Strategic thinkers needed for new AVMA advisory panels

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Individuals with vision: The AVMA invites you to be part of a pilot program designed to tap more members’ expertise and improve the volunteer service model.

The 18-month pilot program is an experimental structure of advisory panels that will be fewer in number than the existing councils and committees but will involve more individuals for shorter stints.

The program recently began with the formation of a Practice Advisory Panel and a Regulatory Advisory Panel, drawing on individuals currently serving on AVMA councils and committees. Now, the AVMA has issued an open call for nominations of other volunteers to join these initial panel members. Notably, during the trial period, all members of existing participating councils and committees will be asked to continue to fulfill their ongoing functions.

The advisory panels will be charged with protecting, promoting, and advancing the veterinary profession by strategically identifying, prioritizing, and processing important veterinary issues and making recommendations to the Board of Directors.

The Practice Advisory Panel will focus on clinical practice and small business issues, while the Regulatory Advisory Panel will focus on veterinary regulatory-oriented matters that are germane to the panel’s delineated areas of expertise. Panel members will be selected to achieve a balanced range of subject matter experience with a diversity of animal species.

The panels will operate with an awareness of the needs of AVMA’s diverse professional segments and convene ad hoc, issue-focused working groups as needed.

Prospective panel members must possess excellent communication and interpersonal skills and, to start, must be available Sept. 30-Oct. 3 to travel to AVMA headquarters in Schaumburg, Illinois, to kick off the advisory panels.

By July, the pilot program will introduce an Allied Organization Forum, which will provide input to the advisory panels on issues of importance to specific segments of the profession, and a Governmental Forum designed to provide public health and governmental perspectives.

Being experimental, the pilot program will be assessed at its beginning and end by a third party.

Aside from the pilot program, the board will make appointments in July to fill seats on AVMA committees that address animal welfare, aquatic veterinary medicine, convention management and programming, foreign veterinary graduates, governance performance, and political action.

Nominations and self-nominations for the advisory panels and committee vacancies are due by May 26 and must include a completed nomination form and a one- to two-page resume. To learn more about the scope and nature of the advisory panel opportunities and to access all nomination forms, visit the Volunteer Opportunities page of the AVMA website. Completed nominations should be submitted via email to OfficeEVPatavma [dot] org (OfficeEVP[at]avma[dot]org), fax to 847-925-0944, or mail to AVMA Office of the Executive Vice President, 1931 N. Meacham Road, Suite 100, Schaumburg, IL 60173.

Related JAVMA content:

Pilot program aims to improve volunteer structure (March 1, 2015)