Announcements

 
 

*Note: Announcements are listed in order of most current to least current.

December 19th, 2023

The 2024 BSC will be held in-person at the University of California – Davis from June 24 – July 12 and will include the Ocular Pathology Review Course. More information and the registration portal for both courses are available here.

October 20th, 2023

The summer 2024 in-person course will likely take place at the University of California – Davis. More information regarding this will be updated here and on the UCD website once finalized.

May 11th, 2023

Registration is now closed for the 2023 Basic Science Course. The 2024 in-person course is planned for next summer. Find the Syllabus for the 2023 online course here.

January 25th, 2023

A limited number of spaces in the Pathology section (Ocular Pathology Review Course) of the 2023 online Magrane Basic Science Course in Veterinary and Comparative Ophthalmology are being made available for ACVP/ECVP Residents and Diplomates, and other pathology trainees. The Ocular Pathology Review Course (OPRC) is a segment of the entire Basic Science Course comprising approximately 14 hours of pre-recorded lectures covering neoplastic and non-neoplastic pathology of the globe and adnexa of companion animal species.  In addition, you can participate live at 14:00-15:00h UTC on June 13th and 14th, 2023 (time and dates to be confirmed) or watch on delay two approximately 1-hour discussions at which the faculty – Drs. Carole Naranjo (IDEXX, Spain), Philippe Labelle (Antech, Canada), and Leandro Teixeira (COPLOW, USA) will address your questions. All pre-recorded material will be available online for approximately 8 weeks (May 12-July 10, 2023).

Click here for more information about the Ocular Pathology Review Course and here to register.

Note: Enrollment in the Ocular Pathology Review course is open to individuals in approved ACVP or ECVP residency programs as well as graduate students in veterinary pathology, International university faculty teaching veterinary pathology, international trainees in veterinary pathology, and individuals with an interest in ophthalmic pathology.

January 24th, 2023

The 2023 BSC will be offered completely and only online. The course will follow the same general format used in 2020 and 2021, structured to provide each attendee maximum flexibility in the way they learn. It will run for a total period of ~8 weeks with pre-recorded (“asynchronous”) lectures and notes available for preview for about 3 weeks, followed by an approximately 3-week period of live (“synchronous”) online discussions, online image recognition sessions (“slide rounds”), and online social events. All materials (including recordings of the lectures, online discussions, and image recognition sessions) will then remain available for review for a final, approximately 2-week period.

Dates for these 3 periods are as follows:

  • Asynchronous Preview period: Fri May 12th through Sunday June 4th, 2023

  • Synchronous Live sessions: Mon June 5th through Sunday June 25th, 2023

  • Asynchronous Review period: Monday June 26th through Monday July 10th, 2023

Over the 8 weeks, you can watch all recorded lectures and discussions as many times as you wish - and on your own schedule. In addition, you can log-in live to any discussion sessions to hear new and additional material and to have your questions answered by the course speakers. Plus, you can participate in live image recognition sessions (slide rounds) or watch them on delay.

Click here for more details about the 2023 online course and here to register.

**Note: If you attended the 2022 in-person BSC and want to attend online this year, the ACVO is offering a 20% discount on your 2023 registration costs. Email svmcontinuinged@ucdavis.edu for the discount code.

August 26, 2022

Contractual details regarding the 2023 and 2024 Basic Science Courses are still being finalized and so the following announcement should be considered as tentative and subject to change. However, to facilitate early forward-planning, the following dates are offered as guidelines.

  • The 2023 BSC will once again be offered completely and only online.

  • The 2024 will likely be offered completely and only in-person.

2023 Basic Science Course

The 2023 BSC will follow the same general format used in 2020 and 2021. It will run for a total period of ~8 weeks with pre-recorded (“asynchronous”) lectures and notes available for preview for about 3 weeks, followed by an approximately 3-week period of live (“synchronous”) online discussions, online image recognition sessions (“slide rounds”), and online social events. All materials (including recordings of the lectures, online discussions, and image recognition sessions) will then remain available for review for a final, approximately 2-week period.

