Penn Veterinary Medicine | University of Pennsylvania

Budget Update - Key Points

Key points about Penn Vet:

We would like to share with you some key financial and service points about Penn Vet that are important to understand and share.

• We are a key partner in the state’s program to prevent the spread of economically devastating livestock and poultry infectious disease; for example, we devised and implemented the best disease-surveillance system in the U.S., which prevented the spread of avian influenza and saved the Commonwealth from economically devastating outbreaks on several occasions.
• We are a major contributor to maintaining the viability, health and profitability of our state’s diverse and economically important livestock and poultry industries, together representing almost $300 million in export income for Pennsylvania.
• We develop new treatments for animals and people through our pioneering Veterinary Clinical Investigation Center, and extensive clinical research.
• We advance our basic understanding in the areas of cancer, infectious diseases, regenerative medicine and neuroscience, and work to apply that new knowledge to design better treatments for diseases of animals and people.
• Penn Vet preserves and protects the safety of the food supply and the health of the public, as part of the Pennsylvania Animal Health and Diagnostic Laboratory System (PADLS).
• We continue to provide a broad range of referral veterinary expertise 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to the Commonwealth, with the most breadth and depth of any small- and large-animal veterinary facility in the Mid-Atlantic region.
• Penn Vet generates employment for almost 1,000 people. Over 90% of our annual operating budget pays the salaries and benefits of our 150 faculty and almost 850 staff, including nursing and technical staff in our two world-class teaching hospitals.
• We teach and practice medical care for the public good, from our highly successful Shelter Animal Medicine Program to our working animals project, which offers reduced-cost care for police dogs and horses, as well as guide dogs, and search and rescue dogs. In addition, we hosted a free dog and cat vaccination clinic for underserved communities on Martin Luther King Day in our first-ever Day of Service.
• We pioneered humane swine production systems in response to public demand; we also educate pork producers and provide field services both locally and across the Commonwealth to animal agriculture, directly improving the economic viability of their owners.
• Penn Vet’s annual operating budget is comprised of the Commonwealth appropriation; fees for clinical and diagnostic services; grants from federal, state and private sources; tuition, and endowment and gift spending. 
• Much of our endowment spending supports students, reducing their debt and allowing them to enter areas that traditionally offer less compensation, including public service such as government, teaching or serving in rural or public health areas.