30 January 2008

Dear Friends of the Department of Defense Veterinary Pathology Residency (DODVPR),

On Monday, January 28, 2008, the President signed into law the FY08 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The law requires establishment of a "Joint Pathology Center" (JPC) to serve as the center of excellence in pathology for the federal government. It requires the JPC to be established in the Department of Defense (DOD), unless the President determines within 180 days that it cannot be in DOD, at which time he must name the non-DOD federal agency that will own it. The missions of the JPC are established in the law and include specifically "veterinary". There are no specified details directing when, where, or how the JPC will be established, manned or operated. Furthermore, this law did not repeal the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) law, so complying with both laws simultaneously will likely be a complicated affair.

I view this development as a positive step for pathology in general, and it holds promise that the future of the DODVPR may be even more secure if the JPC is ultimately established within the DOD. In that case, we will recommend retaining the DODVPR within the new JPC in order to build on the highly successful collaborative comparative pathology resource and experience we have enjoyed for many years at the AFIP. In the meantime, we are continuing our contingency planning for moving the DODVPR to Forest Glen, MD.

Our goal is to maintain the best possible residency program and consultative veterinary pathology service to meet current and future needs of the DOD. As always, we appreciate your continued support of our signature programs, such as the Wednesday Slide Conference and Veterinary Systemic Pathology Online, which we intend to maintain as bedrocks of our residency.

Respectfully,

COL Terrell W. Blanchard, VC, USA
Chairman, Department of Veterinary Pathology