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PRESIDENTIAL REPORT POST SYDNEY CONGRESS

THE WSAVA IS DEDICATED TO THE CONTINUING DEVELOPMENT OF COMPANION ANIMAL CARE AROUND THE WORLD”.

What a congress – congratulations to Di Sheehan and her team for organizing an incredible congress in Sydney which was an overwhelming success in all aspects. The congress, which was officially opened by Dr John Holt, a past-president of the WSAVA, attracted over 2500 delegates all of whom commended on the level of the scientific presentations and the large variety of topics to choose from. The exhibitors were more than happy with the facilities provided and the audience. The “happy hour” and other social events were very well attended. The proceedings of this congress are available on our website.

My congratulations is extended to the recipients of the WSAVA awards – Dr Steven Ettinger (WSAVA Intervet Service to the Profession Award), Dr Craig Greene (WSAVA Waltham International Award for Scientific Achievement), Dr Jody Lulich (WSAVA Hill’s Pet Nutrition Award for Excellence in Veterinary Healthcare), and Dr Peter Schawalder (WSAVA Paatsama Award for Orthopaedic Surgery and Medicine).

The Assembly meeting was well attended. The atmosphere in the meeting room was electric as there were three extremely important issues on the table.

The election of the new office bearers for 2007/2008 resulted in Jolle Kirpensteijn being elected the new Vice President with Di Sheehan the Hon Treasurer. I welcome Di to the executive board and I am positive she will have a lot to offer the association.

The very important issue of the subscription increase attracted a lot of debate. The members were informed of the reasons why it was necessary for an increase to be instituted. The recommendation to increase the annual dues using the square root system was approved and will be applicable from the 2008 fiscal year. The membership rate for affiliate members will also be increased.

Bids for the 2011 WSAVA congress were presented by the associations from Korea, Malaysia, and New Zealand. What was different this year was that Jolle Kirpensteijn did a site visit to each of these countries and produced a flow sheet incorporating all aspects relating to the SOP conditions associated with organizing a congress which was pre-circulated to all assembly members. This arrangement is to be implemented with all bids in future. The presentations were very professionally prepared to the credit of each of these associations. The Korean Small Animal Veterinary Association was nominated as the host for the 2011 congress.

As Dr Klaus Dreier’s term of office as the executive nominated member of the Financial Advisory Committee has been completed, Dr Link Welborn was designated as his replacement and this was accepted by the assembly.

Dr Luis Tello remains as an additional executive member of the Board with the important portfolio of Public Relations and Dr Walt Ingwersen as the WSAVA editor.

The importance of the WSAVA standardization projects was once again highlighted. The Gastrointestinal Tract standardization is to be completed by the Dublin congress and a renal standardization project is to begin next year and will take 4 years to complete. The vaccination group presented their findings in a lecture delivered by Prof Michael Day entitled “Guidelines for the Vaccination of Dogs and Cats”. This very important document has been posted to our website and I urge you all to implement their recommendations. The standardization projects are being managed by Dr Claudio Brovida.

The CE progam under the leadership of Dr David Wadsworth continues to be one of the major thrusts of the WSAVA and he reported that the program for 2007 would be 25% larger then that of the previous year.

The Hereditary Diseases Committee report was presented by Dr Peter Markwell who gave an overview of what this group has done to date. Their ultimate aim is to establish minimal and optimal standards for the diagnosis of specific hereditary diseases and to develop a website which will provide information and recommendations on these disease. This will be of immense importance to us as practitioners.

We welcome the associations from Ecuador, the Philippines, Namibia and Morocco as new members of the WSAVA and the Albanian Chamber of Veterinary Surgeons as an associate member.

During the congress your Executive Committee met with representatives from the food and pharmaceutical industry. The discussions were mainly centered on improving our relationship with the industry and with the sponsoring of our various activities.