Tentative dates for these 3 periods are as follows:

  • Preview period: Fri May 12th through Sunday June 4th, 2023

  • Live sessions: Mon June 5th through Sunday June 25th, 2023

  • Review period: Monday June 26th through Monday July 10th, 2023

2024 Basic Science Course

The 2024 BSC is planned as an in-person event as has been traditional throughout the course’s history, and as was done in 2022. It will run for a total period of ~3 weeks during the summer of 2024. Tentative dates are June 24th, 2024 through July 11th, 2024 It will include live “synchronous” lectures, image recognition sessions (“slide rounds”), and wet labs, as well as in-person social events. The location has not yet been finalized, but will be in North America.

Please check back regularly. These dates and plans will be updated here as soon as plans are finalized.

May 13th, 2022

Registration for the ACVO Basic Science Course and Ocular Pathology Review Course CLOSES May 25th! Be sure to sign up before the deadline!

Deadline for registration is midnight US Pacific daylight time on May 25, 2022. Information about registration is available at the UC Davis BSC webpage.

April 7th, 2022

Attention Veterinary Pathologists and Veterinary Pathology Trainees - Registration for the Ocular Pathology Review Course is open!

The Ocular Pathology Review Course (OPRC) will be presented as a two-day segment (June 24th and 25th) during the 2022 Magrane Basic Science Course at UC Davis. The OPRC offers broad exposure to ophthalmic pathology through didactic teaching. The course provides an entry-level review of diseases and processes affecting ocular structures emphasizing nomenclature, key diagnostic features, and diagnostic challenges. The course will focus on pathologic correlates of clinical disease in domestic/companion animals. While aimed at the primary audience of ACVO/ECVO Residents and not intended as a review for ACVP/ECVP Boards , the OPRC will be of interest and educational value to many in the Pathology discipline.

A limited number of spaces are being made available for individuals in approved ACVP and ECVP residency programs as well as graduate students in veterinary pathology, international university faculty teaching veterinary pathology, international trainees in veterinary pathology, and individuals with an interest in ophthalmic pathology. Register early as registration will close once the maximum number of spaces are filled. The Pathology section is presented as a two-day segment of the entire Basic Science Course and offers broad exposure to ophthalmic pathology through didactic teaching.

As a limited number of spaces are available, be sure to register early. Deadline for registration is midnight US Pacific daylight time on May 25, 2022. Information about registration is available at the UC Davis BSC webpage.

February 8th, 2022

The Basic Science Committee is excited to announce that registration IS OPEN for the 2022 course! Covid-permitting, the BSC will be held in-person at the University of California, Davis from June 21 – July 8, 2022.  We are pleased to return (for the first time since 2018) to the 3-week residential course with attendees from all around the world making lifelong friendships. In addition to the typically strong lecture program with an international cast of the best content experts from around the world, we will again have cytology and retinoscopy “dry labs”, image recognition (“slide”) rounds, and a nice social calendar with welcome and farewell receptions, a baseball game in Sacramento (“America’s National Pastime”), and an evening out at a local microbrewery. If you loved the online version in 2020 or 2021 and want to attend the in-person, then the ACVO is offering a 20% discount on your registration costs.

More details about the 2022 course, specifically, are available here, and for the permanent landing page for all things Basic Science Course and its history, please click here. For those who have attended the course in the past, we are requesting that you submit any photos you might have to update our photo gallery from through the ages (who knew we all used to look so young!).

For those with understandable health concerns about traveling and being in-residence for the course, be reassured that we will continue to closely follow all standards and requirements of the University of California, Davis, the City of Davis, and the local County and State. These have been extremely rigorous throughout the pandemic with our in-house system of testing the subject of a NY Times article.This, along with our mask and vaccine mandates, have ensured relatively low infection rates to date, even while hosting classes in-person across our broad campus this academic year.

