BSAVA president Alison Speakman and vice-president Carl Gorman join the Vet Times Podcast to look forward to BSAVA Congress 2023, being held from 23-25 March in Manchester.
Dr Speakman provides an update on some of the association’s recent activities, and looks forward to what will be the first BSAVA Congress since 2019 to be held as a fully face-to-face event. She also looks at key discussions taking place at congress – including the neurodiversity stream on Friday 24 March – and discusses the expansion of the Wellbeing Zone, which debuted last year.
Mr Gorman will become BSAVA president in the summer, and in this podcast discusses some of his priorities and ambitions for the year ahead. He also explains how the BSAVA is aspiring for congress to be a carbon-neutral event, as part of the association’s ongoing sustainability initiatives.
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𝗔𝗟𝗜𝗦𝗢𝗡 𝗦𝗣𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗠𝗔𝗡 𝗕𝗩𝗠𝗦(𝗛𝗼𝗻𝘀), 𝗣𝗵𝗗, 𝗖𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗔𝗩𝗣, 𝗠𝗥𝗖𝗩𝗦
Dr Speakman qualified from the University of Glasgow in 1991 and, after a year in mixed practice in Lancashire, completed a residency in feline medicine followed by a PhD on Bordetella bronchiseptica infection.
Following a short period of post-doctoral research, she returned to small animal practice in Lancashire.
Apart from a two-year spell as a veterinary technical director in industry and a year in Australia, Dr Speakman has remained with her roots in the north-west for most of her working life. She currently works in a small animal practice in Lancashire and has recently completed her CertAVP.
Dr Speakman first joined the BSAVA as a new graduate and has been a member ever since, joining her local regional committee in 1995 followed by spells on the education committee, congress committee and PetSavers committee, and as honorary secretary.
She is BSAVA president for 2022-23 and sits on the association’s north west regional committee.
𝗖𝗔𝗥𝗟 𝗚𝗢𝗥𝗠𝗔𝗡 𝗕𝗩𝗦𝗰, 𝗠𝗥𝗖𝗩𝗦
Mr Gorman graduated from the University of Bristol in 1985, and after working in Swindon, Portsmouth and Cheshire, took on Falkland Veterinary Clinic in Newbury, Berkshire, in 1989, where he is now clinical director.
He has a wide range of clinical interests, including surgery, avian and exotic medicine, and geriatrics.
Since 2000, Mr Gorman has been small animal editor, and now consultant editor of UK-Vet Companion Animal. He is the author of Clients, Pets and Vets: Communication and Management, about communication and non-clinical aspects of practice; and The Ageing Dog, which advises clients on the care of geriatric dogs. He is also writing the palliative care chapter for the new edition of the BSAVA Manual of Advanced Veterinary Nursing.
Mr Gorman will be BSAVA president for 2023-24 and will take over from Alison Speakman at the association’s annual meeting, taking place in June.