One of the main goals of your executive is to be able to be in a financial position to employ an executive officer. Your association is growing in stature from year to year with an ever increasing workload. It is becoming increasingly more difficult for the secretary Anne Sorenson to complete all the tasks expected of her in spite of secretarial assistance. We must take into consideration that all the officers’ work in an honorary capacity. The time has come for us to utilize the services of such a person.

Our website continues to be a source of information for all our members. Walt Ingwersen has done a tremendous job in keeping this site updated. All the monthly newsletters, committee and association reports, the handbook and the news bulletins are posted to the site as well as many other articles of interest.

Next August sees the WSAVA congress hosted in Dublin, Ireland. Dublin, the capital of Ireland has a world famous literary history having produced many prominent figures being the birthplace of William Yeats, Bernard Shaw, and Samuel Becket. Dublin has a vibrant nightlife and it reportedly one of the most youthful cities in Europe. It is also the headquarters of almost all Ireland’s sporting organisations with the most popular sports being Gaelic football, soccer, rugby and Hurling. The venue, the Royal Dublin Society, is Ireland’s premier venue for meetings, conferences and exhibitions located in the very heart of Dublin. So please diarise the dates, August 20 – 24th, and I look forward to seeing you all there.

PRESIDENT’S REPORT ASSEMBLY MEETING SYDNEY AUGUST 2007

My first term on office has been very busy and my sincere thanks go to the members of my executive who have fulfilled their obligations enthusiastically and efficiently.

A special thank you to our Honorary Secretary Anne Sorenson and her assistant Pernille Blok Rissom for their tremendous effort in responding to numerous e-mails, sending out correspondence to the assembly members, and collating all the minutes and material for our meetings. Without them we could not function as an association.

I have received many invitations to attend association meetings which I appreciated. Unfortunately I was only able to attend a few of these. I attended the North American Veterinary Conference (NAVC) in Orlando in January and would like to thank Colin Burrows and Philippe Moreau for their hospitality. Larry Dee and Jolle Kirpensteijn were also in Orlando and we used this opportunity to meet with some of our sponsors and to finalize the very important congress sponsorship with Hill’s and the Renal Standardization Project agreement with Hill’s and Bayer.

In April I attended the BSAVA congress in Birmingham. My thanks to Mike Jessop and his association for their hospitality and for sponsoring my accommodation.

Your Executive Board (EB) held a meeting in Dublin in April. A full day was spent on strategic planning under the guidance of David Wadsworth. Many very important issues were discussed and major initiatives proposed, which will be shared with the Assembly meeting in August in Sydney. We also had the opportunity to meet with Nicola Neumann and her 2008 Dublin Congress organizing committee. We visited the congress centre and the venue for the social events. They are presently hard at work finalizing their scientific program and obtaining sponsorship.

Terry Lake has decided to pursue his political career and as a result of this has indicated that he will not have enough the time to devote to the WSAVA and has reluctantly tendered his resignation as Vice President. Terry has been an invaluable member of our committee both as the Honorary Treasurer and recently as the Vice President and he will be sorely missed. We wish him all the very best in his future career and hope that we will still see him at future WSAVA congresses.

Jolle Kirpensteijn has only been a member of the EB for one year but his experience in organizing congresses and his personal contacts with the sponsors has been of immense value to the association. He has helped us to secure some new sponsorship with a number of other opportunities in the pipeline. He has introduced many new ideas to the running of our administration, the bidding process for congresses, and has been intimately involved with David Wadsworth and Terry Lake in formulating the new subscription proposal which will be debated and voted upon during the Assembly meeting. Jolle has relinquished his position as Honorary Treasurer to stand for the now vacant Vice President’s position.

This brings me to the matter of the elections. We are extremely fortunate in having such worthy candidates in Jolle Kirpensteijn (Netherlands), Roger Clarke (Australia), Di Sheehan (Australia), and Jiri Beranek (Czech Republic) all of whom have willingly offered their services to our association. To those who get elected I welcome you on board and to those who unfortunately do not get elected, I trust you will continue to work within your association in keeping the WSAVA in the forefront.

I would also like to thank Anne Sorenson for making herself available to stand for another term of office as the Honorary Secretary.

