Penn Vet resilient despite losses

Despite severe financial losses, the Penn School of Veterinary Medicine is working to achieve a “new normal,” according to Penn Vet Dean Joan Hendricks.

In December 2009, state appropriations to Penn Vet decreased by about $13 million, slashing the school’s operating budget to about $30 million. Over the past two years, government funds to Penn Vet were cut by a total of approximately 30 percent.

Penn Vet Executive Director of Major Gifts Susan Miller said pet owners have forgone medical treatment for their animals in order to cut costs, which has also diminished Penn Vet’s income. “Penn Vet has really been through a perfect storm,” she said.

Christopher Torre, a third-year veterinary student and president of the Penn Vet student body, said the financial downturn has impacted Penn Vet students as well. He named an end to state grants for in-state students and facilities fees for event hosting as some of the negative consequences.

As Penn Vet weathers the recession, Hendricks said, “we’re planning on forever having to work with $13 million less.”

Part of that plan is reducing Penn Vet’s workforce. Since the summer of 2008 Penn Vet has lost more than 150 staff members. Of those terminations, about 70 have been layoffs, according to an article Hendricks wrote in Bellwether, Penn Vet’s news magazine.

Some professors chose to retire early “to help the School,” Hendricks said, and Penn Vet chose not to re-fill those positions.

In light of these terminations, Miller said Penn Vet has critically evaluated its operations to improve its efficiency.

Nursing staff at the Matthew J. Ryan Veterinary Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, for example, have collaborated to alter patient flow through the facility — making the process more expedient for both staff members and pet owners, Miller added.

Torre said structural changes trickle down to the students as well.

Because of the decrease in staff, Torre explained, “more patient care is now the responsibility of the students,” and curricular changes emphasize gaining experience.

While Penn Vet shrinks its workforce, the School continues to expand its facilities.

In June, Penn Vet launched the James M. Moran, Jr. Critical Care Center, a state-of-the-art facility to treat large animals on the New Bolton Center campus. Penn Vet also completed a multi-million-dollar renovation of a floor of its Philadelphia research facility, which is used for regenerative medicine and cell research.

However, Hendricks said these projects have progressed amid other cutbacks because their funding is often restricted to construction purposes. The Moran facility, for example, was supported by state capital funding and a donation from Penn Vet client Betty Moran, Hendricks explained.

Similarly, Penn Vet financed its research facility renovation using compensation it received from tobacco companies, which was appropriated to contribute to biomedical research. “The money could not have been used for anything else in all of these cases,” Hendricks noted of the designated funds.

In an e-mail, Provost Vince Price praised Penn Vet for turning “the challenges into an opportunity to begin re-imagining the future of veterinary education and care.”

This innovation, he wrote, should “pay dividends for years to come.”

Hendricks said she is confident about the future of Penn Vet. On July 1, the first day of fiscal year 2011, the Pennsylvania legislature released its revised budget, granting Penn Vet the $30 million it had pledged.

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