New EHRF chair: Dr. David Wilson
Dr. David Wilson is the new chair of the Equine Health Research Fund’s management committee.
Wilson, a 1980 graduate of the Western College of Veterinary Medicine, is a large animal surgical specialist and head of the college’s Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences.
Since joining WCVM’s faculty in 1999, Wilson has led or supervised a number of EHRF-backed studies that have enhanced specific areas of equine surgery including investigations into the most effective treatments for crooked-legged foals and the use of intra-articular injections of ethyl alcohol to promote arthrodesis in the hock joints of horses suffering from bone spavin.
Wilson replaces Dr. Andy Allen, a professor in WCVM’s Department of Veterinary Pathology and a long-time member of the Fund’s management team. During his two-and-a-half-year tenure, Allen expanded the Fund’s profile throughout Western Canada and worked hard to communicate directly with veterinarians, horse owners and veterinary students.
The former EHRF Research Fellow (1989-91) also played a key role in co-ordinating and establishing the Fund’s new equine memorial program that was introduced in January 2006.
Another of Allen’s major initiatives was a complete update of the Fund’s original terms of reference. Allen will begin an academic leave on January 1, 2007, and will spend six months working alongside veterinary pathologists at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Ky.