Iowa State University’s Veterinary Medicine’s Center for Food Security and Public Health has been designated as one of the 12 specialty centers under a federal program designed to address public health concerns. James Roth is the director of the I-S-U Center. He says their focus under the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) program is veterinary medicine and zoonotic diseases. He says their major activities are awareness education aimed at those disease agents that are potential bioterrorism or agroterrorism agents affecting humans and animals. Roth says the center at I-S-U was created in 2002 with funding from the C-D-C, and this designation as a specialty center shows they’ve accomplished what they set out to do. He says the first year of funding was one-million dollars and the second year is the same. Roth says their work will link them with universities across the country, and one that’s across the state. He says being a specialty center integrates them into all the things the C-D-C is doing and all the other specialty centers. In addition to specialty centers, there are also academic centers, and one of those is at the University of Iowa, and he says they’ll work closely with the U-of-I in some of their activities. Representatives from all 12 specialty centers will meet Oct. 14-15 in Athens, Georgia., to discuss accomplishments and develop collaborative projects.
