates. This includes candidates qualifying through traditional residencies, via the experiential route, and for all potential fields within zoological medicine.
The committee recommends the following actions:
a) Rename the Day 2 Wildlife discipline to “Wildlife Population Health Management” to reflect that the focus of this examination is on population health and not clinical medicine. b) Identify the specific discipline on the Diploma for all disciplines within ACZM. We believe this will increase the significance and value of this qualification for veterinarians working in the field of free-ranging wildlife population health management. The committee recognizes this recommendation would need to be consistent with the American Board of Veterinary Specialties (ABVS) policies and procedures. The ABVS no longer recognizes subspecialties so unfortunately we cannot do this. c) Review the ACZM Policy and Procedures Manual, website, and other outreach material to ensure these products highlight that the College works equally in clinical and population medicine as well as in both clinical and paraclinical sciences. d) Consider rotating or varying the location of the ACZM annual meeting to include conferences and meetings that reflect the diversity of the College. Holding the annual meeting at the International Wildlife Disease Association (WDA) Conference on a regular basis would help to engage Diplomates, and potential Diplomates, who work primarily in the field of free-ranging wildlife population health management.
Outreach activities highlighted in other sections of the report will also assist with this finding. The content of the examination may not reflect current job duties of veterinarians working in the field of wildlife population health management. Based on the results of the committee’s survey of wildlife veterinarians the current Job Tasks Analysis appears to be reasonably reflective of the duties of veterinarians who work in the field of free-ranging wildlife
population health management. However, tasks such as “research” and “communication” may be underrepresented. The committee has not had the opportunity to review the current examination and remains concerned that the content may not reflect the relative proportion of different job tasks. The committee also identified misunderstandings by current and potential candidates regarding the examination content and the required reading list in that there is the perception the examination is largely clinically based. The committee recommends the following actions:
a) Encourage and motivate “Wildlife Day 2 ACZM Diplomates” and other ACZM Diplomates working in the field of wildlife population health management, including ad hoc committee members, to more actively participate on the examination committee and other ACZM committees to ensure that veterinarians working in free-ranging wildlife population health management are represented in the College activities and decision making. Furthermore, the College should establish a process to ensure there is representation of all the disciplines on the various ACZM committees to assist with including the diverse perspectives of College members in important decisions and processes. This could be achieved by ensuring that at least one representative from each discipline is on all key, non-executive committees. b) Track the number of candidates for each discipline for the next 5 years to evaluate whether the recent changes to the examination process and scoring system have encouraged additional candidates to sit for the examination in the Wildlife discipline. The committee believes these recent changes to the examination policies and procedures are positive and is hopeful they will encourage additional candidates to sit for the examination. c) Add a general wildlife management textbook to the Day 1 Reading List. Examples include; Paul Krausman. 2002. Introduction to Wildlife Management: The Basics. 1st Edition. Prentice Hall, Inc.; Paul Krausman. 2013. Wildlife Management and Conservation: Contemporary Principles and Practices. Johns Hopkins University Press; Nova Silvy. 2012. The Wildlife Techniques Manual: (Volume 1: Research/ Volume 2: Management) . 7th Edition. McGraw Hill. d) Provide more communication and outreach to potential Wildlife Day 2 examination candidates, including short courses and/or ACZM awareness or orientation courses at wildlife population health management conferences or meetings to demystify the examination for these potential candidates. These courses should not necessarily present technical subjects on the examination and should focus on practical information regarding how to credential and the structure and format of the examination. The International Wildlife Disease Association Conference (WDA) would be an ideal location for such outreach. Outreach materials such as factsheets or other communication materials should also be produced and made available to potential candidates via various mechanisms. e) Ensure there is an ACZM booth at major wildlife-focused conferences (WDA, The Wildlife Society, etc.) to enhance awareness about the College among potential Wildlife discipline Day 2 examination candidates.
There is a lack of formal ACZM training programs for candidates with a focus on free-ranging wildlife population health management as well as opportunities to receive mentorship and training through the experiential (alternate pathway) route. The overwhelming majority of ACZM-accredited training programs are captive animal focused and strongly clinical in orientation, and only one program is focused on free-ranging wildlife population health management. Consequently, most candidates for the Wildlife discipline will have to credential through the experiential route. For this route, which requires two ACZM Diplomate mentors, the committee is concerned there is a lack of ACZM mentors with experience in free-ranging wildlife population health management available to mentor potential candidates. The committee also identified that the ACZM has longer experiential (alternate pathway) time requirements, and an examination structure that requires a more comprehensive knowledge base. The committee is concerned these credentialing requirements may represent a real or perceived barrier to potential candidates.
