June 2024 e-News

President's Message

Renee Rucinsky, DVM, DABVP (Feline), President

With just a couple of weeks to go in my 3 years of ABVP executive leadership, I’m wondering what I’ll do with my free time...

I have truly enjoyed the opportunity that you all as Diplomates have given me to help leave a little mark on our organization. From starting as a credentials reviewer, to being MOC chair, to the executive board, I’m grateful to give back to the organization that has given me so much in my career, and opened so many doors for me.

For those of you who have ever received an email from me, you may have noticed that under my signature line is a phrase from a favorite song that I try to keep in mind. I hope that I’ve been able to do that with ABVP and everything in my life. I look forward to transitioning into other roles within the organization, especially playing the role of head cheerleader for Drs. Husa, Janeczko, and Pittenger who will continue the great things that we’ve started.

Thank you to all of you, even the ones who have challenged me to practice my patience. See you soon.

So I’ll sing of love and truth and try to practice what I preach. If I can’t change the world I’ll change the world within my reach.

R

Your June MOC Update

Sonnya Dennis, DVM, DABVP (Canine & Feline), MOC Chair

QUICK LINKS
MOC webpage, Journal Club, add me to the Google Group/Listserv!

TECHNICAL ISSUES WITH PROLYDIAN?
Contact support+abvp@prolydian.com. The MOC Committee can help with rules, but not with technical problems. Prolydian tech support is available most weekends, too!

HELP WANTED

• Canine & Feline Diplomate for reviewing Prolydian submissions
• Feline Diplomate for Feline Journal Club Team (training to take over Team Leader)
• If you are interested in becoming a reviewer, please email Sonnya at mocchair@abvp.com

VOLUNTEER POINTS
If you volunteered on a committee for MOC Points, you will receive an email from mocchair@abvp.com in July with instructions on how to upload it for MOC Points in Prolydian. If your Chair submits your name to me, you will receive an email from me in July. If you do NOT receive an email in July, please do NOT contact the MOC Chair. Contact the Chair on the committee that you served.

HOW TO FIND YOUR MOC START AND END DATES.
Instructions on how to find your MOC Cycle start and end dates so you do not upload items out of range. 

Annual Membership Fees Due

ABVP Diplomate and Emeritus Diplomate fees are due on July 1, for the 2024-2025 cycle. Please click here to login and pay online via your Prolydian account. ABVP accepts Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express, and e-checks through the online system.

If you need assistance logging into your account, please email support+abvp@prolydian.com.

In Search of Hands-On Workshop Coordinator

Mike Dutton, DVM, MS, DABVP (Avian, Reptile & Amphibian, Exotic Companion Mammal, Canine & Feline), CVPP, CertAqV, CE Chair

ABVP is seeking applications for a Hands-On Workshop Coordinator for ABVP's 2025 Symposium in San Antonio, Texas.

Summary: The Hands-On Workshop Coordinator serves as the primary point of contact for all workshops. This person must have experience planning and executing hands-on workshops with preference being given to someone who has a history of attending the ABVP Symposium.

Job Responsibilities/Skills:

• Must be a Diplomate of ABVP
• Extreme attention to detail
• Ability to respond to emails in a timely manner, not to exceed 2 business days
• Plan and participate in biweekly planning meetings, as required
• Outline deadlines for HOW organizers, post in general location
• Communicate with the HOW organizers on deadlines with advance notice
• Obtain rental vehicle and outline scheduled use of vehicle to gather supplies and cadavers. Must have a valid driver's license
• Serve as primary liaison on-site
• Contact and coordinate with local veterinary office or zoo staff to receive shipments of supplies, cadavers and live animals, if the hotel will not accept such shipment
• Coordinate with local veterinary offices, zoo staff or other vendors for body disposal and sharps disposal
• Coordinate with a local licensed veterinarian for controlled drug acquisition
• Reach out to the state veterinary board to assess regulation needs for animal use on-site
• Help coordinate/network with corporate sponsors. Serve as primary contact with said sponsors. Provide conference management staff with a succinct list of all sponsorships-in-kind understanding this is how sponsors are recognized on signage and in the program
• Provide succinct lists to the conference management staff of room setup needs, audiovisual needs, electric needs, etc
• Solicit and manage all student volunteers. This includes assigning students to workshops, sending payment details
• Enforce deadlines with HOW Instructors when instructors are not in compliance
• Miscellaneous needs as mutually agreed upon

If you are interested in this position, please send the following to info@abvp.com no later than July 15.

