Some Observations on the Formation and Development of the American College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists

Abstract

I was asked several years ago by Dr. Masanobu Fukui, a fellow, ISVO Executive Committee member, to write an article for this journal on my insights on the development and progress of the American College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists. I agreed, but didn't get started until prompted to do so again by Dr. Fukui at the ACVO meeting in Denver, October 2002.
I have had a great opportunity to be a participant and observer in the development of the specialty of Ophthalmology in the U.S. I was President of the American Society of Veterinary Ophthalmologists in 1975-76 and President of the ACVO in 1984-85. I was also the ACVO representative on the American Board of Veterinary Specialties for 12 years, 1983-95.
Subsequent to the Denver meeting mentioned above, an article, "Veterinary Ophthalmology Board Certification in the U.S.A." by Stacy Andrew, has appeared in this Journal (1). I wish to start my review by correcting a few minor errors in Dr. Andrew's article. It is true that the first veterinary specialty organization. The College of Veterinary Pathologists (ACVP) and the American board of Public Health (ABPH) were approved in 1951 by the AVMA House of Representatives and the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine was similarly approved in 1957, but the Advisory Board of Veterinary Specialties (ABVS), with the charge of overseeing the specialties wasn't established until 1959 (2). The AVMA Council of Education, the Council that accredits Veterinary Colleges in the U.S.A., and other countries, is the AVMA committee that oversees the work of the ABVS. The name of the Advisory Board was changed to the American Board of Veterinary Specialties (ABVS) in 1992. Besides judging whether groups applying for specialty status meet the criteria well described by Dr. Andrew, the ABVS reviews annual reports and conducts in-depth 5-year review of each College to determine whether the specialty Colleges and Boards are operating under the policies and procedures as set forth by the ABVS in its Policies Procedures Manual (2).
Voting members of the ABVS are one representative from each specialty College or Board, and one representative from the AVMA Council on Education. In addition, one AVMA staff member and one representative from the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC) attend the annual meetings as non-voting members. As will be mentioned later in this article, the ABVS plays a very important role in specialties in Veterinary Medicine in the U.S.