Meet a few of our upcoming AAHA CON speakers!

AAHA CON 2024 is just a couple flips of the calendar away, and if you haven’t already made plans to head to National Harbor, Maryland, this September for our annual veterinary conference, there’s no time like the present to get started.

Aside from chance to network with colleagues and internationally known experts (not to mention puppy yoga), this year’s conference also features a fantastic line up of speakers covering a range of topics. Whatever your role on a veterinary team, you’ll find sessions designed to help you level up. Here’s what a few of our speakers had to say about what they’re bringing to the table.

Bash Halow, CVPM, LVT

Team training, client communication, and leadership done right … or wrong (4 nonmedical sessions)

Q: What can we expect from your sessions?

You know, I don’t have slides that have all of these bulleted answers to all of your issues. In my lectures, I really try to ask good questions, and poke at the status quo in the hopes that people will come to their own “why” as to why we are doing it this way.

I always say that you could airlift any person out of a veterinary hospital and drop them anywhere in the country and they would hit the ground running because it’s the same. We do it the same way everywhere. A lot of it was in an inherited or stolen from human medicine which is a *pooh-poohing noise* way to serve patients.

We learned—especially our people management—from this Ford factory-like era, where you’re going to write people up, or you’re going to give them an annual review, and all this other baloney that we do that honestly, for all the “worry-aition” that goes into it, and the tears, and the time—what’s the point?

So, in all my sessions, I try to ask about how things are going, and ask questions that incite thought about whether or not it’s working the way that it is, and whether or not there might be another alternative. And I think I do have a couple of Easter egg ideas in there that are worth the price of admission.

Laura Pletz, DVM

Leaders have to start somewhere (2 nonmedical sessions)

Q: What can you tell us about your AAHA CON sessions?

I’m really excited about these sessions because I think this is something we don’t get a lot of training in as veterinarians.

When we think about, “Gee, could I be a leader? What does that look like?” [there are other questions we need to be asking, such as]:

How do the hospital leaders that exist already, or maybe own their own practice, or maybe are in a leadership role within a corporate group—how do you identify those people? What is it that you’re looking for and how do you know when you’re ready for that?

And for me, that’s one of my biggest joys. There have been a lot of people over the years to whom I would say, “I see something in you. Have you ever thought about leadership?” Often the first the first response is, “No I don’t want to do that.” But then, that second or third conversation, they come back to me and ask me: “You know I’ve been thinking about what you said, tell me more about that.” So having people that can identify that and support that and encourage us can be really important.

Andrew Simpson, DVM, MS, DACVD

Showing off AAHA’s dermatology guidelines (2 medical sessions)

What will you be talking about in your sessions?

The biggest thing is the new guidelines that came out at the end of last year, 2023. It was a lot of hard work—it was myself and a whole panel of dermatologists, general practitioners, and others.

We collectively came up with a lot of good information, so the purpose of that seminar is to go through the helpful charts and algorithms and go through how you can use that on a practical basis. We’ll talk about how to discuss with clients, what to expect with dermatologic patients, many people don’t know the idea of “spectrum of care,” so we’ll go through that terminology, and even more so, how to utilize veterinary technicians which are such a vital part of the team.

The other topic will be more of a cat lecture. For as much as we see cats in dermatology, we know there’s a disparity of lectures. You see [cat dermatology] a lot, and it can be very frustrating because you know cats are not small dogs. So, we should approach them a little differently as far as diagnostics and how they’re presenting clinically.

Julia Miller, DVM, DACVD

Don’t fear the rear—or any severe, chronic otitis externa cases (2 medical sessions)

Could you tell us about one of your sessions and who it’s for?

This session is actually one that I love giving; there are a lot of gratuitous butt photos in that particular session. So it’s a warning sign, and it’s called: “No Butts About it, Animal Sacs, Tail Glands, and Fistulas, Oh My!”

Most of my sessions are geared towards general practitioners, but I also do try to speak to the technicians as well. I think a well-rounded, fully educated veterinary team—not just the doctor, not just the tech but the front staff too—I think the team approach is so important in veterinary medicine, so I always try to throw tidbits about how technicians can be involved in my lectures. But this lecture is very much geared towards general practitioners.

[We’ll talk about things like:] How do you recognize the common diseases? What diagnostics are important and then also how you can go about treating and kind of demystifying when things are looking weird back there?

We know there are lots of options when it comes to veterinary conferences—but we also know that AAHA CON is the place to get what you need to reach your goals, and we hope to see you there. Ready to join us at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center on September 12-14? Act fast—the final day to register at the Early Bird Rate is July 15.

Photo Courtesy: AAHA Con Speakers 

Disclaimer: The views expressed, and topics discussed, in any NEWStat column or article are intended to inform, educate, or entertain, and do not represent an official position by the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) or its Board of Directors.