Jeremiah T. Saliki, DVM, PhD, DACVM

Dear AAVLDers:

After being a member of AAVLD since 1992, I feel very fortunate to have been chosen to serve as President over the past year. My service in this role has given me a better appreciation for the volume of work that is put in by hundreds of you to sustain our cherished association. Indeed, most of the work that makes AAVLD to be such a strong and vibrant association happens within the 9 standing and 29 special committees that exist in our organization. I want to give special thanks the committee chairs and members of the various committees for your dedicated work in support of the AAVLD.

AAVLD means a lot to me because it has provided me with multiple opportunities to grow professionally while serving in various capacities. If you are an AAVLD member and have not yet had an opportunity to get involved in a committee, I encourage you to join one or more committees. With the exception of the Accreditation Committee, all AAVLD committees are open to all members. Although the bulk of committee business happens during the annual meeting, many committees do transact during the entire year. Feel free to reach out to committee chairs (see list on our website) if you wish to join a committee.

I would like to thank all AAVLD members with whom I have served for the past 30 years, for mentoring and supporting me in various roles. In the last year, special thanks go to our Executive Director and his staff for keeping the organization running smoothly. I also want to heartily thank the Executive Officers and the entire Executive Board for your tremendous help and support to me as a person and in my role as President. I look forward with excitement to seeing most of you in Washington DC at the 2023 annual meeting.

Jerry Saliki, DVM, PhD, DACVM

AAVLD Immediate Past President

Dr. Francois Elvinger, Dr. Med Vet, PhD, DACVPM&ECVPH

Professor, Executive Director of AHDC

Associate Dean for Diagnostic Operations and Government Relations

College of Veterinary Medicine



Cornell University 

Read more...

Dr. Rodger Main, DVM, PhD

Professor and Director

Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory

Department of Veterinary Diagnostic & Production Animal Medicine

College of Veterinary medicine

Iowa State University  

Read more...

Ms. Debra Royal  

Quality Assurance Manager,

University of Nebraska Veterinary Diagnostic Center

Read more...

AAVLD Awards

View more pictures...

The AAVLDEI (AAVLD committee on diversity, equity, and inclusion) had its first on-site booth with several activities to highlight the membership's diversity and encourage interactions. The AAVLD DEI committee thanks all the participants and encourages the AAVLD members to join our efforts. The DEI committee was thrilled to see enthusiastic participation in DEI activities such as the We Are All Unique banner and photo booth.

While we celebrate the success of the AAVLDEI booth at the annual conference, we acknowledge that there is still a lot of work needed to uphold AAVLD’s DEI policy as not all religious and non-religious beliefs were represented during the invocation at the President’s banquet. The AAVLD is addressing the issue.

To join the AAVLDEI, please contact aavldei@aavld.org. See you at the 2023 conference!

If you have not already, please, take this opportunity to complete the survey and help us get a better idea of who AAVLD is. Represent!

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/AAVLD_DEI_Survey 

Sincerely,

Cat Barr

Amar Patil

AAVLD DEI Committee Cochairs

Thank you to all who contributed to this year’s AAVLD Foundation Scholarship Auction Event

This year the AAVLD Foundation provided approximately $18,000 in travel support and awards to engage the next generation of diagnosticians and advance student training by enabling students to attend the annual meeting.

This work is only made possible through donations from engaged AAVDL members like you.

The silent auction and in-person auction held on October 7th, 2022, made a total of $14,053.47.

Download article

AAVLD Membership, please send your laboratory news to Dave Zeman, Executive Director dzeman@aavld.org

Our November focus is an article in JVDI’s September issue, “Second round of an interlaboratory comparison of SARS-CoV2 molecular detection assays used by 45 veterinary diagnostic laboratories in the United States” by Kaiping Deng, Steffen Uhlig, Laura B. Goodman, Hon S. Ip, Mary Lea Killian, Sarah M. Nemser, Jodie Ulaszek, Shannon Kiener, Matthew Kmet, Kirstin Frost, Karina Hettwer, Bertrand Colson, Kapil Nichani, Anja Schlierf, Andriy Tkachenko, Mothomang Mlalazi-Oyinloye, Andrew Scott, Ravinder Reddy, Gregory H. Tyson.