The EB have also recommended that Luis Tello remains the additional Executive
Board Member for another year, managing the important Public Relations portfolio.

We have before us three superbly presented bids to host the 2011 World Congress. They are from Korea, Malaysia, and New Zealand. As per the WSAVA Congress Standard Operating Protocol (SOP), I will inform you of the EB’s preferred host at the Assembly meeting. In order to do this fairly, visitations to each of these countries was carried out by Jolle Kirpensteijn where he had in depth discussions with their organizing committees, visited the congress centers and ascertained other criteria such as accommodation and the ease of getting to these venues.

Our various committees have been very active during the year and to all committee chairs and members a very special thanks from all of us for giving of your time to work on behalf of our association.

The Animal Welfare Committee under the co-chairmanship of Roger Clarke and Ray Butcher has set a number of goals for their committee to achieve. Their aim is also to have this committee recognized as the spokes body for small animal welfare globally.

The Continuing Education Committee is being run by David Wadsworth, ably assisted by Luis Tello and Roger Clarke. Our thanks Bayer Animal Health, Intervet, and Hill’s Pet Nutrition for their ongoing sponsorship of this important program. I would also like to thank AFVAC, BSAVA, DSAVA, HVMS, NSAVA, SVK and VOK for their contribution towards this program. This is very much appreciated and shows the spirit of co-operation between the members of our association and we would be more then happy if other associations or organizations followed suit.

The Financial Advisory Committee of Klaus Dreier, Umesh Karkare, and the Honorary Treasurer play a very important role in overseeing the accounts of the association. The proposed new subscription structure is fully supported by this committee. They also support the efforts of the EB to put our association on a much more stable financial footing and with our ultimate goal of being able to employ a permanent CEO as well as initiating other projects. Unfortunately due to health reasons, Klaus can not be present in Sydney and we wish him a very speedy recovery. Klaus’s term of office as member of this committee has come to an end and as per the constitution I would like to recommend to the Assembly that Link Wellborn (USA) be appointed to replace him.

Currently we are faced with a negative net annual income and are fully reliant on the administration fee we receive from the various sponsorship contracts to finance our daily management costs. This is not a healthy situation and, as discussed in Prague, could be partly overcome by increasing our member subscription fees and by receiving increased revenue from congresses. The EB has set a number of goals for the association but without a healthy bank balance these can not be achieved.

The Hereditary Diseases Committee is chaired by Urs Giger with Jeff Sampson, Ake Hedhammer, and Peter Markwell as committee members. Urs was instrumental in negotiating a sponsorship for this committee of $25,000 a year for three years from Mars for which we are most grateful. Due to the importance of this subject the EB took a decision to instruct congress organizers to include a stream on hereditary diseases at all WSAVA congresses from 2008 onwards.

The Microchip Committee is chaired by Fred Nind and he is assisted by Dan Aja, Lawson Cairns, and Washizu Makoto. I would like too thank Marc Buchet, a past chairman and member of this committee his contribution over the past number of years.

The PR and Editorial Committee of Luis Tello and Walt Ingwersen have kept us all in the loop with monthly newsletters, the news bulletin, and updated information on the activities of our various committees and associations on our website. The news bulletin is being produced as an online publication and it is essential that you as your national representatives ensure that all your members receive copies of this bulletin in either a hard copy or electronic form. Your contribution by updating your association’s details and news is essential. The handbook as discussed in Prague will no longer be available in hard copy form and will be available on line.

The Scientific Advisory Committee under the leadership of Anjop Venker van Haagen has carried out their duties with the usual diligence. They were instrumental in initiating the Vaccine Guidelines project the results of which will be made known to us at this congress and are investigating other potential projects which may be of interest to the WSAVA. They developed a set of guidelines for assessing scientific and standardization project submissions. They also play an important role is monitoring the scientific content of our congress program and for nominating the congress award winners.

