The 2012 Veterinarian of the Year award of the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) Commissioned Corps has been given to CAPT Hugh Mainzer, MS, DVM, DACVPM, at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). CAPT Mainzer was presented the award at the 61st Annual Epidemic Intelligence Service Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, in April, 2012. CAPT Mainzer was nominated for his contributions to the mission of the Commissioned Corps and CDC.

Throughout his career, CAPT Mainzer has done much to support Commissioned Corps veterinarians. From May, 2007 to October, 2011, he served as Chief Veterinary Officer, providing strong leadership to the veterinary category. He has provided career counseling and promotion preparation advice to veterinary officers and has personally recruited many of the veterinarians currently on active duty in the USPHS. CAPT Mainzer has responded to numerous public health emergencies and deployed on humanitarian aid missions. Drawing from those experiences, he has encouraged many other officers to deploy on humanitarian missions and to serve actively on USPHS Tiers I and II response teams.

CAPT Mainzer has worked towards increasing the number of veterinarians serving in the federal workforce. He was recently named Chair of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management Interagency Talent Management Advisory Council on the Federal Veterinary Workforce. As Chair, he has led the effort to describe the veterinary staffing needs and resources in the federal workforce. Through this work, he has highlighted for key policy makers the critical skill sets that veterinarians contribute to public health and to reveal some of the gaps in veterinary personnel resources.

In addition to his leadership roles and administrative accomplishments, CAPT Mainzer has furthered veterinary public health through research and numerous published manuscripts, book chapters, and professional presentations. With all of these contributions in mind, CAPT Mainzer is highly deserving of the award for Commissioned Corps Veterinarian of the Year.