Weighing the evidence 

Do you need to assess scientific information as part of your role as a clinician, animal health company technical services veterinarian, government veterinarian or academic?

If so, this workshop is for you - by providing a practical approach to assessing technical evidence through the lens of evidence-based veterinary medicine.

This workshop will:

• Introduce evidence-based veterinary medicine
• Teach you how to find reputable peer-reviewed information
• Provide guidelines on how to assess and evaluate research studies and other technical information
• Give you practice in assessing some papers in your area of interest.

This course will be taught by experienced veterinarians with clinical and academic backgrounds including Prof Mark Stevenson (University of Melbourne), Dr Chris Compton (Massey University) and Dr Scott McDougall(Cognosco, Anexa Veterinary Services).

Speakers

Chris Compton

Chris is a veterinary epidemiologist with a background in clinical practice and applied research, particularly in the dairy industry. He joined the EpiCentre within the School of Veterinary Science in 2017 after completing a PhD titled “The epidemiology of culling and mortality of New Zealand dairy cows”. Chris’ job title is “Senior Lecturer in Veterinary Epidemiology”. He spends most of his work time teaching and supervising under- and post-graduate students across topics related to production animal health management and epidemiology. Chris also manages and works with colleagues on a range of research projects for the EpiCentre, including some related to Mycoplasma bovis, kauri dieback disease and salmonellosis. Chris’ research interests are primarily those from his work and academic career with dairy cattle, namely mastitis, reproduction, nutrition, and metabolic disorders.

Scott McDougall

Scott is a Sydney veterinary graduate with postgraduate training in production medicine and a PhD in cattle reproduction from Massey University. He is a registered specialist in bovine reproduction and is a Professor at Massey Veterinary School.  Scott leads the research group at Cognosco, Anexa which undertakes applied research and extension work. His fields of expertise include treatment and control of mastitis, cattle reproduction, and antimicrobial usage and resistance.

Mark Stevenson

Mark is Professor of Veterinary Epidemiology at The University of Melbourne, overseeing a research group with a focus on infectious disease epidemiology, spatial epidemiology and diagnostic test evaluation. Trained as a veterinarian, Mark worked for ten years as a clinician in mixed animal practice. Following retirement from practice he completed a Master’s degree in veterinary epidemiology and a PhD in veterinary epidemiology working on the spatial epidemiology of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in the United Kingdom. Current research projects deal with Q fever in intensively managed dairy goat herds, development of fit-for-purpose surveillance systems to detect incursions of Varroa destructor into Australia, the epidemiology of injuries in racehorses and adaption of the Australian Animal Disease spread model to simulate the spread and control of bluetongue in ruminants.

Registration

This workshop is part of the lecture programme, however you must register for the workshop to ensure you are counted and resources are sufficient.

To register, you must register for at least one day (Wednesday 28 June) and then select the workshop.