Celebrated pathologist to speak about the challenges of AMR at Royal College Day 2023

At this year’s Royal College Day, our Annual General Meeting and awards ceremony, celebrated pathologist and laboratory scientist Doris-Ann Williams MBE will be giving the keynote speech about the challenges of antimicrobial resistance and how the health professions can work together on the issue.

Doris-Ann, Chief Executive of the British In Vitro Diagnostics Association (BIVDA), will deliver her talk titled ‘Antimicrobial Resistance - the hidden pandemic: A One Health Perspective’ at the event which takes place at One Great George Street in Westminster on Friday 7 July 2023.

RCVS President Dr Melissa Donald MRCVS (pictured) said: “Having initially met Doris-Ann through our mutual love of Border Terriers, I later discovered her interest in AntiMicrobial Resistance (AMR). This issue is so important to both animal and human health and welfare, that I felt that Doris-Ann as a scientist and pet owner has the perfect combination to be able to highlight this crucial topic as our keynote speaker.”

Royal College Day, which is open to all veterinary surgeons and veterinary nurses to attend, starts at 11am with the formal declaration of the results of the 2023 RCVS Council and VN Council elections results, the presentation and approval of the 2022 Annual Report and Financial Statements, and a short Council meeting to confirm our new RCVS Presidential Team for 2023-24.

The awards ceremony will start at approximately 1pm and will see the conferral of this year’s RCVS Honours and Awards including the Queen’s Medal which is being awarded to Dr Bruce Fogle MBE MRCVS.

Following the awards ceremony, there will be speeches from Melissa Donald as the outgoing President and Matthew Rendle RVN as outgoing Chair of VN Council. These speeches will be followed by the investiture of Dr Tshidi Gardiner MRCVS as the new RCVS Treasurer, Belinda Andrews-Jones RVN as new Chair of VN Council, the new Junior Vice-President (due to be elected by RCVS Council in June) and Sue Paterson as RCVS President for 2023-24. As the newly invested President, Sue Paterson will give a short address followed by the keynote speaker.

Royal College Day is free to attend for all veterinary surgeons and veterinary nurses. Those who wish to register to attend the event should do so no later than Tuesday 4 July by signing up via our Events page.

For those who aren’t able to attend in person, a livestream of the event will also be taking place, further details on accessing the livestream will be published in due course.