Page 106 - VHSA - Onderstepoort 100 Years - Part 3

OND
ERSTEPOORT 100
Herd Health into the Department of Veterinary Public Health and so was born the new Department of Animal and Commu- nity Health. This carefully considered name encapsulates all the endeavours to secure safety and security of food of animal origin from the farm to the post-harvesting consumer phase without losing sight of existing and possible new zoonotic conditions of both production and companion animals. Veary was appointed as the head of the newly established Department of Animal and Community Health in 1998. This department comprised two functional management units, namely Herd Health with D.C. Lourens as the Section Head and Veterinary Public Health under the leadership of Veary.
Veary retired in December 2005, but was retained on contract due to his expertise and experience in Veterinary Public Health (VPH), particularly in meat hygiene. He subsequently re- wrote the postgraduate module on VPH in poultry, so that it
could be presented online using Web-CT. Cheryl McCrindle was appointed as Section Head of VPH at the end of 2005. At the time of the Centenary, the Section VPH at the Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria comprised of McCrindle (Section Head), Veary, Erika van Zyl (lecturer) and Segomotso Lebogo (Secretary).
Additional staff included a technical post (Theo van der Schans), shared with the Department of Production Animal Medicine, and a general assistant for laboratory duties (Rexan Ramuagele) shared with the Section of Toxicology. The lectures in Epidemiology were presented by Bruce Gummow and Peter Thompson from Production Animal Medicine. Lectures on VPH were presented to 5th year stu-dents and there were 12 two-week clinical sessions a year presented to the 6th (final) year students, in addition to postgraduate modules and degrees.
The driving force of the Section is embodied in its strategic vision:
‘The Section of Veterinary Public Health aims to be party to an internationally accredited seat of veterinary excellence within the Faculty of Veterinary Science of the University of Pretoria. We strive to be globally competitive, regionally pre-eminent, and locally relevant. Through networking and partnerships, we provide an effective veterinary public health interface to Africa. Our training programmes, research and services are innovative, sustainable, relevant and of high quality. All activities are managed within a well-regulated, efficient and value-driven system. Graduates are equipped with essential academic skills in Veterinary Public Health’.
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PART 3
History of Individual Disciplines
1908-2008
Years