2023 AAVA Conference

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 At the University of Utah School of Medicine (UUSOM) Dr. Morton is a Professor of Neurobiology and serves as the Vice-Chair of Medical and Dental Education. He is a curriculum leader, directs multiple courses, and teaches anatomy, physiology, histology, and neuroanatomy to medical, dental, PA ,PT and OT students. Dr. Morton has received numerous teaching awards, including the American Association for Anatomy Henry Gray Distinguished Educator Award, the University of Utah Distinguished Teaching Award and the UUSOM Leonard W. Jarcho, MD Distinguished Teaching Award. His research interests and publications focus on the creation and incorporation of active learning activities and the use of cadavers in medicine. Dr. Morton authored multiple text books including The Big Picture: Gross Anatomy (Lange, McGraw Hill), The Big Picture: Histology (Lange, McGraw Hill) and Gray’s Dissection Guide for Human Anatomy (Churchill Livingston, Elsevier). His video tutorials on YouTube (The Noted Anatomist) have received over 21 million views with over 400K subscribers. Dr.Morton is an internationally recognized educator and speaker, a Fellow in the American Association for Anatomy and is a visiting professor to three medical schools in Ghana. 

 We had a great meeting that was filled with exciting and fruitful presentations. We welcomed everyone on Thursday with a warm reception. We all were excited to see our fellow anatomists. We started Friday with our wonderful keynote speaker presentation. It was informative, exciting, engaging, and enjoyable. We were thankful to have Dr. Morton as our keynote speaker. Presentations followed; they represented a mix of innovations in teaching anatomy, classic anatomical studies, and exotics anatomy as well as policy development. The trip to Crystal Bridges Art Museum was exceptionally enjoyable. We got to see one-of-a-kind art pieces, and we enjoyed dinner at the museum’s cafeteria. It was funny seeing many people accidentally ordering the same dish! I guess anatomists have a lot in common! On Saturday, we had a day full of more presentations. Attendees benefited from the embalming workshop and discussions. Attendees who intend to embalm got a head start. I offered onside help to whoever needed it. Attendees who have experience in embalming entertained a different perspective and walked away with new ideas. On Saturday night, we had a tasty dinner while enjoying a performance by Alexon, an incoming KSU student. The gavel was passed to me, and I officially became president then. I am thankful for the service provided by Dave Cross. He was a great AAVA president, and we will continue working together. The career opportunities workshop was beneficial to attendees. They learned that one cannot run out of job opportunities with a degree in veterinary anatomy. After the presentations on Sunday, we visited the Missouri Southern State University campus, including the cadaver lab. We ended the conference with a tour of Joplin's Kansas City University campus. It was a mistake putting this tour at the end. Whoever attended the tour stated that it was a big hit, and others missed it. We enjoyed seeing KCU's state-of-the-art buildings and equipment. The hundred thousands mannequins blow all away with their medical simulation abilities. Everyone enjoyed seeing KCU's state-of-the-art anatomy lab. The fancy cafeteria and coffee shop were closed because it was late on a Sunday. I hope everyone went home with ideas to apply in their own schools. The conference ended on Sunday afternoon. I enjoyed everyone’s company and looking forward to seeing everyone next meeting.

 Shireen Hafez, DVM, PhD, PGCertVetEd, FHEA, PgDipVetEd

 President- American Association of Veterinary Anatomists