Thank you for the opportunity to serve as the ACVR President. While I enjoy the varied clinical caseload I see every day, it is interaction with my colleagues that I find the most satisfying aspect of my professional life. I am grateful to the ACVR for providing many of those opportunities and I look forward to the Presidency as a chance to give back and help lead the profession. The COVID-19 pandemic provided a unique challenge to our College in 2020. As we look to the promise of 2021 and a hopefully waning pandemic, I would like to reflect on the achievements of our College over the last year and the promises, opportunities, and challenges of the one ahead.
Monitoring and mitigating the impact of the pandemic on residency training was a major focus of 2020. This would not have been possible without the diligent effort of the members of the Residency Standards and Evaluation Committees (RSECs) across our Diagnostic Imaging (DI), Radiation Oncology (RO), and Equine Diagnostic Imaging (EDI) groups. In response to an early drop in caseload at many residency training sites, DI-RSEC introduced a case log for residents. The RO-RSEC worked with program directors to devise weekly plans to document their activities and plan for self-steady in times of low caseload. While case logs and weekly plans initially appeared here to stay, the tracking and program surveys showed that case load rebounded quickly enough that they were thankfully no longer necessary.
Throughout the laborious tracking process, members of all RSECs continued their day-to-day work of processing program updates and evaluating new program applications. To that end, I am happy to report that two EDI residency programs are now approved for training. Additionally, five private practice DI residencies were approved in 2020. I hope to see these trends continue, with all programs bolstered by additional training opportunities such as those provided by the In- Training Examination Committee (ITEC). ITEC is a joint committee between the ACVR and ECVDI, tasked with producing mock examinations and opportunities for feedback prior to high stakes preliminary/theoretical examinations. Their first mock Anatomy examination rolled out in the fall of 2020, using the same ExamSoft online testing platform employed by our Examination Committee for official board testing. I know that I am not alone in my gratitude for the continued hard work of ITEC members. We look forward to more feedback-centered testing content in the coming year.
An additional disruption wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic was the sudden need to transition the Annual Scientific Meeting to a completely online platform. Many, many thanks to Program Chair Dr. Jason Arble, the entire program committee, and our Education Director, Dr. Tony Pease, for their hard work in making this change. Considering that the decision to “go virtual” was made in April for an October meeting, what they achieved on short notice was particularly praiseworthy. A record number of attendees (over 740!) registered for the meeting, speaking to the interest in and convenience of the online format. We continue to collect feedback, but the overall positive response for this online format will form the basis for continued discussions about the future structure of the meeting and the appropriate mix of in-person and virtual events.
The past year also saw heightened and long-overdue conversations around issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion at both societal and professional levels. As we discussed these important topics in our Executive Council meetings, we recognized the importance of further exploring these topics within our College. To this end, we are in the process of forming a diversity initiative to help the college to understand more about our membership and culture and to develop long-term strategies and goals to assist the College in better reflecting our profession and society. We seek to be a representative and welcoming community for all of our members. Similar initiatives are in various stages of development across a number of other veterinary Speciality Colleges, and members of this working group will interface with representatives from those groups as well. I am grateful to those who have already expressed interest in this important work. I encourage others that want to participate to contact me. Look for this to be a major focus of updates in the coming year as we develop a roadmap forward.
The new website has been up and running for over a year now, largely due to the diligent effort of our webmaster, Dr. Anthony Fischetti. As it gains additional functionality, I foresee the website continuing to develop as a central pillar of our community. To that end, please take the opportunity (if you have not already) to sign up for Discourse, the community bulletin board program within our website. The Discourse platform facilitates discussion among ACVR and Society members but can also serve as a means of communication within committees, centralizing all discussions in one place. For those that still rely on email as their “discussion board”, Discourse can be readily configured to send email updates as new messages are posted. Please also update your contact information, especially your email address, so that your ACVR colleagues may more easily find you. Look for additional website functionality this year, in particular a functional Maintenance of Certification system and a Learning Management System which will allow us to better distribute continuing education materials to our members.
Finally, thanks are in order a few specific people for their service to the ACVR. Thanks to Dr. Jeryl Jones and the Editorial Board for their continued leadership of our journal. Under their guidance, Veterinary Radiology and Ultrasound just completed its 61st year of publication. Thanks also to outgoing treasurer Dr. Siobhan Haney for her time spent as ACVR Treasurer, and welcome to Dr. Matt Cannon who will begin as Treasurer in the Spring. Finally, many thanks to outgoing President Kate Alexander. She certainly could not have predicted the unique challenges she would face during her presidency, but her steady leadership and attention to detail kept us moving forward during these difficult times and set the foundation for our future success as a College.
Our mission as the ACVR is to promote excellence in patient care by providing leadership, innovation, and education in veterinary diagnostic imaging and radiation oncology. As a Councillor and then President-Elect, I witnessed this mission in action and saw it thrive, even through the unprecedented challenges of 2020. I am excited for the future of our College and look forward to working with you to further our mission. Have a safe and productive year.
Dr. Nathan Nelson
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Maintenance of Certification Update |
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Just a reminder to keep track of any MOC points you might be accumulating. ACVR will have the new system up and running in 2021. |
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ACVR Diplomate Receives Professional Excellence Award |
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ACVR Has a New Toll-Free Phone Number |
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ACVR now has a new toll-free phone number! Our new number is 833-770-1540. You can also contact us via email at ACVR@pamedsoc.org.
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ACVR Diplomate Apparel & Accessories |
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Big thanks to the ACVR’s Public Relations Committee for designing and launching the Diplomate’s ProShop! We hope to have "non-Dip-specific" gear soon!
More information on ACVR Diplomate Apparel and Accessories can be found here.
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Discount of Wiley Books for ACVR Members |
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ACVR Members can save 35% on titles from Wiley.com using our special promo code. To view the promo code, or for more information on this discount, click here!
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ACVR Job Board Notifications
ACVR will no longer be sending out weekly job board updates. Instead, ACVR members can opt-in to receive automatic job posting notifications to provide them with instant access to new jobs.
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Click here to view the current jobs posted on ACVR's Job Board.
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Renew Your Society Memberships |
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Society Dues: Diplomate - $30; Resident - Complimentary
Societies:
- Ultrasound
- LADIS
- CT/MRI
- Nuclear Medicine
New to 2020: ZEWDIS Society!
The ZEWDIS society membership is currently FREE to all ACVR members. Dues will go into effect in 2021. Support ZEWDIS by checking out the Cases of the Month.
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Contribute to Next Months Insights e-Newsletter!
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