Valerie Ragan receives national animal health association’s highest honor
Valerie Ragan has received the United States Animal Health Association's (USAHA) Medal of Distinction, the organization's highest honor for outstanding leadership and contributions to the field.
Ragan, who recently retired as director of the Center for Public and Corporate Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech, and her husband, John, a past association president, now hold a unique distinction: They are the first married couple in the association's history to both receive the medal.
“I was surprised, honored, and humbled to receive this award,” Valerie Ragan said. “I have learned so much and met so many amazing veterinarians who shaped my career through my many years of involvement with USAHA. Those experiences were the driver for me to work with the organization to initiate the veterinary student program. I wanted students to have the same opportunities that I did, and I wanted to give back to the organization by doing my part to help develop the next generation of leaders in animal health. It was truly an honor to receive this award from an organization and colleagues for whom I have so much respect and appreciation.”
The award citation, presented at the association's annual meeting, called Ragan "a pioneer, a mentor, a visionary" whose influence extends far beyond Virginia Tech. "Your legacy is not just in the programs you've built or the policies you've shaped — it's in the people you've empowered," the citation reads.
That empowerment has been deliberate. Ragan has long championed a core belief that "there is a place for every veterinarian in veterinary medicine."
For 16 years leading the Center for Public and Corporate Veterinary Medicine — first at the University of Maryland campus of the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, then at Virginia Tech starting in 2014 — she helped students and practicing veterinarians discover careers in public health, government, and industry.
"Valerie Ragan has advanced the consideration of and preparation for careers in veterinary medicine beyond private practice for many students and practicing veterinarians over the years," said Dan Givens, dean of the veterinary college. "The professional yield from seeds that Valerie Ragan has planted will continue to be harvested by many veterinarians in the decades ahead."
Her involvement with the association spans three decades, according to the citation. She joined in 1994 and helped launch the Student Travel Awards Program in 2011, connecting hundreds of students to the work of the United States Animal Health Association and the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians. She chaired their Committee on Diagnostic Laboratory and Veterinary Workforce Development and drove progress on tuberculosis and brucellosis committees — drawing on her expertise as the U.S. Department of Agriculture's former national brucellosis epidemiologist.
Ragan studied biology at Virginia Tech in the late 1970s before graduating from the University of Georgia's veterinary school in 1983. Returning to Blacksburg completed the circle. "I always wanted to come back to Blacksburg," she said. "I loved it here."
True to form, Ragan resists the word "retire." As she told colleagues: "I'm graduating into my next step of life, just like my students do." That next chapter includes a forthcoming book to help veterinarians navigate career transitions, plus consulting work on infectious diseases.
