Dates announced for NAVMEC
With all the players and topics put in place, the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges has set the dates and locations for its upcoming meetings on the future of veterinary medicine.
The North American Veterinary Medical Education Consortium will take place over the course of three meetings this year.
The first session, "Societal needs and core competencies," will happen from Feb. 11-13 at the Oquendo Center in Las Vegas.
The second session, "Educational models," will convene April 29-May 1 at the Kansas City Airport Hilton in Missouri.
The third and final session, "Licensure and accreditation and their relationship to curriculum," will take place from July 14-16, once again at the Oquendo Center.
As many as 160 NAVMEC participants could take part in consortium meetings to discuss and deliberate over these issues, then make recommendations to the NAVMEC board of directors.
The board comprises members representing education, accreditation, and the licensing and testing arms of veterinary medical education. They are charged with drafting a final report for the AAVMC leadership.
Dr. Bennie I. Osburn, dean of the University of California-Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, was selected as chair of the NAVMEC board during its first meeting in November 2009. Dr. Mike Thomas was selected as vice chair. He is past president of the American Animal Hospital Association and a member of the National Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners.
Board members also established a method for the 98 financial contributors to NAVMEC to assist with the consortium's planning.
Dr. Mary Beth Leininger, project manager, said they decided on setting up an advisory panel composed of these individuals and groups. In addition to being invited to the meetings, advisory panel members have been called on to review, comment on, edit, and suggest changes to questions that will be asked.
"We've tried to fold into the planning process an opportunity for members of the advisory panel to give us input so we're making sure we're not leaving out something that's important," Dr. Leininger said.
For more information about NAVMEC, visit navmec.org or e-mail Dr. Leininger at mbleininger
aavmc [dot] org (mbleininger[at]aavmc[dot]org).