The committee recommends the following actions:
a) Develop a document to outline the ideal free-ranging wildlife population health management residency program to standardize training efforts and encourage universities to establish such training programs. Current training programs should also use this document as a guide to ensure all candidates in all programs receive training in epidemiology and wildlife disease investigations and have exposure to governmental wildlife agency work. b) Actively engage and work with governmental wildlife management agencies to provide in-situ training for candidates undertaking the ACZM experiential pathway. The aforementioned document should assist in defining appropriate training opportunities. This should be achieved by direct discussions with the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (AFWA) (Jonathan Mawdsley, Science Advisor for AFWA), and possibly the Canadian Wildlife Directors to find agencies willing to provide such opportunities. c) Provide guidance on the development and implementation of Distributed Wildlife Learning Communities (DWLC) so that candidates can spend time embedded in the wildlife population health management community to get an enhanced, overall experience within the free-ranging wildlife population health management field. [A DWLC is a formal relationship between a university and other organizations designed to provide a trainee (graduate student/intern/resident) with sector-specific learning opportunities outside of the university to expand on their experience or skills working with agencies/offices in the government, NGOs or the private sector, with agreed upon learning objectives and outcomes by both parties]. d) Identify highly respected and experienced wildlife veterinarians who are non-ACZM Diplomates, who would qualify for credentialing for College membership and are willing to serve the College, and invite them to become honorary members of the College. These individuals can then serve as mentors for candidates in the experiential route, thus, increasing the availability of mentors and training opportunities for Wildlife
discipline candidates. They could also assist with committee assignments and other College business. e) Allow time spent in MS and PhD programs relevant to wildlife population health management to count towards the experiential pathway. This could improve the attractiveness and feasibility of experiential pathway for wildlife candidates f) Assist in the development of 1-year internship programs specific to free-ranging wildlife population health management sponsored by wildlife agencies and in cooperation with a veterinary school. These purposefully designed internships should involve an ACZM Diplomate as a mentor and may lead to agency employment (and thus further relevant experience). g) Reduce the time requirement for the experiential route to 5 years for all disciplines. This could improve the attractiveness and feasibility of the experiential pathway for Wildlife discipline candidates.
Longer-Term Recommendation
As the ACZM continues to grow, and the knowledge base in zoological medicine expands, maintaining a single Day 1 examination on all the materials for all candidates may become increasingly challenging. The committee recommends the ACZM consider the European College of Zoological Medicine (ECZM) model of separate and distinct specialties, with examination on a curriculum focused on that specialty, as the long-term goal for the Wildlife discipline and for the College as a whole.
Conclusions: Call to Action
In summary, the committee believes that the ACZM is at risk of failing in its mission to integrate wildlife population health management into the College, and therefore serve as a broad umbrella for all veterinarians wishing to specialize in zoological medicine. Action is urgently needed in order to be relevant to the free-ranging wildlife population health management community moving forward. We believe if action is not taken the Wildlife discipline within the College will not be viable in the future. The committee recognizes the good work that has been done, thus far, to ensure the College is inclusive of all disciplines. We hope the committee’s recommendations regarding changing the current training, credentialing, and examination requirements to better reflect health management and conservation practice of free-ranging wildlife are helpful to the College. We believe the recommendations will allow the College to continue to embrace both individual patient and population based medicine, and paraclinical as well as clinical practice. We hope the recommendations will, thus, broaden the College’s appeal, and attract a cadre of veterinarians whose membership, in our opinion, would enrich the College.
The committee attempted to take a comprehensive approach to the challenges stated above; one which includes reforms of credentialing requirements, training programs and the examination, as well as outreach to potential examination candidates and their potential
employers. Some of the changes suggested can be implemented immediately, others need further development, and some may be longer term concepts that will require discussion among the College membership or review to ensure consistency with the ABVS policies and procedures. The ad hoc committee is willing to continue to serve at the pleasure of the Executive Committee on further development and implementation of these recommendations, if it so desires. Thus, our final recommendation is to extend the mandate of the ad hoc Wildlife Committee to continue to work closely with the Executive Committee as we work collectively toward developing and, hopefully, implementing approved recommendations. All members of the committee recognize we have an important role in implementation of the recommendations. We also recommend evaluating the level of success of the recommendations that are implemented and taking additional actions as needed.
The committee appreciates the Executive Committee’s prescience in identifying the need to address the relevance of the ACZM to free-ranging wildlife population health management and thanks the Executive Committee for the opportunity to serve the College in this manner.
Respectfully submitted,
Members of the ad hoc Committee on Wildlife.
Picture taken during the meeting at Cornell University. Left to right is Dave Jessup, Kirsten Gilardi, Doug Whiteside, Stephane Lair, Mark Drew, Jonathan Sleeman, Robin Radcliffe, with Kay Mehren on the screen. Committee members missing from the picture are Sonia Hernandez, Dan Mulcahy, and Sharon Deem.
Put the report on the website, tell membership it is there and will be
Ask Jonathan to give report at annual meeting.
PR committee has representation from each subspecialty. Could there be a person at each meeting who would lead that PR effort. Bring banner, plan ACZM meet up and 1-hour info meeting. Ex-offico committee that represents each subspecialty represented. Aquatic specialist reaches out and finds aquatic subspecialties. That person is then contact person for related things.
Revisit. JTA