125 Years and Still Holding to Our Core Values

by James Reed, DVM - MVMA President

The Maryland State Veterinary Medical Association held its first meeting in September 1885 with the purpose of advancing veterinary science. Those were old terms, serving old times and reflect challenges facing the earliest of associations. Our colleagues of that era pioneered the need for “establishing standards” and “advocating relevant state and federal legislation.” In those early years, the association provided a forum for new ideas and an open discussion of the issues facing a new and emerging profession. Our association continues to evolve with 800 members still woven to the

same interests. We still monitor legislation while operating closely with our current Board of Examiners. We have a close relationship with our veterinary college and play an active role in the student interviewing process, mentoring programs and we interact closely with development of government and corporate programs. We also provide continuing education programs in a variety of formats in an increasingly competitive arena. Our main focus, however, is to continue to provide a forum that allows networking for our own membership and also those neighboring associations that have similar interests. This year our summer meeting will include the Northern Virginia Veterinary Association and the District of Columbia Veterinary Association.

Our biggest strength still remains in our membership. We must continue to grow in order to add to our foundation and to bring new ideas and issues to our profession. The executive board recently voted to implement a discount membership to those practices that are willing to pay for all employed veterinarians in a single practice. The board feels this will encourage practice owners to promote membership to new veterinarians. In return, this will strengthen our foundation and bring new ideas. In a survey among our members this had an 85 percent positive response rate.

The practice of veterinary medicine will continue to change and our profession will have its challenges.

The strength of our association is dependent on evolving to meet the challenges that come with change..

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Important Links from this article

Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine