BEVA Congress (11-14 September 2024, at the ACC in Liverpool) is celebrating the concept of ‘One Medicine’ by exploring the benefits of knowledge-sharing between medical and equine veterinary clinicians.
‘One Medicine’ is a concept close to the heart of BEVA’s current President Roger Smith, who is keen to share its benefits at this year’s event.
“Many will have heard of ‘One Health’, which is defined by the World Health Organisation as ‘an integrated, unifying approach that aims to optimise the health of people, animals and ecosystems’. As they are all closely linked and interdependent, the concept aims to build collaborations across sectors and disciplines mainly to address infectious diseases, but also antimicrobial resistance, and food safety and promote the health and integrity of ecosystems,” said Roger. “This has been adapted to ‘One Medicine’ to include the close similarities in many other non-infectious diseases in both animals and humans.”
“There is much to learn from similar diseases in the two species. Treatments developed in either species can be appropriate for both, and the horse can be an ideal ‘proving ground’ for new treatments destined for human medicine.”
Not all diseases are the same in both horses and humans but there can be remarkable similarities in many that are often not well appreciated by clinicians in both sectors of medicine. As a result, not every talk will include ‘One Medicine’ but speakers have been asked to include examples were appropriate.
BEVA has also invited a number of medical specialists to speak at Congress.
“Of particular relevance is the speaker for the Peter Rossdale Clinical Evidence Lecture,” said Roger. “Dr Rossdale was passionate about the benefits of medical-veterinary collaborations as well as evidence-based medicine. This year we will welcome Professor Andrew Carr from the University of Oxford and a former Director of the Botnar and Kennedy Research Institutes. Prof. Carr is a shoulder surgeon who has been instrumental in developing both the basic science around tendon disease in humans but also one of the few to perform truly controlled studies of surgical techniques for the human shoulder.”
In addition, there will be a combined session on the Saturday morning on managing tendon and ligament disease. Ian Wright, Andy Fiske-Jackson and Andre Buthe will present on the veterinary side and Mr. Andrew Goldberg, an orthopaedic surgeon from London, who treats many patients with Achilles tendinopathy, the human equivalent of superficial digital flexor tendinopathy in horses, on the human side.
Prof. Bill Ribbans, orthopaedic surgeon will give his view on detecting stress fractures in human athletes in the session addressing the important challenge of strengthening the case for the Social Licence of equine competition.
“Bill is a talented, down-to-earth, and practical surgeon,” said Roger. “I have collaborated with him in the past and can recommend not only his presentation but also his book, ‘Knife in the Fast Lane’, of his experiences in treating some of the best athletes from the UK and abroad. Buy the book and I am sure he will sign your copy after his talk!
“We hope that the theme of ‘One Medicine’ will not only be interesting to delegates but also potentially provide some ideas for new diagnostic and/or management strategies for the cases we see as clinicians.”
BEVA Congress is uniquely produced by horse vets for horse vets. The programme includes more than 90 hours, in six separate streams, of live and on-demand CPD covering almost every aspect of equine medicine, surgery and practice, using formal presentations, interactive discussion, debates and workshops. There is an expanded stream for Vet Nurses which includes practical sessions, and there is a separate stream for farriers, with a balance of practical and clinical content.
The exhibition hall, filled with the industry’s leading suppliers and referral practices, is the ideal place to meet the major players in the equine sector face-to-face, network for both business and career opportunities and find out about new products and innovations as they hit the market.
The famous BEVA Congress social scene includes the buzzing Welcome Reception on the Wednesday night, followed by the Annual Dinner on the Friday. Happy Hours will help with the daily wind-down in the exhibition hall on Thursday and Friday and for the keep-fit fans, RunBEVA will be happening on Thursday and Friday morning.
The full BEVA Congress programme can be found here.
BEVA members prices for Congress for all three days are £597 for vets (with concessionary prices available for those in their first three years of graduation or earning less than £25,000) and £221 for nurse members for all three days). Day tickets and practice passes are also available. Early Bird prices end on Wednesday 7 August 2024.
Tickets provide access to all lectures, practicals, the exhibition hall, as well as full access to the virtual Congress hub, where delegates will have access to Congress content for six months after the event.
Find out more and book your tickets to BEVA Congress.