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