Workforce Needs in Veterinary Medicine (2013)
Chapter: Appendix D: Inquiry to Selected Companies
Appendix D
Inquiry to Selected Companies
The purpose of the inquiry was to collect information about the current veterinary positions and future projected positions at selected companies in the animal feed, animal health, animal supply, biotechnology, chemicals, contract research organizations, diagnostics, and pharmaceutical industries. The companies were known by study committee members to employ veterinarians.
An e-mail letter was sent to contact persons at the companies asking them to go to a website where they could complete the questionnaire. There were several follow up e-mails from the National Research Center (NRC) sent to individuals who did not respond to the questionnaire. As a result responses were received from 59 of 118 companies.
The data are available from the NRC after removal of identifiers.
VETERINARY INDUSTRIAL PERSONNEL QUESTIONNAIRE
This survey is being conducted by the National Research Council (NRC), the operational component of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine, to examine various aspects of the veterinary medical profession. The study will explore historical changes in the size and characteristics of the veterinary workforce; assess the demographics and adequacy of the current supply of veterinarians in different occupational categories and sectors of the economy; and identify incentives, disincentives, and other factors that are likely to affect the numbers of veterinarians seeking jobs in different sectors in the future. The study will also examine trends affecting the kinds of jobs available to veterinarians and assess future demand for veterinary expertise in existing and new employment sectors. The study will examine the current and future capacity of universities and colleges to provide sufficient numbers of adequately trained veterinarians and identify training needs relative to the demand for specific expertise. Data on past trends and the current status of the workforce are not available from national databases. To gather the necessary data the Committee for the study is conducting surveys in various sectors. The questions in this survey are designed to collect information on the employment of veterinarians in the industrial sector.
Your participation is important. By completing this questionnaire, you are providing information that will: 1) help the NRC identify the characteristics of the veterinary workforce; 2) enable the NRC to analyze trends in the composition of the workforce; 3) will provide data that will inform the profession and educational institutions on the status of the veterinary workforce.
Your participation is voluntary. You may refuse to answer any question or discontinue participation at any point. There is no risk to you or your company in responding to this questionnaire. Your identity will be known to only the National Research Council. Your willingness to provide the answers to the questions indicates your informed consent to participate in this study.
This web based survey is designed so that you can stop answering the questions at any time and return to the survey to answer more questions or change answers to already completed questions. The only constraint is that you use the same computer while answering the questions.
1) Demographic Information
Name: _________________________________________________
Company: _________________________________________________
Address: _________________________________________________
Address 2: _________________________________________________
City/Town: _________________________________________________
State: _________________________________________________
Zip code: _________________________________________________
Email: _________________________________________________
Phone Number: _________________________________________________
2) Please check all business areas from the following list that apply to your work. The data you provide in Question 1 should correspond to the information provided in subsequent sections. Please answer for operations in the USA only.
| Business | Operation |
| Human pharmaceuticals and/or vaccines | |
| Veterinary pharmaceuticals and/or vaccines | |
| Biotechnologies | |
| Human diagnostics | |
| Veterinary diagnostics | |
| Crop protection | |
| Animal foods: | |
Livestock feed | |
Pet foods | |
| Human food | |
| Laboratory animal supplier | |
| Contract management of lab animal facilities | |
| Contract research laboratory: | |
Toxicology | |
Pathology | |
Clinical | |
| Other (please specify) ________________________ |
For each of the following questions, please answer only for the area or areas that you checked above.
3) For the following areas, please indicate the number of veterinarians CURRENTLY EMPLOYED FULL-TIME by your company.
| Major activity of veterinarian(s) | DVM (or equivalent) | DVM and PhD | Board Certified | Board Certified and PhD | DVM and MBA |
| Preclinical Discovery Research | |||||
| Clinical Research/Development | |||||
| Safety R&D Toxicology | |||||
| Safety R&D Pathology | |||||
| Research support Laboratory | |||||
| animal medicine | |||||
| Regulatory Affairs | |||||
| Technical services/customer | |||||
| services | |||||
| Marketing | |||||
| Sales | |||||
| Senior Management | |||||
| Other (please specify) _______ |
4) For the following areas please indicate the number of CURRENTLY OPEN ADVERTIZED FULL-TIME positions for veterinarians.
| Major activity of veterinarian(s) | DVM (or equivalent) | DVM and PhD | Board Certified | Board Certified and PhD | DVM and MBA |
| Preclinical Discovery Research | |||||
| Clinical Research/Development | |||||
| Safety R&D Toxicology | |||||
| Safety R&D Pathology | |||||
| Research support Laboratory | |||||
| animal medicine | |||||
| Regulatory Affairs | |||||
| Technical services/customer | |||||
| services | |||||
| Marketing | |||||
| Sales | |||||
| Senior Management | |||||
| Other (please specify) _______ |
5) For the following areas please estimate the number of NEW veterinarian positions (not included in questions #3 or #4) you will need between now and 2016.
| Major activity of veterinarian(s) | DVM (or equivalent) | DVM and PhD | Board Certified | Board Certified and PhD | DVM and MBA |
| Preclinical Discovery Research | |||||
| Clinical Research/Development | |||||
| Safety R&D Toxicology | |||||
| Safety R&D Pathology | |||||
| Research support Laboratory | |||||
| animal medicine | |||||
| Regulatory Affairs | |||||
| Technical services/customer | |||||
| services | |||||
| Marketing | |||||
| Sales | |||||
| Senior Management | |||||
| Other (please specify) _______ |
6) Do you have licensed veterinary technicians working in your U.S. operation?
If yes,
How many of your veterinary technicians are licensed? ______
How many of your veterinary technicians are licensed? ______
If no, would you consider employing such technicians in the future?
7) What percentage of the veterinarians in your company will reach 65 in the next 8 years? __________________
8) Globalization: How is globalization affecting the number of veterinarians you employ in your operation?
• No affect
• Hiring more US trained vets
• Hiring more foreign trained vets
• Unable to recruit US trained vets
9) Education:
a. For positions requiring a DVM only, does the current educational system in the U.S. adequately train veterinarians for the needs of your company?
If no, what areas need improvement? _____________________
b. For positions requiring advanced training, does the current post DVM educational system in the U.S. adequately train veterinarians for the needs of your company?
If no, what areas need improvement? _____________________
10) What trends in your companies’ business activities will affect the hiring of veterinarians in the future? ________________________
11) Other comments. ___________________________
