Helfat elected AVMA Board chair, Whitehair vice chair

The AVMA Board of Directors elected Dr. Mark Helfat of Lumberton, New Jersey, Board chair and Dr. Michael Whitehair of Abilene, Kansas, vice chair while meeting Aug. 9 in San Antonio.

In 2011, Dr. Helfat was elected to a six-year Board term as the representative for AVMA members in Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. For the past year, the 1977 graduate of the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine has served as vice chair of the Board.

Dr. Helfat owns and works full time at the Larchmont Animal Hospital in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, which he established in 1995. He is a former president of the New Jersey VMA and represented his state in the AVMA House of Delegates from 2002 until his election to the Board.

As a member of the HOD, Dr. Helfat chaired the House Advisory Committee, participated in the 2009 AVMA Bylaws revision, and aided in updating the House of Delegates Manual. He has also chaired each of the seven HOD reference committees. Highlights from Dr. Helfat’s time on the Board have included chairing the Board’s Bylaws and Audit committees, serving as Board liaison to the AVMA Governance Performance Review Committee, and currently serving as chair-elect of the AVMA Legislative Advisory Committee.

Dr. Whitehair is also an HOD alumnus, having served in the House from 1997-2011 when he was elected to the Board to represent AVMA members in Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Utah. The former HAC chair oversaw the selection committees that recommended Dr. Ron DeHaven in 2007 and Dr. Janet Donlin this year for the office of AVMA executive vice president.

A 1974 graduate of the Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine, Dr. Whitehair is a partner in the Abilene Animal Hospital, P.A. His clinical interests include beef cattle, feedlot operations, and equine medicine.