1. Statement of interest, which must include the following:
   a. Your experience managing and setting up workshops
   b. Your history of attending the Symposium

2. A copy of your Curriculum Vitae

Payment will be $100/hour billed in 15-minute increments including all meetings and calls not to exceed $5,000, without prior approval. 

Benefits to include:

1. Roundtrip coach airfare from city of residence to San Antonio, Texas
2. Four (4) nights at conference hotel
3. Transportation to/from airport, hotel, and residence
4. Conference registration

Seeking Symposium Sponsorship Vice Chair

Mike Dutton, DVM, MS, DABVP (Avian, Reptile & Amphibian, Exotic Companion Mammal, Canine & Feline), CVPP, CertAqV, CE Chair

If you love to attend the ABVP Symposium and are committed to seeing it grow and continue for years to come, this may be the volunteer opportunity for you! Our Symposium Sponsorship Vice Chair plays a pivotal role in the planning and execution of the Symposium and we are looking for the next dedicated individual to join the team. If this at all piques your interest, please read the complete job description, linked below, and then reach out to us with any additional questions.

2024 Symposium Webinars Available

Mike Dutton, DVM, MS, DABVP (Avian, Reptile & Amphibian, Exotic Companion Mammal, Canine & Feline), CVPP, CertAqV, CE Chair

Select webinars from 2024 Symposium are available at www.CEHub.vet. This website is categorized by RVS making it easy to find CE that pertains to your Practice Group. Great way to earn some MOC CE.

Also if you want to monetize lectures you have given in the past, check out www.CEHubInstructor.vet.

Mentors Needed for Incoming Applicants

Sarah Eaton, DVM, DACT, CVA, DABVP (Equine), Outreach Chair

The mentorship sub committee is seeking mentors for incoming ABVP applicants. We are specifically looking for Avian and Exotic Companion Mammal Diplomates to help future Diplomates but welcome Diplomates of all RVSs. If you are interested, please reach out to mentorship@abvp.com.

2025 ABVP Symposium

Manuel Himenes Jr., DVM, DABVP (Equine), Equine Regent

Hello fellow Diplomates! Breeding season is coming to an end but racing, rodeo and horse shows are in full swing. No rest for the Equine docs.

I hope you all are planning to attend the 2025 Symposium in beautiful San Antonio Texas. Historical sites, great food and culture to go along with a great lineup of Equine medicine and surgery speakers.

Have a great Fourth of July!

Faculty and Specialist Shortage in Academia

Craig Datz, DVM, MS, DABVP (Canine & Feline), DABVP (Feline), DACVIM (Nutrition), VSOC Liaison

The AVMA recently announced that a task force will form to address the shortage of specialists in academia: https://www.avma.org/news/avma-task-force-tackle-specialist-shortage-academia

This was a result of a recommendation from the AVMA Veterinary Specialty Organizations Committee (VSOC). I serve as the ABVP liaison to VSOC and have been involved in the discussions. 

Currently there are an estimated 500 open faculty positions at U.S. veterinary schools. A few schools have lost entire departments such as internal medicine and surgery. In some cases, these gaps are being filled by non-specialists, adjunct, and/or visiting faculty. There’s also an increased reliance on the distributive model where students are sent off-campus for externships. This shortage will likely worsen over the next few years as new vet schools are planning to open: https://www.avma.org/news/proliferation-newly-proposed-veterinary-colleges

We have started a discussion on the Canine and Feline Practice listserv to see where ABVP might be able to help with the shortage and the future of veterinary education in general. We also held an in-person meeting at last month’s Symposium in order to brainstorm and come up with a list of considerations and action items. 

We would like to open up the discussion to all ABVP Diplomates in all of our species specialties. To that end, we have created a new email listserv called Academic Forum. We will use this listserv to ask questions, offer suggestions, and have discussions. If you would like to be added to the listserv, please fill out the ABVP listserv form. 

Please do not send questions or requests for further information to the office. Instead, please use cadatz@gmail.com and I will forward it to the relevant people. Likewise, if you would like to send a question or message privately instead of the new listserv, use cadatz@gmail.com. Thanks for your interest!

Thank You From Our Canine & Feline Regent

Raj Singh, DVM, MS, DABVP (Canine & Feline), Canine & Feline Regent

Namasté Fellow Diplomates: Firing on all cylinders. The expression is often used to describe people performing tasks with a ton of energy, enthusiasm, and competence, or when all parts of an organization are working together perfectly. This idiom is steeped in the oily, smokey world of automotive mechanics. It became a popular saying sometime in the early 1900s. The phrase comes from the operation of an internal combustion engine. When all the engine’s cylinders are firing properly, it provides maximum power.

