AVMA Congressional Fellows Placed in Senate Offices

WASHINGTON — The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) announced today that its Congressional Science Fellows have accepted positions in offices on Capitol Hill and are serving in capacities that coincide with their interests and enable them to provide expertise to Congress, all while serving the veterinary profession.

Both of the 2008-2009 fellows, Dr. Gail Hansen and Dr. Whitney Miller, are working in offices supporting the US Senate. Dr. Hansen has accepted a position in the office of Senator Bernard Sanders, I-Vt., where she is working on the national cancer registry, healthcare reform and antibiotic resistance. Dr. Whitney Miller is working on the Senate Homeland Security Committee and focusing on biosecurity and emergency medical preparedness issues.

Dr. Hansen, who received her doctor of veterinary medicine degree from the University of Minnesota and a master's in public health from the University of Washington, was previously the state epidemiologist for the Kansas Department of Health, specializing in infectious diseases. Dr. Hansen has an adjunct faculty position at the Kansas State University, College of Veterinary Medicine, and works with the public health programs at both KSU and the University of Kansas Medical Center.

Dr. Miller received a doctor of veterinary medicine degree and an MBA from Colorado State University and has experience in food safety, foreign animal disease diagnosis and control, the drug approval process, and various aspects of creating, implementing and interpreting policy.

AVMA fellows provide science-based knowledge and information to the public policy-making process. Additionally, the fellowship program offers veterinarians a wide variety of opportunities to learn how federal public policy is made and to influence outcomes.

Fellows spend one year in Washington, D.C., beginning at the end of August, and receive a stipend, plus other reimbursable expenses.

For more information about the fellowship and the specific criteria requirements, or to apply, contact Dorothy Gray, associate director of the AVMA Governmental Relations Division, at (800) 321-1473, Ext. 3209, or at fellowship@avma.org. The application deadline for the 2009-2010 AVMA Congressional Science and Executive Branch Fellowship is February 12, 2009.

Source: www.avma.org