Thursday, September 22, 2016

Professor Renate Weller, noted for horse hoof research and imaging, in line for presidency of British Equine Veterinary Association

Professor Renate Weller of the Royal Veterinary College, London, will be president of the British Equine Veterinary Association in 2018, following results of an election held this year. (BEVA photo)

The British Equine Veterinary Association (BEVA) issued a press release this week with some news about a British veterinarian well-known to everyone exposed to equine hoof research. The Hoof Blog is happy to share this news.

The British Equine Veterinary Association (BEVA) has elected Renate Weller, Dr.med.vet., PhD, MScVetEd, MRCVS, FHEA, ECVDI Assoc., as Junior Vice President of the Association. Renate is Professor of Comparative Imaging and Biomechanics at the Royal Veterinary College, London.
The appointment was announced at the BEVA’s Annual General Meeting, held at BEVA Congress in England earlier this month.

Biography

Professor Weller has been an active member of the equine veterinary profession for over two decades, working in primary practice, clinical research and referral practice. She has served on BEVA Council for three years, on both the Allied Professionals Committee and the Education Committee.

A graduate of the University of Munich in Germany, Professor Weller spent a year in the United States before returning to Germany to work in equine practice. She then moved to the United Kingdom to become a senior clinical research scholar in large animal diagnostic imaging at the Royal Veterinary College (RVC). She later joined the Institute of Veterinary Anatomy in Munich, where she completed her Dr.Vet.Med thesis.

Following two years in California, Professor Weller returned to the RVC to complete a PhD. She has been employed at the RVC since 2005, dividing her time between clinical work in large animal diagnostic imaging and research in imaging, locomotor biomechanics and veterinary education.

Professor Weller said: “I am committed to the vision of a BEVA that fully listens to and embodies the interests of those it represents in all discussions over the future of our profession, and the education and regulation of the allied professions to whom our clients may turn. I aim to help equip BEVA members with the necessary tools to progress our truly wonderful profession into the future you want to create.”

Professor Weller will take the reins of President in 2018 - 19.

(Press release ends)

• • • • • •

Note: Professor Weller is often featured in news reported by The Hoof Blog. She has been prolific in her production of published research, much of which has lately centered on the biomechanics of the horse's foot and function and efficacy of farriery in weightbearing and locomotion.

Among her accomplishments is the design of the web-based three-dimensional hoof anatomy system hosted by the RVC's Online Veterinary Anatomy System.

Professor Weller has been instrumental in bringing farriers into the research action at the Royal Veterinary College. In 2013, she hosted an open data collection day on bar shoe and lateral extension shoe function research, with farriers hosted by British farrier supply firm Stromsholm Ltd, which hosted several innovative off-campus conferences where farriers could hear Professor Weller lecture.

Also that year, she traveled to the United States with other RVC hoof researchers to present their research at the International Equine Conference on Laminitis and Diseases of the Foot in West Palm Beach, Florida.

In 2014, Professor Weller chaired BEVA's full day program on farriery and foot lameness at the organization's annual convention.

For the recent BEVA 2016 Congress Clinical Research Abstract program, Professor Weller and her research group presented multiple abstracts from their recent hoof research conducted at the RVC's Structure and Motion Laboratory:


(Click the title link to open the abstract page; all BEVA abstracts were published on a free-to-view basis.)

Also in 2016, Professor Weller's research group contributed to the International Conference on Equine (and Canine) Locomotion (ICEL), held in London. Among the Weller-related abstracts were these presentaions:



(Click the title link to open the abstract page; all BEVA abstracts were published on a free-to-view basis.)

This year she also has been an author of the peer-reviewed Veterinary Journal paper, Changes in movement symmetry over the stages of the shoeing process in military working horses and the Equine Veterinary Journal's Lungeing on hard and soft surfaces: Movement symmetry of trotting horses considered sound by their owners, among others.

Into the future, the Royal Veterinary College has launched a new research program for farriers, the Graduate Diploma in Equine Locomotor Research (Grad Dip ELR), which will welcome an expected 2017 class of 20 researchers who are also professional farriers.


To learn more:

Click here to view an edited, linked list of Professor Weller's publications on equine lameness, distal limb imaging, biomechanics and foot research up to 2016.

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing; Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is the news service for Hoofcare and Lameness Publishing. Please, no re-use of text or images on other sites or social media without permission--please link instead. (Please ask if you need help.) The Hoof Blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a headlines-link email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page). Use the little envelope symbol below to email this article to others. The "translator" tool in the right sidebar will convert this article (roughly) to the language of your choice. To share this article on Facebook and other social media, click on the small symbols below the labels. Be sure to "like" the Hoofcare and Lameness Facebook page and click on "get notifications" under the page's "like" button to keep up with the hoof news on Facebook. Questions or problems with the Hoof Blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.  
Follow Hoofcare + Lameness on Twitter: @HoofBlog
Read this blog's headlines on the Hoofcare + Lameness Facebook Page
 
Disclosure of Material Connection: The Hoof Blog (Hoofcare Publishing) has not received any direct compensation for writing this post. Hoofcare Publishing has no material connection to the brands, products, or services mentioned, other than products and services of Hoofcare Publishing. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.