The idiom was adapted to describe people or systems working at their full potential. When I reflect on where we have been as an organization since I became credentialed in 2013 and joined the Board of Directors in 2017, I see an organization that has survived through adversity and prospered. There have been many great individual efforts to keep our organization at the forefront of veterinary specialty credentialing and maintenance of certification. Our broad-based RVSO (recognized veterinary specialty organization) is both broad in species and in the knowledge required to specialize in those chosen species. This presents huge challenges and great opportunities. We have and will continue to take advantage of these opportunities and meet these challenges thanks to the great leadership and volunteerism required to be a member of “the cool kids club.”

Our symposium is another opportunity to collaborate and increase our knowledge scientifically, clinically, and skillfully in our hands-on labs. This can’t happen successfully on such a grand scale without some semblance of “firing on all cylinders.” While the saying is losing its connection with its origins with a nod toward cylinderless EVs, ABVP is not losing the connection with its origins but it is changing just as veterinary medicine has. We have to do so to prevent becoming obsolete.

While the ABVP engine is not always working together perfectly, it continues to
work, thanks to many of you and the Board of Directors. I thank all of you for all you do for our specialty organization, our community, and for the betterment of
veterinary medicine. With the addition of additional species specialists (Fish), the advent of fellowships and future fellowships (Emergency Practice, Pain
Management, Orthopedics, Ultrasound), and the opening of new schools focused on training clinically competent students, we are uniquely positioned to positively impact the delivery of care to the greatest breadth of species.

We accomplish this best by developing teams within ABVP and the organizations we mentor, lead, and support. It is my hope as I transition off of the BOD and into a support role that our collaboration continues on the current path and allows us to achieve goals we have not yet dreamed of. Let’s continue to dream big and not stop the engine just as we become credentialed for the first time or the third time. There is still more to do for our furry, scaly, feathered, slimy, and furless friends while our engine is firing on all cylinders. Reach out to your Regents, committee chairs, and vice-chairs. Keep asking how you can help and share ideas you have to make ABVP and our profession a better place to spend a career. Please mentor an applicant, fellow Diplomate, or colleague. I thank all of you for mentoring me and making my career much more rewarding than I ever realized it would be. Keep on cruising down
the pet care highway!

Namasté from: your soon-to-be former Canine Feline Regent.

VIN Rounds

ABVP is happy to partner with VIN to make Rounds available to all ABVP Diplomates. You must be a VIN member and/or an ABVP Diplomate to attend. Those who attend the live session earn 1 hour of CE credit. Sessions are also recorded for viewing later with NO CE credit attached.

Save The Dates!

July 7, 9 PM Eastern
Breathing Easy: Diagnosis and Management of Feline Lower Airway Disease
Jordan E. Gagne, DVM, DABVP (Canine & Feline), DABVP (Feline Practice)

August 11

September 19, 9 PM Eastern
Anaplasmosis in Cattle
Rick Stockler, DVM, MS, PhD, DABVP (Dairy)

October 6
November 3
December 29

If you have not received access to VIN, please email VIN directly at rounds@vin.com. ABVP cannot assist with access since Rounds are on the VIN platform.

If you are a newer Diplomate and interested in presenting, please email ce@abvp.com. Each lecture is about 50 minutes long and you will need to keep an eye on your lecture's message board after the lecture for a couple of weeks. VIN will pay you for your lecture. ABVP will help you with your lecture by assigning you a mentor, if you would like.

Residency and Job Postings

Don’t forget that ABVP has classified listings for open positions all over the world!

July 1, 2024

• 2024-2025 Diplomate and Emeritus Diplomate fees payable

July 15, 2024 

• Semi-Annual Residency Logs deadline. Logs must be submitted online by 11:59 PM Central Time

• MOC Points Applications and Renewal Forms must be submitted online by 11:59 PM Central Time

December 31, 2024

• Final date to be called a Diplomate for those who failed to MOC on time

January 15, 2025

• Credentials deadline for both Initial Applications and Re-Applications. All documentation must be submitted online by 11:59 PM Central Time

• Swine Health Management Entry Exam registration and fee deadline. Registration must be completed online account by 11:59 PM Central Time

• Semi-Annual Residency Logs deadline. Logs must be submitted online by 11:59 PM Central Time

March 27-30, 2025

• ABVP Symposium, San Antonio, Texas