Partners in Veterinary Education Conference 2008

This year’s conference will be held Thursday 24th and Friday 25th July at the Veterinary Science Conference Centre, Sydney. All our Partners in Veterinary Education are warmly invited and I look forward to seeing you at our sixth conference, thanks once again to our principal supporter Provet.

This conference is presented free to accredited teaching sites involved in our extramural programs including the Educational Support Practice program, Veterinary Student Intern program and Abattoir Placement program. This conference is held to recognise the generous support of these establishments supporting the education of future veterinarians from the Faculty.

The major themes of this years conference are diagnostic imaging, orthopaedic surgery and anaesthesia. I am pleased to announce that Professor Robert Wrigley will lead the diagnostic imaging sessions and Professor Ken Johnson will lead the orthopaedic surgery sessions. Both will be returning to the Faculty after establishing international reputations in their respective fields. Dr Sanaa Zaki and Dr Christina Dart will lead presentations in anaesthesia and we will also have presentations by Dr Soo Kuan in small animal surgery and by Dr Darien Feary in equine medicine.

The conference dinner will be held Thursday evening and Dr Garth McGilvray, President of the Veterinary Practitioners Board of NSW will be our guest speaker. Garth administered the inaugural oath for graduates of the Faculty in December 2007 and his passion for the profession is possibly only matched by his passion for sailing.

Tours through the University Veterinary Teaching Hospital Sydney will be organised for small groups during the morning tea and lunch breaks on both days to give everyone an opportunity to see our new equipment and facilities.

Much of the second day of the conference will deal with the processes and benefits of mentoring veterinary student interns and veterinary staff. We plan on introducing a new mentoring program for student interns in 2009 and our survey last year suggested that many of you are interested in a mentoring role. These sessions promise to provide both theory and practical training to assist in the development of effective mentor-mentee relationships at work. Penny Oxford and Jane Cox from SydneyPeople Learning Solutions have very kindly agreed to facilitate these presentations. The Partners Forum this year will continue the theme of mentoring students and staff and I am most grateful to those practitioners who have offered to assist with this discussion.

The conference, besides being a wonderful opportunity for continuing education where you can accumulate CPD points. It is also considered to be an opportunity to catch up with fellow colleagues and is regarded by those that attend as a social highlight. We look forward to seeing you at the conference.

If you have any questions please contact Melanie Robson by phone on (02) 9351 3550 or by email at extramural@vetsci.usyd.edu.au. To register for the conference you may download a copy of the registration form from this page.

John Baguley
Year 5 and Professional Practice Coordinator