J Vet Diagn Invest 2022;34(5):825–834.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10.1177/10406387221115702

Abstract. The COVID-19 pandemic presents a continued public health challenge. Veterinary diagnostic laboratories in the United States use RT-rtPCR for animal testing, and many laboratories are certified for testing human samples; hence, ensuring that laboratories have sensitive and specific SARS-CoV2 testing methods is a critical component of the pandemic response. In 2020, the FDA Veterinary Laboratory Investigation and Response Network (Vet-LIRN) led an interlaboratory comparison (ILC1) to help laboratories evaluate their existing RT-rtPCR methods for detecting SARS-CoV2. All participating laboratories were able to detect the viral RNA spiked in buffer and PrimeStore molecular transport medium (MTM). With ILC2, Vet-LIRN extended ILC1 by evaluating analytical sensitivity and specificity of the methods used by participating laboratories to detect 3 SARS-CoV2 variants (B.1; B.1.1.7 [Alpha]; B.1.351 [Beta]) at various copy levels. We analyzed 57 sets of results from 45 laboratories qualitatively and quantitatively according to the principles of ISO 16140-2:2016. More than 95% of analysts detected the SARS-CoV2 RNA in MTM at ≥500 copies for all 3 variants. In addition, for nucleocapsid markers N1 and N2, 81% and 92% of the analysts detected ≤20 copies in the assays, respectively. The analytical specificity of the evaluated methods was >99%. Participating laboratories were able to assess their current method performance, identify possible limitations, and recognize method strengths as part of a continuous learning environment to support the critical need for the reliable diagnosis of COVID-19 in potentially infected animals and humans.

Be sure to sign up for JVDI email alerts! JVDI alerts let you know when new articles and eTOCs are available online. Alerts can be requested on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. Note that only abstracts are available via email alerts—you will need to login through AAVLD or your institution to access and read the full articles.

1. Go to the JVDI website: https://journals.sagepub.com/home/vdi

2. On the Stay Connected tab dropdown menu, click on Email Alerts

3. Choose New Content and/or Announcements, then Create Email Alert

4. Then “Sign in to SAGE Journals”

If you already have a SAGE account, use the left box My Account. Otherwise, click Register for a free SAGE Journals account. (You will be able to update your email alerts anytime and will see the message “Your email alert settings have been updated” at completion.)

Let’s stay connected!

Grant Maxie, DVM, PhD, DACVP, Editor-in-Chief

Journal of Veterinary Diagnostic Investigation

gmaxie@uoguelph.ca

Holly M. Farrell, Managing Editor

editorial@aavld.org

https://journals.sagepub.com/home/vdi

Facebook: facebook.com/jvdi.aavld

Twitter: @jvdi_aavld

Wild-caught and aquaculture fish are significant food sources; ornamental fish are important as pet animals. Various causes of fish diseases are under investigation, and fish disease research has gained new impetus; many of our veterinary diagnostic laboratories are becoming involved in this expanding field.

We are inviting submissions to a JVDI special section on Fish diseases. If you are interested, please submit an abstract of up to 250 words describing your proposed topic. Readers would be interested in background review material and current laboratory investigations, including both successes and failures, or lessons learned.

Please submit your abstract to either of our guest editors, Dr. Eileen Henderson, eehenderson@ucdavis.edu, or Dr. Hein Snyman, snymanh@uoguelph.ca, or to the Editor-in-chief, Dr. Grant Maxie, gmaxie@uoguelph.ca by December 20, 2022.

The Journal of Veterinary Diagnostic Investigation (J Vet Diagn Invest) is an international peer-reviewed journal published in English as the official journal of the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians (AAVLD). JVDI is devoted to all aspects of veterinary laboratory medicine. The major disciplines are anatomic pathology, bacteriology/mycology, clinical pathology, epidemiology, immunology, laboratory information management, molecular biology, parasitology, public health, toxicology, and virology.

Thoughts for this Season of thankfulness…..

Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving.

William Arthur Ward

When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light, for your life, for your strength. Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason to give thanks, the fault lies in yourself. Tecumseh

No one who achieves success does so without acknowledging the help of others. The wise and confident acknowledge this help with gratitude.

Alfred North Whitehead

Source Brainy Quote

Student Travel Awardees 2022 and

Student Competitive Awardees click here