The WSAVA Standardization Projects remain one of our most important undertakings. Thanks to our sponsors we have managed to complete two projects: the Liver Standardization Project (sponsored by Hill’s Pet Nutrition) and the Vaccine Guideline Project (sponsored by Intervet) with the Gastrointestinal Project (sponsored jointly by the WSAVA and Hill’s Pet Nutrition) due for completion this year, the results of which will be presented at the WSAVA World Congress in Dublin next year. The sponsorship of the Renal Standardization Project has been signed and is due to start in 2008; our sincere thanks to Hill’s Pet Nutrition and Bayer Animal Health for their support of this exciting project.

A special thank you to the leaders of these projects: Jan Rothuizen, Marion Horzinek, Richard Washibau, Larry Coghill, and David Polzin and all their team members. We truly appreciate the personal time you forfeit on behalf of our association and the effort you devote to these projects.

We are very fortunate to have Claudio Brovida as the Special Projects Co-Coordinator. Claudio has a very responsible undertaking especially making sure that all the contractual agreements pertaining to each project is fulfilled. Thank you very much Claudio for your dedication to this task.

We have maintained a strong and cordial relationship with FECAVA, FASAVA, FAFVAC, FIAVAC and I thank them for this.

Finally to Dianne Sheehan and the members of her congress committee – we are very grateful to you and your team for this undertaking. I know the many hours you have all dedicated to the organizing of this congress – the sleepless nights, the anxiety, the ups and downs, but I am positive that over the days of August 19-23, this will all have been forgotten and you will be able to smile on a job well done. When we finally arrive “down under” I am confident that we will experience a congress with a well-developed scientific program, great social events, and the opportunity to explore the beauty of Australia in the form of pre-and post-congress tours. No longer will Di be using her punch line “just how long can you keep saying one day I’ll go to Sydney, Australia.”

In conclusion, I invite those that haven’t registered to do so – its not too late! For those that have, I wish you all safe travels and a pleasant conference. Enjoy meeting up with old friends and making new ones and please show our support for the sponsors, without whom this conference could not take place, by visiting the commercial exhibition.

Warm wishes
Brian Romberg
President WSAVA

President's Message March 2007

The Executive Board members have been very active since Prague and I personally thank each and every member for the tremendous amount of work they are doing on behalf of the Association. Besides the daily e-mails that bounce back and forward between seven countries, we had a teleconference early February and in April will be having a Board meeting in Dublin. This will give us the opportunity to visit the congress site as well as to meet with the congress organizing committee. We will be having a very important strategic planning meeting while in Dublin taking into account all the opinions and suggestions voiced by our members. It has always been the duty of the president elect to run this meeting and David Wadsworth has been collating all the material.

Terry Lake officially handed over his treasury position to Jolle Kirpensteijn on the 1st of January. Many thanks to Terry for the most efficient way he handled our finances and kept us in reign and I know we have a most capable replacement in Jolle.

Anne Sorensen our secretary has been keeping up with the tremendous volume of work under trying conditions. She has been living in a motor house for on 2 months due to the heavy rainfalls causing her house roof to collapse. She has been ably assisted by Pernille Blok Rissom. Thank you very much ladies.

We have been sent three superbly presented bids to host the 2011 World Congress. They are from Korea, Malaysia, and New Zealand. These bids will be discussed at our next meeting. If all these bids are acceptable to the Board the presentations will be sent out to the Assembly members. Please scrutinize them very carefully so that you can vote on them at the Assembly meeting in Sydney. As per the SOP I will inform you of the Boards preferred host at this meeting.

From my side. I was privileged to be invited to attend the NAVC in Orlando in early January. I thank Colin Burrows and Philippe Moreau for the hospitality afforded me. I congratulate Colin and his team on an exceptionally well-run conference. Larry Dee and Jolle Kirpenteijn were also at this conference and we had the opportunity to meet with some of our major sponsors and to close certain important sponsorship arrangements which will be announced to the members shortly. Larry Dee and I were invited to Lakeland to lunch with Bill Jackson (Past president of the WSAVA 1996-1998) and his wife Barbara and I am pleased to inform those of you that know them that they are in good health and are planning to come to Sydney.

