The AAVMC Summer Meeting will be held on Saturday, July 14 from 8 a.m. - noon at the Hyatt Regency Denver in Denver Colorado. Programs scheduled for the meeting include an update on accreditation and the Council on Accreditation by AAVMC Senior Accreditation Advisor Dr. Sheila Allen and a presentation on advocating for the benefit of veterinary licensure by AAVMC President Dr. Calvin Johnson. AAVMC Governmental Relations Director Kevin Cain will present an update on the Farm Bill. Other presentations from guest speakers will include an update on the American Board of Veterinary Specialties (ABVS), the Merck Animal Health Wellbeing study, and Telehealth. New for this year is a "Hot topics and Open Discussion Period." Read more.

Dr. Greg Keefe, dean of the Atlantic Veterinary College at the University of Prince Edward Island, has been appointed to serve on the AAVMC Board of Directors as the Region II (Canada) representative. He fills a position vacated by Dr. Michel Carrier when he left his position as dean of the Faculty of Veterinary medicine at the University of Montreal. Dr. Keefe has been a faculty member at AVC's department of Health Management for more than 20 years. A professor of Dairy Production Medicine, he is one of AVC's foremost researchers, educators, and professional service providers. He has received numerous teaching and research awards, including the Norden Distinguished Teaching Award and the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association Award for Advancement of Large Animal Medicine in Canada. Read more.

Dr. Stephan Martinot, former dean of AAVMC member institution VetAgro Sup (Lyon) was elected president of the European Association of Establishments for Veterinary Education (EAEVE) during their recent General Assembly in Hanover, Germany. The origins of VetAgro Sup trace back to the founding of the world's first veterinary school in Lyon, France in 1761. Based in Vienna, Austria, EAEVE was founded in 1988 and serves as the official accreditation authority for veterinary educational establishments in Europe. The AAVMC maintains a relationship with EAEVE, and AAVMC CEO Dr. Andrew T. Maccabe participated in their annual meeting. Read more.

	Leslie Wilson

Leslie Wilson, CGMP has joined the AAVMC staff as Project Manager. She is a seasoned meeting planner with over 10 years of experience planning and coordinating event logistics, developing and managing budgets and building and maintaining relationships with vendors and facilities. Before joining the AAVMC, she served as a contracted Strategic Event Planner with the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) within the U.S. Department of Justice. "Meetings are the cornerstone of successful business," said Wilson. "I am excited to join AAVMC and work with such a professional and talented team. I look forward to contributing my experience as a meeting planner to help advance the mission of AAVMC." Read more.

At publication-time, it appears that H1-B visa-related residency and internship programs at participating AAVMC member institutions remain confounded, despite concerted and ongoing AAVMC efforts to provide the federal government with the prevailing wage data required to support the programs. For the past several years, the AAVMC has compiled and shared salary and wage data related to veterinary medical residency and internship positions with the Department of Labor. The delays have caused difficulties for candidates and sponsoring institutions, and the AAVMC is working hard to address the problem. Read more.

More than 260 veterinary medical educators gathered at Cornell University in June for the first-ever joint symposium presented by the AAVMC's Primary Care Veterinary Educators (PCVE) and the Veterinary Educator Collaborative (VEC). Forty-four of the AAVMC's 49 member CVMs from around the world were represented in Ithaca. The symposium, themed "Laying the Building Blocks for a Lifetime of Clinical Excellence," focused on how to help students develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes that will allow a smooth transition from their role as pre-clinical and clinical students to that of practitioner.  Read more.

Hundreds of One Health leaders and advocates from around the world gathered in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan for the 5th International One Health Congress June 22-25. Experts shared presentations during 28 different sessions focused on recent advances in pathogen discovery, diagnostics, drivers for emerging infections, vaccinology, ecology, food and water safety, related political and social science and other areas. "This congress was another significant step forward for the One Health movement," said AAVMC CEO Dr. Andrew T. Maccabe. "Participating in this meeting really gave me the sense that we are approaching an inflection point. More and more international health organizations, government agencies, corporations and NGO's seem to be embracing the One Health concept." Read more.

Leaders from the AVMA and AAVMC gathered in Schaumburg, Illinois,  for the semi-annual Joint Committee Meeting on June 18. Following organizational updates from AAVMC President Dr. Calvin Johnson, AVMA President Dr. Michael Topper and AVMA Vice-President Dr. Stacy Pritt, the group tackled an agenda that included several important initiatives and issues facing the profession and academic veterinary medicine. Detailed discussions were held on the Wellbeing Initiative, the Veterinary Debt Initiative, the Veterinary Futures Commission, diversity and inclusion in the profession, leadership, advocacy, accreditation, economic studies, recruitment and other areas. Read more.

AAVMC officials and member institution scientists recently spent a day meeting with National Institutes of Health (NIH) officials to discuss the CTSA One Health Alliance. The AAVMC group held different meetings on the NIH main campus and offsite with scientists representing five NIH Centers and Institutes. Those included the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), National Cancer Institute (NCI), and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). The team shared some of the COHA work underway with co-located medical schools to advance human health and explored opportunities for increased NIH collaboration. Read more.

About 1,400 advisors who play a big role in recruiting students for careers in the health professions, as well as 500 students, converged on Washington D.C. June 27-July 1 for the national meeting of the National Association of Advisors for the Health Professions. For AAVMC Director of Admissions and Recruitment Tony Wynne, it was more than an opportunity to interact with colleagues and hear from leading experts in the field. As chair of the 18-member NAAHP Advisory Council, Wynne has a special interest in making sure the association helps its members do the best job they can in recruiting new generations of prospective doctors, veterinarians, dentists, nurses, physicians' assistants and other health professionals. Wynne says his leadership opportunity has increased veterinary medicine's visibility among the other health professions. Read more.

	Dr. Dan Givens

Veterinary medicine's role in agricultural productivity and food safety was showcased on Capitol Hill during an Agricultural Research Congressional Exhibition & Reception in the Rayburn House Office Building on June 6. An exhibit staffed by Auburn University Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Dr. Dan Givens and sponsored by the AAVMC helped educate participants about the critical role veterinary medicine plays in food production and security. Givens' exhibit focused on recruiting and supporting veterinarians to practice in underserved rural areas and shore up agricultural infrastructure. Read more.

Veterinary medicine will be well represented in the program track when more than 1,500 public health professionals around the world gather for the 10th presentation of the Center for Disease Control's 2018 International Conference for Emerging Infectious Diseases August 26-29 in Atlanta. The meeting is considered one of the premier infectious disease conferences in the world and includes more than 30 national and international partners. Former AAVMC One Health Committee Chair Dr. Francois Elvinger of the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine and Dr. Karen Ehnert of the Los Angeles County Health Department helped ensure veterinary medicine and One Health are well represented on the program. Read more.

NPR

Visa Delays Put Residents in Limbo

Inside Higher Ed

AAVMC Updates its Cost Comparison Tool

From Our Members 

People on the Move 

Dr. Srinand Sreevatsan, chair of Pathobiology & Diagnostic Investigation at the Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine, is serving as interim dean. Dr. Birgit Puschner, currently at UC-Davis, will begin as dean, effective Oct. 1, 2018.   

Read our CIVME Newsletters
Read our Advocacy Newsletters

 

Sign up to receive the Vet-Med Educator in your inbox here.