Without immediate action, a new National Research Council report warns, the academic veterinary community could fail to prepare the next generation of veterinarians for faculty teaching and research positions as well as for jobs in state diagnostic laboratories, federal research and regulatory agencies, and the pharmaceutical and biologics industry.

The report, “Workforce Needs in Veterinary Medicine,” details how cost-cutting measures at universities have adversely affected the ability of colleges and schools of veterinary medicine to hire faculty in less popular fields of veterinary medicine and to support graduate research training.

The study was sponsored by the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges, the American Veterinary Medical Association, the American Animal Hospital Association, the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, and Bayer Animal Health Inc. The National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council make up the National Academies. For more information, visit http://national-academies.org/studycommitteprocess.pdf.