In April I have been invited to attend the BSAVA congress in Birmingham. To all our other member associations who have sent me invitations to attend their meeting I apologize for not taking up your kind offer but I am limited to the amount of time I can take off from my practice. My other trip this year will be to Sydney and next year I plan to attend at least three meetings in other regions of the world.

The arrangements for the WSAVA Congress in Sydney, Australia in August are progressing extremely well. The committee under the leadership of Di Sheehan of Kenny fame (Roger our Koala Bear) is well ahead of target in terms of the exhibition space sold and are expecting in excess of 2500 delegates. They have and are putting a lot of effort into promoting this congress and deserve all our support. Di and Roger Clarke were at the NAVC congress in Orlando where besides manning a stand where they worked extremely hard, had the opportunity to introduce and promote their congress to international delegates at the International Delegates Reception hosted by Hill’s Pet Nutrition and organized by Dr Clayton Mackay.

I will also provide updates on various committee initiatives and standardization projects in the monthly WSAVA News.

WSAVA's New President - Dr. Brian Romberg

This being my first Presidential message I thought I should tell you a little about myself but before I do that I would like to once again congratulate Jiri and Miroslav and their respective committees for organizing a most successful congress in Prague. The scientific and social programs together with the grand old city of Prague all contributed to a most enjoyable congress for delegates and accompanying persons.

I was born in Johannesburg, South Africa on the 12th of July 1946. I attended the Orange Grove Primary School and Highlands North Boys High School matriculating in 1963. The following year was spent doing my compulsory military training being stationed in Bloemfontein and Walvis Bay in South West Africa (Namibia). In 1965 I enrolled at Pretoria University for the veterinary degree and graduated from Onderstepoort in November 1970. I completed an Honors degree in small animal surgery in 1979. My main fields of interest are orthopaedic and soft-tissue surgery.

Three days after graduating I started working in small animal practice at the Orange Grove Veterinary Hospital and have been there ever since, becoming a partner in 1973. I have two partners and we employ a veterinary assistant, two veterinary nurses, six kennel assistants, a practice manager, and three clerical staff.

In February 1973 I married Isabel and we have three children – Steven, Marc, and Leora. We are presently the proud grandparents of a boy of just over three years of age and twins (a boy and a girl) of 18 months.

My hobbies include playing and watching sport, playing bridge, gym, reading (when I have the opportunity), and veterinary politics. I currently play tennis but have also played squash, cricket, rugby, and field hockey having attained South African Universities colors and a full blue from the University of Pretoria for the latter.

I was an elected member of the South African Federal Council from 1978-1983 and of the South African Veterinary Council from 1985-1991. I have chaired the local branch of our veterinary association as well as the National Veterinary Clinicians' Group. I was the vice chairperson of the organizing committee of the World Buitatrics Congress held in South Africa in 1982 and chairperson of the organising committee of the WSAVA congress held in Durban in 1994. Currently I am on the editorial committee of Vetmed, a local veterinary journal.

I became the South African representative to the WSAVA in 1982 and in 1996 became the treasurer of the WSAVA holding this position until 2002, then progressing to Vice President and president Elect, attaining the Presidency this year. I must thank each and every one of you for having the faith in me to lead our wonderful association.

Together with my great team of Larry Dee (Past President), David Wadsworth (President Elect), Terry Lake (Vice President), Jolle Kirpensteijn (Honorary Treasurer), Anne Sorenson (Honorary Secretary), and Luis Tello (Public Relations), my goal is to improve the communication between the Board and our members, to get our Association recognized as the spokes body for small animal welfare throughout the world, to continue the momentum of the standardization projects and to raise the necessary finances to get new projects off the ground, to spread the CE initiative to new areas of the world, and to help ensure that our World Congresses continue to be successful events for all concerned.

I would like to take this opportunity of wishing you all a very enjoyable festive season and a healthy a peaceful New Year.