Epi. 204 – Challenging the Norm at the 57th AABP Annual Conference

AABP Executive Director Dr. Fred Gingrich is joined by AABP President  Elect and AABP Annual Conference Program Chair Dr. Dave Sjeklocha. Sjeklocha thanks his program committee who are volunteer AABP members who develop the content for the conference.  

The theme of the conference is “Challenge the Norm” and Sjeklocha states he picked this theme to encourage members to challenge themselves with what they are doing for their clients and continue to improve and advance their practice. The keynote speaker, Dr. Shawn Baker, will challenge the norm on assumptions about eating an animal-sourced diet and help our members advocate for the products that our clients produce. We will also hear from the AABP vice president candidates for 2025, Dr. Elizabeth Quesnell Kohtz and Dr. Jennifer Roberts, after the keynote address. 

We walk through some of the highlights from the sessions including presentations on small ruminants, beef, dairy, clinical skills, practice management, student sessions and case competition, and research summaries. Sjeklocha also developed a cattle welfare track this year at the conference. This session will be for beef and dairy veterinarians and provide an opportunity for advancement in the field of animal welfare, an important part of our oath in caring for cattle.  

The conference is typically planned 10 months in advance, but we leave two time slots open for hot topics. This year, we will hear a presentation on the draft updated AVMA Guidelines for the Depopulation of Animals, focusing on the cattle portion of the document. We will also have a panel presentation on Influenza A H5N1, providing attendees with experiences from a diagnostic lab, practicing veterinarian, and a producer who is a veterinarian and went through the disease. There will be ample time for question and answer during this panel presentation. Sjeklocha also describes the clinical forum breakfast presentations which are an additional two hours of CE facilitated by an expert and is discussion-based in a small-group format.  

The AABP conference is not only about CE sessions, but networking and socializing opportunities as well. We have an opening reception sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim, breakfast presentations from Diamond V and Zoetis, the scholarship presentation and Amstutz Scholarship Auction sponsored by Zoetis, Stampede 5K sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim and the Saturday Awards and Business Lunch sponsored by AABP. We also will have a student reception sponsored by Endovac and the student Quiz Bowl sponsored by Vaxxinova/Newport Laboratories.  

Reminder that the  early-bird registration discount ends August 1, and online registration and hotel block closes August 22. We encourage all attendees to book in the AABP hotel block and only use the online AABP housing link to ensure your room confirmation. You can reserve your hotel and read the guide to hotels on this page.  

Detailed session descriptions can be found at this link. Find the full schedule of events here. Register for the AABP conference on this page.