epidemiologists who are also veterinarians. In fact, their elite disease detective program, the Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) recruits veterinarians along with physicians every year. Among the best infectious disease epidemiologists dating back to the origins of CDC have included veterinarian public health epidemiologists. Many states have hired these very qualified veterinary public health epidemiologists to be their state epidemiologist (head epidemiologist). This is not at all unusual.
So, unless you know better, you should not be making really uninformed and inappropriate assumptions such as this. The person may or may not be unqualified or underqualified for the position, but the comparative medicine background that veterinarians bring to the field of epidemiology, along with clinical understanding and innate understanding of herd health and epidemiological disease control concepts make veterinarians highly recruited in many settings. As with physicians entering the field, they typically get at least a master's degree in public health, sometimes a Ph.D., and do post-doctoral training.
Please don't make such derogatory assumptions without proof that this person is unqualified. It only shows your lack of understanding of the issue.
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