The 2008 AAVA Annual Meeting was held July 22-24, 2008 at the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. The Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences hosted the meeting, which was organized by Louise Abbott.
2008 AAVA Meeting Group Photo (click for larger version and list of group members)
Approximately 42 faculty and students attended all or part of the meeting and 16 different colleges of veterinary medicine or universities were represented, including one visiting lecturer, Dr. Said A. Hassan, from the College of Veterinary Medicine at the Suez Canal University in Ismailia, Egypt. Dr. Hassan celebrated the birth of his third child while he was attending our 2008 AAVA meeting! The meeting included 10 poster presentations and 15 platform sessions that were divided into 8 research and 7 teaching presentations.
Highlights of the meeting included an excellent presentation from Dallas Hyde about the highlights of his research career and important discussions concerning current and future use of animal cadavers for teaching. The American Veterinary Medical Association and the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges sent delegates to present at our meeting and participate in our discussions of cadaver use: Mike Chaddock, DVM, EML Deputy Director, Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges and Emily Patterson-Kane, PhD, Animal Welfare Scientist, Animal Welfare Division American Veterinary Medical Association. In addition to support from the College of Medicine and the Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, this meeting also received support from Carolina Biological Supply Company.
Baljit Singh completed his term as AAVA President, and became Past-President, and David Sims became President at the end of the business meeting. Additional elected officers to the AAVA executive committee were Terri Clark (President-Elect), Leslie Sprunger (Membership Secretary and Treasurer) and Balaji Ramanathan (Corresponding Secretary).