Board looks at big picture

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(Photo by R. Scott Nolen)
AVMA Executive Board meeting at AVMA headquarters

The AVMA Executive Board met April 18-20 to deliberate on matters of workforce and education as well as a variety of other professional issues.

The board received the results of the U.S. Veterinary Workforce Study that it had commissioned (see JAVMA, June 1, 2013, page 1444) and the report of the AVMA Task Force on Foreign Veterinary School Accreditation (see page 1610).

Board members established an AVMA Task Force on Continuing Education (page 1617), discontinued an arrangement relevant to assessment of foreign veterinary graduates (1618), adopted several new environmental policies (1619), and took several actions in the realm of research.

The board approved a $32.1 million budget for 2014, with income projected to exceed expenses by about $790,000.

The April meeting included a number of strategic discussions. Dr. Ron DeHaven, AVMA CEO, presented a report summarizing progress on the AVMA strategic plan. The report is available at www.avma.org/about/governance.

Following the meeting, representatives of the AVMA and the Federation of Veterinarians of Europe met.

Representatives of the AVMA have been meeting with FVE representatives at federation assemblies in Europe for the past several years to discuss issues of mutual interest. This year, the AVMA invited FVE representatives to AVMA headquarters for the first time.

The AVMA and FVE had issued joint statements in 2011 on judicious use of antimicrobials, animal welfare, and veterinary education. The AVMA and FVE currently are developing a joint statement on the essential role of veterinarians in protecting animal, human, public, and environmental health.