The 2019 AAVA Biennial Meeting in Banff, Alberta was superbly hosted by our members and their support people from the University of Calgary. Attendance was great with both members and non-members hailing from around the globe. It was wonderful to meet new colleagues, reconnect with members and hear the interesting work that they and their graduate students are working on regarding teaching, research, and anatomic techniques. The location at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity https://www.banffcentre.ca/ was a spectacular venue with views of the majestic Canadian Rockies surrounding the Banff Centre.
Our invited keynote, Dr. Christine Theoret from the University of Montreal, gave an engaging presentation talking about her career which bridged between clinical, teaching and research. Thank you again Christine.
One of the sponsors of the meeting was Virtual Veterinary Education Tools (http://www.cvmbs.colostate.edu/vetneuro/) who also graciously demonstrated the next generation in anatomy education, using a virtual reality interface. The anatomy virtual reality demonstration is an innovative approach for anatomy teaching, many of the AAVA members and guests had a chance to actively engage with this new technology.
The AAVA business meeting had a number of initiatives suggested that are crucial to how our institutions teach anatomy, as well as a new amendment proposed to raise the membership dues and create a new student membership rate beginning in 2020. Information about these initiatives will be forthcoming for the membership. Also during the business meeting Dr. Tina Clarkson demonstrated a new veterinary anatomy digital media library available to freely share images. The digital library is now available as a link in the AAVA members section https://vetanatomists.org/members-only/.
We had a wonderful wrap up gala dinner where the leadership of the AAVA transitioned and President Tina Clarkson was recognized for her leadership and then handed off the reins of the organization to me for the next two years.
- During the gala ceremony we distributed travel, poster, and platform presentation awards to veterinary, graduate, and post-doctoral students that participated in this year’s meeting and contributed to its success.
- The AAVA 2019 Outstanding Veterinary Anatomist Award was presented to Dr. Leslie Sprunger, for both her service to the organization as well as her impact in veterinary anatomy and physiology education.
- And last but not least, one of our hosts, Dr. Baljit Singh, gave an impassioned farewell address reminding us that we as individuals and as an association are crucial in discussions regarding animal rights, welfare and usage of animals in teaching and research.
If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact me, slampa@wsu.edu.
Sincerely,
Steve Lampa
AAVA President (2019-2021)
