ECVS
History
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ECVS |
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The first meeting leading to formation of the European College of Veterinary Surgeons (ECVS) was held August 30/31, 1990 in Lenzburg, Switzerland. At that meeting specialists in small animal and large animal surgery from practice and academicians from many European countries took part. There, the key decision was made to found the European College of Veterinary Surgeons. Additionally a decision was made to require every member, including founding members, to pass an/a certifying examination. Founding members did not obtain entry to the new College through a 'grandfather clause' arrangement. The main reason for this decision was the fact that it would be very difficult to draw the line between those accepted and those rejected without causing objection and animosity towards the fragile new College. Other potential negative effects in the use of a 'grandfather clause' procedure were a possible preponderance of academics and neglect of practitioners and an excessively large number of founding members being accepted in order to satisfy demands from different countries. During the following months a draft Constitution and Bylaws were developed, modelled closely on those from the American College of Veterinary Surgeons (ACVS). Advertisements were placed in the leading veterinary journals of all European States, listing the requirements for acceptance as Charter Member. By the deadline of December 31, 1990 more than 200 applications were received. Applications were evaluated in several stages applying the criteria set forth by the Organising Committee and a total of 146 Charter Members were selected. On April 11, 1991, during the ACVS European Surgical Forum in Nice, France, the ECVS was founded. The provisional Constitution was adopted and a Board, consisting of the following members, elected: Jorg Auer, Zurich: President; Richard White, Cambridge: Vice-President; Brigitte v. Rechenberg, Zurich: Secretary; Jean-Francois Bardet, Paris: Treasurer; Matteo Tommaini &endash; Degna, Rome, Freek Van Sluijs, Utrecht and Antoine DeMore, Gent: Directors. (A year later Kuno von Plocki, Neubulach, Germany was elected to the Board.) It was decided to maintain the membership of the provisional Board for a maximum of five years to allow consolidation of the ideas among the members of the College. The first Annual Meeting was organised at the end of June in Lenzburg, Switzerland. Lenzburg was selected because it was the site where the first organisational meeting of the ECVS had been held. It was easily reachable by plane, train and car, had good hotels and restaurants and facilitated close contact among the Charter Members and meeting participants. The latter was felt to be an important factor, because the Charter Members, coming from different European countries and being divided into small animal and large animal specialists, were a heterogeneous group. The spirit of that meeting was very special and set the stage for the following meetings. In 1993 the first examinations were organised for Charter Members only. The examination consisted of practical and oral parts and was administered by Diplomates of the ACVS. The examiners were ACVS Diplomates with close ties to Europe and past experience in the ACVS Examination Committee. Sixty-two Charter Members took the examination and 41 of them passed both parts the first time. An additional examination was offered in January 1994. From that time the Examination has been held prior to the Annual Meeting. At the Annual Meeting in 1995 the final Constitution was adopted, instituting three-year rotations for all Board members. The inaugural "Special Achievement Award" was presented at the same meeting to Monika Gutscher, the secretary of ECVS, for her tremendous work at the ECVS Office in Zurich. Her untiring efforts contributed greatly to the successful start of the ECVS. A decision was made to accept ACVS Diplomates as Diplomates of ECVS by application only, without an additional examination. Any ACVS Diplomate had already passed a comprehensive examination. It was felt that ACVS Diplomates, who desired to be active in ECVS should not be turned away. Additionally it was felt that by accepting ACVS Diplomates into ECVS, a greater mass of ECVS members would be reached more quickly, thus speeding the progress of ECVS. In the year 2000, ECVS was the first College to acquire full recognition-status by the European Board of Specialisation (EBVS), which underlines the leading role the surgeons play in the development of the European Veterinary Colleges. The growth of the College has been rapid and we have presently over 200 Diplomates. Throughout Europe (Israel and Canada) residency programmes have been established and altogether about 120 residents are presently enrolled in these programmes. Presently, we can assume, that the College expands at an annual growth rate of approximately 15 to 20 Diplomates. The seal of the ECVS is held in the European colours to emphasise the European nature of the College. The silhouettes of a horse head and a sitting dog enclosed in a circle signify that large and small animal veterinarians are united in the College. The scalpel between the figures represents the surgical specialisation of the members of the College.
The members of the organizing committee meeting of the ECVS, August 30/31, 1990 in front of the "Hotel Ochsen" in Lenzburg, Switzerland. From left to right: Past Presidents: Jörg A. Auer, Switzerland 1991-1995 Richard A.S. White, England 1995-1996 Frederik van Sluijs, Netherlands 1996-1997 Dudely E. Johnston, Israel 1997-1998 Gert Niebauer, Italy 1998-1999 Riitta Mari Tulamo, Finland 1999-2000 Marc Balligand, Belgium 2000-2001 Wim Klein, Netherlands 2001-2002
Recipients Distinguished Service Awards offered by Ethicon Ltd. Edinburgh, Great Britain Monika Gutscher 1995 Marc Bloomberg foundation 1996 American College of Veterinary Surgeons 1997
Last updated: mg, 23.10.02.Webmaster |
