USDA Grant Funds Nine Student Internships in Regulatory Veterinary Medicine

A three-year USDA grant will place nine veterinary students into paid summer internships inside State Animal Health Official offices, three students per year, in an effort to rebuild the regulatory veterinary workforce that guards animal health and agricultural biosecurity.

The National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) Foundation received the award through USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Veterinary Services Grant Program. The funding supports a project titled Strengthening the Regulatory Veterinary Workforce, which targets a persistent problem: too few veterinarians know what state and regulatory careers actually involve, and too few fill them.

What does the program deliver?

The core structure is concrete. Each intern completes a paid, 10- to 12-week summer placement hosted and mentored within a State Animal Health Official office. The NASDA Foundation coordinates recruitment, placements and program support across the three-year arc, with three students participating annually — nine in total.

The placements are designed around the day-to-day work of regulatory practice rather than classroom substitutes. Interns get hands-on exposure to:

• Disease surveillance
• Emergency preparedness and response
• Animal health programs
• Regulatory activities
• Stakeholder engagement

Students also gain access to professional development and networking through programs such as NASDA Next Generation, which connects participants with state agriculture leaders, peers and other agricultural professionals.

Why the workforce gap matters

Regulatory veterinarians sit at the intersection of companion-animal medicine, food-animal production and public health. They run disease surveillance, respond to outbreaks that can move through livestock populations, and support the producers and rural communities whose markets depend on animal health status.

The project's backers frame the shortfall as a biosecurity issue, not merely a hiring issue. The initiative explicitly seeks to prepare future veterinarians for roles responding to animal disease threats — threats that can affect livestock populations, agricultural markets and rural communities alike.

Chris Jones, senior director of the NASDA Foundation, put the problem plainly in a statement: "Many veterinary students have limited opportunities to explore the range of careers available in state and regulatory veterinary medicine."

"This program will give students firsthand experience working alongside state animal health professionals and help them see how their veterinary training can contribute to public service," Jones said.

A shortage-state perspective

Nevada Agriculture Director J.J. Goicoechea, DVM, tied the program to workforce development in states already short on veterinarians. Hands-on experiences, he said, can shape career trajectories, build essential competencies and strengthen the veterinary workforce supporting animal well-being and agriculture.

His point carries practical weight. A student who spends a summer inside a state animal health office sees surveillance systems, emergency response protocols and producer engagement firsthand — experience that clinical rotations rarely replicate. Early exposure is the mechanism the grant is betting on: shape the career path before private practice becomes the default.

What comes next

The NASDA Foundation will now handle recruitment and placement logistics as the first cohort cycle approaches. If the model works, the program offers a template other states and stakeholder groups could replicate through similar NIFA funding — a small investment, nine students over three years, aimed at a workforce whose absence costs far more when disease arrives.