February 5th, 2022

The UC Davis Center for Continuing Professional Education has launched their website providing details about the 2022 BSC course including details about the host location and lodging. Links for registration will be posted to this website in the coming weeks. Please bookmark this website and check back periodically for additional details about the 2022 course.

January 13th, 2022

A draft syllabus for the 2022 BSC has been posted and can be accessed here. Note that this syllabus is in draft form and is subject to change both before and during the course.

December 6, 2021

Announcing BSC to be hosted annually. It was clear that the two online courses in 2020 and 2021 were remarkably popular with certain registrants, and it was heart-warming to see how it permitted inclusiveness that is not always possible with the in-person course. But there remains strong interest from many speakers, mentors, and attendees to maintain the lifelong camaraderie built during attendance at the traditional in-person course. Therefore, the Planning Committee is delighted to announce that the BOR has agreed to our request to a trial in which the BSC will be offered annually in an alternating format. In 2022 (pandemic regulations permitting) the BSC will be in-person and, in 2023 it will be online. The success of this alternating format will be closely monitored before a long-term decision is made to make this change permanent.

Lectures recorded at the in-person course will be used for the online course the following year. It is expected that the two course formats will appeal to different groups. The online course will continue to offer 8-week access to recorded lectures and live discussions, as well as virtual social events. The in-person course will be a more intense 3-week residential experience with opportunities for live interactions with the speakers and attendance at the retinoscopy and cytology labs, as well as in-person social events. This annual format will permit residents and mentors more flexibility when choosing which year of the training program this basic science education is best received, and which format best suits their learning style. Can’t decide? No worries, the ACVO will offer discounted registration for those wishing to attend both formats in successive years. This arrangement will permit - for example - a resident to attend the in-person course during their 2nd year (so as to attend the retinoscopy and cytology labs, and enjoy the international camaraderie the BSC has long been known for), and then to register at a discounted rate for the online course during their 3rd year (so as “brush up for boards” using 8 weeks of online access to the recorded materials, image recognition sessions (“slide rounds”), and discussion sessions with the speakers).

December 6, 2021

BSC 2021 – A Huge Success. Due to ongoing pandemic restrictions, the 2021 Basic Science Course was again hosted online through UC Davis from 5/14/21-7/12/21. As another important difference, this was the first time that the typically biennial course had been held within 1 year of the prior course. Despite all of these changes, it was again a highly successful course with a record 107 registrants (41 ABVO Residents; 18 ECVO Residents, and 48 Other Professionals). Post-course survey results again showed that the course was broadly appreciated with all respondents believing that the course quality was outstanding (62%) or very good (38%); and all respondents being very (88%) or somewhat (12%) likely to recommend the course to a colleague.

Thank you BSC Faculty. It is really the faculty that “make or break” this course, and once again we were blessed to have a dynamic and flexible faculty who pivoted to the online format and made it look easy even though it was more work for them. As always, all speakers were very highly evaluated by the attendees and, in their typically generous way, the speakers donated about $9,000 to the Vision for Animals Foundation. Thank you BSC Faculty (all of whom are listed below)!

BSC 2021 Faculty
Heather Chandler, Gigi Davidson, Mike Davidson, Seth Eaton, Erik Fausak, Brian Gilger, Claudio Gutierrez, Christine Heinrich, Diane Hendrix, Ian Herring, Maggie Knipe, Andras Komaromy, Philippe LaBelle, Eric Ledbetter, Brian Leonard, David Maggs, Gillian McLellan, Kristen Messenger, Eric Miller, Paul Miller, Chris Murphy, Carol Naranjo, Ron Ofri, Simon Petersen-Jones, Katie Phillips, Amy Rankin, Leandro Teixeira, Sara Thomasy, Bill Vernau, Christine Watté, Dave Wilkie, and Karen Young