Talkin Pets

(SCHAUMBURG, Illinois) August 6, 2012 – At its annual convention in San Diego, Calif., the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) officially launched its Future Leaders Program’s second class by announcing the 10 veterinarians who will be taking part in the program over the next year.

The year-long program was created by the AVMA with support from Pfizer Animal Health to develop volunteer leaders for the AVMA and other organized veterinary groups. The goal is to help participants to enhance their individual leadership skills and to create useable tools for the wider veterinary profession to benefit from and utilize.

The 10 participants were selected from approximately 60 AVMA member nominees who had graduated from veterinary schools within the last 15 years.

“The hardest part of picking each class over the past two years has been narrowing down the list of nominees to just 10 participants, because of the qualifications and diverse interests and energy of all the outstanding nominees,” said Dr. Ron DeHaven, chief executive officer of the AVMA. “Many of these Future Leaders are already leaders, taking leadership roles at the state and local levels, so we’re excited by not only what we can teach them but how much they’ll be able to teach us.”

Participants will have an opportunity to work with professional facilitator Dr. Ken Andrews of High Impact Facilitation, who will provide project management and

leadership training. As the year progresses, these young leaders will not only learn new skills, but they will, as a group, develop and collaborate on a project that will provide the AVMA with a valuable new tool or service that will benefit all members. The first class of Future Leaders focused on creating a web-based Future Leaders Toolkit that uses videos, instructional materials, and other tools to help all AVMA members improve their leadership skills on the job or within the profession.

The following veterinarians were selected to be the AVMA’s 2012-2013 Future Leaders Program:

Dr. Karen Burns Grogan

Dacula, Georgia

Poultry medicine

Dr. Jenifer Chatfield

Dade City, Florida

Zoo medicine

Dr. Jennafer M. Glaesemann

Fairbury, Nebraska

Mixed animal private practice

Dr. William Allen Hill

Pollocksville, North Carolina

Academic laboratory animal medicine

Dr. Blair Hollowell

Virginia Beach, Virginia

Small animal medicine and rehabilitation

Dr. Jason Johnson

Luverne, Alabama

Academia

Dr. Virginia Kiefer

Rocky River, Ohio

Small animal practice

Dr. Douglas Kratt

La Crosse, Wisconsin

Small animal practice

Dr. Rebecca Stinson

Reidsville, North Carolina

Equine practice

Dr. Kelvin G. Urday

Keller, Texas

Mixed animal private practice

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The AVMA, founded in 1863, is one of the oldest and largest veterinary medical organizations in the world, with more than 82,500 member veterinarians worldwide engaged in a wide variety of professional activities.