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Over the last two years, the ILAR Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals and the Guide for the Care and Use of Agricultural Animals in Research and Teaching have both released new editions. The roles and responsibilities of the Attending Veterinarian have been expanded and clarified. These slides identify the major areas of responsibility and authority.!

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The responsibilities of the AV are intimately intertwined with the role as the Executive Director of the Comparative Medicine Program. As the centrally operated animal care management service, the CMP provides daily feedback on any animal related issues across the campus.!

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CMP is a service and support organization with the PIs as our clients. Our mission is to create an environment that is conducive to assisting investigators in efficiently performing their research projects and providing an optimum environment for animal care.!

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These are the top five issues as I see them from the Investigator s viewpoint.!

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This list does not include animals used for agricultural research.!

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Fairly self explanatory. Over the last 18 months our direct expenses have risen significantly without a concurrent increase in per diem rates. !

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To control per diem rates, two activities need to occur. Cut expenses and raise rates. !One of our main goals is to decrease the number of cost centers that we deal with so we can get better data on how much any particular type of caging costs to manage. In addition we will post projected per diem rates online for budgeting and planning purposes. This does not mean that the increases will be automatic. We will re-evaluate the per diem rates annually and act accordingly.!

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This is not to be the absolute data entries to determine costs, but more to give you an idea of all the expenses and functions that must be recovered to operate the animal care program. It is much more detailed than just the person changing the cages.!

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The IACUC office has been diligently working to streamline processes and improve response times for investigators. These are just a few of the items underway.!

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To train and maintain our personnel, we have already instituted mandatory weekly training for CMP staff. This includes seminars from investigators on their research. This greatly enhances our staff s understanding of the importance of the research being performed and their role in making this happen. One primary issue with CMP is staff turnover. This is partly due to very low salaries. I have asked the HR department to perform a salary market survey to understand where we are compared to similar institutions. The figures above are from my experience and discussions with other universities.!

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