Abstract
ECLAM held its annual general meeting in conjunction with the ESLAV/ECLAM/AAALAC/SECAL scientific meeting in Barcelona, Spain, on 15 October 2018.
New members of Council are Colin Gilbert, Patrick Hardy and Gregory Whelan. Petra Seebeck was elected to a second term. The President, Rony Kalman, thanked outgoing Council members for their service. Ghislaine Poirier leaves Council after 9 years as President-elect, President and Past-President, respectively. Martje Fentener van Vlissingen and Frederik Daegnes-Hansen each served 3-year terms and were instrumental in carrying out the work of the College to promote specialist education. Remaining Council members include Stephan Zeiter, who works to maintain the College’s financial health and to develop the College’s educational offerings; Merel Ritskes-Hoitinga, who moves into the President-elect position and works tirelessly in systematic review education; Petra Seebeck, who becomes the Secretary and is involved in improving College communications; and Patricia Hedenqvist, who assumes the Presidency after serving for many years on Council and the Examinations Committee.
Patricia Hedenqvist.
The College voted to empower the Credentials Committee to evaluate the training of people who have successfully completed residency in other IACLAM colleges (ACLAM, KCLAM, JCLAM), and to determine whether the applicant may be exempted from the requirement of completing a 3-year residency under the supervision of an ECLAM Diplomate. This is in accordance with similar initiatives in other IACLAM Colleges, and promotes global mobility of laboratory animal veterinary specialists.
Three new Diplomates were welcomed into the College after passing the examinations on 20 November 2018: Wairimu Gatome of the UK, Anna Granlund of Sweden, and Miriam Lipiski of Switzerland. A record number of examination candidates in 2018 continues a trend in ECLAM of growth and achievement.
In 2019 ECLAM plans to continue revising its residency and credentials application requirements and procedures, deploy a new and improved website, enhance its financial base through external support, and develop presentations for the FELASA meeting in Prague. The mock examinations will be held again in conjunction with the ESLAV/ECLAM Summer School, under the leadership of Michael Wilkinson and a committee of dedicated Diplomates.