New chairs elected to BVA committees
Bill McKelvey.
THREE of the BVA's standing committees have new chairmen, including the author of the report into governance and overspend at the RCVS.
Bill McKelvey has been elected chair of the Veterinary Policy Group (VPG), of which he has been a member since 2011, as well as serving on BVA council and the advisory panel for BVA Congress.
Madeleine Campbell takes over the helm of the Ethics and Welfare Group (EWG) and Adele Williams will lead the Overseas Group (OG).
Professor McKelvey was a member of the RCVS Governance Review Group and chaired the RCVS Overspend Committee, producing the "McKelvey report" of the group's findings, which was never published in full by the college.
His career has spanned veterinary practice, academia and
business. Until early 2012, Prof McKelvey was CEO and
principal of the Scottish Agricultural College. He is a Fellow of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh and has been awarded an OBE for services to
agriculture. He is vice-chairman of the Agri-Food and
Biosciences Institute in Northern Ireland, a member of the boards of
both the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency and the Scottish Food
Advisory Committee, and a non-executive director of a large livestock
farming business in Scotland.
A former BEVA president, Dr Campbell has been a member of the EWG since 2010. She is the Wellcome Trust clinical research fellow in veterinary ethics at the RVC. She is a European and RCVS recognised specialist in equine reproduction and the sole partner at Hobgoblins Equine Reproduction Centre. Dr Campbell was the first vet to be awarded a Wellcome Trust Fellowship in
biomedical ethics, and is using that funding to research the ethics of assisted reproductive techniques in non-human mammals. She also has a
research interest in the ethics of competitive animal use. Dr Campbell
holds an MA in Medical Ethics and Law, having graduated with
distinction.
New chair of BVA's Overseas Group, Adele Williams, has been a member of the OG since 2010. Ms Williams is a European specialist diplomat in equine internal medicine and teaches undergraduate andn postgraduate veterinary clinical skills as well as conducting research into equine disease. She has submitted her PhD thesis based on biochemistry of equine recurrent airway obstruction at the University of Manchester and next year will be starting as a lecturer in equine medicine at the University of Surrey's new School of Veterinary Medicine.
Ms Williams has been involved in overseas charitable projects in Romania,
Ukraine and The Gambia, participating in veterinary work and education
of vets and local animal handlers to improve health and
welfare.
Two independent vets have launched a podcast to help owners strengthen their bond with pets. Dr Maggie Roberts and Dr Vanessa Howie, who have worked in both veterinary practice and major charities, are keen to use their experience to enable people to give pets a better life.
