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The meeting, held at the Buena Vista Palace Hotel & Spa, drew record attendance of 1109 total attendees including 654 paid registrants (also a record), 285 international attendees, and 138 students. The participants represented 23 countries with 25% of attendees from outside the U.S. Total attendance included 240 allied industry representatives from 84 exhibitors manning a record 85 technical tables. The students in attendance represented 28 veterinary schools!
The meeting participants attended numerous educational sessions including 11 pre-conference workshops, two general sessions, three break-out sessions, research topics, industrial partner sessions, 15 student seminar presentations and 72 posters.
Dr Greg Stevenson opened the Monday General Session with the Howard Dunne Memorial Lecture. His presentation, entitled “Because it’s the right thing to do,” reminded the audience of the importance of maintaining your integrity and to make sure you “like who you see in the mirror.” He concluded by saying, “There is much at stake for each of us as individuals, for our profession and for our organization. Choose integrity, because it is the right thing to do.” Dr Scanlon Daniels followed up with the Alex Hogg Memorial Lecture entitled “Influence and advocacy: Opportunities for swine veterinarians.”
The second half of the Monday morning session focused on porcine epidemic diarrhea virus, coronavirus immunity and clinical presentation. The Tuesday General Session addressed the issues associated with the introduction of transboundary and foreign animal diseases. All of the General Session presentations on Monday and Tuesday were video recorded and will be posted in the video library of the AASV website in the near future.
The AASV Awards Reception was held Monday night followed by the AASV Foundation’s annual fund-raising auction. Dr Randy Jones, 2011 AASV President and chair of the 2015 Awards Selection Committee, presented the recipients of the Howard Dunne Memorial Award (Dr Butch Baker), the Technical Services/Allied Industry Veterinarian of the Year Award (Dr Kerry Keffaber), the Young Swine Veterinarian of the Year Award (Dr Megan Inskeep), the Meritorious Service Award (Dr Howard Hill), and the award for Swine Practitioner of the Year (Dr Larry Coleman).
In addition, fifteen AASV committees met during the Annual Meeting. The 2015 officers, Drs, Ron Brodersen, President; George Charbonneau, President-Elect; Alex Ramirez, Vice President and Michelle Sprague, Past President were introduced during the Annual Business Meeting on Tuesday morning. The Board also welcomed incoming representatives: District 1: Dr Lynette Holman (re-elected) and District 7: Dr Scanlon Daniels.
March 11, 2015 - AASV
