ACVIM attendance good despite relocation from the Big Easy

LOUISVILLE, KY. — The 24th-annual American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM) Forum hosted almost 3,000 veterinary specialists, general practitioners, technicians and students May 31 through June 3.

Highlights included a keynote address from Frederick A. Murphy, DVM, PhD, entitled "Emerging Zoonoses: The Challenge for Veterinary Public Health & Infectious Disease Sciences."

The college also discussed consensus statements on pharmacologic therapy of chronic mitral valve disease in small animals, as well as inflammatory airway in the horse. The drafts will be published in the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine (JVIM) upon completion.

The college also honored R. Lee Pyle, VMD, with its Distinguished Service Award for exemplary and sustained service to the ACVIM in the capacity of elected office or voluntary service.

"At a 1984 board meeting, we discovered the ACVIM's checking account was too low to cover the Forum costs, and the pre-registered attendees were way below what was needed," said Dr. Jeanne Barsanti, who presented the award to Pyle. "Dr. Pyle said he knew ACVIM was a great organization and knew the veterinarians would come (to the convention). He was the originator of 'If you build it, they will come'."

When Pyle began to serve on the ACVIM Board of Regents in 1977, the College had a total of 100 diplomates. Today there are 1,631 ACVIM diplomates, and much of the success of the College can be attributed to the Pyle's involvement in ACVIM, Barsanti says.

Pyle became a charter ACVIM diplomate in 1974, specializing in cardiology and currently is a professor at the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine. Pyle and his wife, Inge, ran the college from a spare bedroom in their home until moving the central office to Colorado in 1994.

In another home-office success story, University of Tennessee professor Alfred M. Legendre, DVM, MS, was named the 2006 Robert W. Kirk Award for Professional Excellence for achievements and dedicated service to the veterinary profession. Legendre and his wife, Carol, started JVIM out of their home, too.

"It is an honor and a very humbling experience to join the ranks of past winners of the Kirk Award," he says.

Legendre was recognized earlier this year with the 2006 Mark L. Morris, Sr. Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to the profession.

"I am honored to present this award to an ACVIM Specialist who has impacted the lives and careers of thousands of students and veterinarians," Dr. Robert DeNovo says. "There is a dimension of Al's career that isn't on his CV (Curriculum Vitae) and that is his involvement in the professional and personal development of his students and colleagues."

ACVIM will hold its 25th-annual Forum in Seattle next June. For more information, visit www.acvimforum.org.