Valerie E. Ragan, DVM

Dr. Valerie Ragan is director of the Center for Public and Corporate Veterinary Medicine at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine (VMCVM). She is responsible for leadership of the Center, which trains students for veterinary practice other than private for-fee practice. This includes the areas of public health and policy, disease control and eradication, corporate veterinary medicine, systems thinking and implementing a One Health approach, and international veterinary medicine. The Center also works to increase opportunities for student engagement in national and international veterinary and animal health organizations involved in public veterinary practice, and provides training and guidance to veterinarians interesting in transitioning from one career area in veterinary medicine to another. Dr. Ragan also continues to work around the world on the control and eradication of brucellosis, a major disease of importance in livestock and human health, and on projects related to veterinary capacity building.

Prior to joining the VMCVM, Ragan was the president of a veterinary consulting company in Washington, D.C., where her activities included resolving animal health issues such as disease control, eradication, and surveillance, and international veterinary capacity building.

Before initiating her consulting company and after five years as a private small animal practitioner, Ragan transitioned to the Veterinary Services program with the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA-APHIS). She began her work with the USDA as a veterinary medical officer and public practice career trainee. She then served as the Area Epidemiology Officer in two states, before being promoted to senior staff veterinarian in Washington DC, serving as the National Brucellosis Epidemiologist. She subsequently served as assistant deputy administrator of the agency’s Veterinary Services program. In that capacity, she served as the national animal health surveillance coordinator, and established the National Surveillance Unit at USDA’s Center for Epidemiology and Animal Health.

Ragan completed her pre-veterinary work at Virginia Tech and received her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree in 1983 from the University of Georgia. She also completed post-graduate work in biostatistics and epidemiology at the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health.

Dr. Ragan's faculty profile can be found here.