The Department of Population Health, created in 2006, is an interdisciplinary department which provides research, service, and instructional activities focused on the health and management of populations of animals. The Department operates within four functional units in the College of Veterinary Medicine: The Poultry Diagnostic and Research Center, the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study, the Food Animal Health and Management Program and Laboratory Animal Medicine. The Population Health department was formed to provide enhanced research and service programs in poultry, livestock, wildlife, and laboratory animal health and management, provide improved instructional programs in these fields for the professional veterinary curriculum and to develop post-graduate training programs for veterinarians focused on population health, epidemiology, and public health.