Home > 25th Anniversary of the ESVD:
25th Anniversary of the ESVD (1984-2009)
Hans Koch
The very first European Veterinary Dermatology congress
was held on September 19th, 1984 in Hamburg. It was the birth of the
ESVD which, since its infancy in 1984, has become one of the two largest
European clinical veterinary specialty associations, currently with 582
members.
Achievement of the 25th anniversary of the ESVD provides a good moment
to tell the story of how it began and what it was that lead to the
conception and creation of this dynamic organisation. Looking back,
there is no doubt that the origin of ESVD was based first and foremost
on personal friendship and passionate dedication to veterinary
dermatology.
My chronicle is personal and does not cover details of the times after
the first congress. It starts with a non-dermatological presentation
which I gave in April 1982 at the AAHA Annual Meeting in Las Vegas, USA,
held in conjunction with the Congress of the WSAVA. I had been invited
by “Veterinary Economics”, a journal for expert veterinary information
on practice management, to present my small animal veterinary hospital
in Germany which has an unusual design, based on honeycomb-like
hexagons, and other remarkable features.
During this congress I met George H. Muller, the main author and editor
of the first editions of “Small Animal Dermatology”, by many considered
as “the bible of veterinary dermatology”. He was born as Georg Heinz
Müller in Breslau, Germany (now Wrozlaw, Poland) and had emigrated with
his family as a young boy to the US. At the time when we met he was in
private practice in Walnut Creek, California and was visiting professor
for comparative dermatology at the Stanford University School of
Medicine, Palo Alto, California.
He spontaneously invited me and my wife, Heidi, for dinner on the next
day in a Swiss restaurant which was located opposite to the congress
centre. I remember being lost in the deep seats of the restaurant and
listening to Dr. Muller. Within less than a day he had made well-defined
plans for me and, even then, it occurred to me that he already had
rather substantial ideas about what European veterinary dermatology
should be like in the future.
He suggested that I should train to become a dermatologist and said that
he would help me in these endeavours. I felt that becoming a
dermatologist might be impossible for me since I had some difficulty
even to differentiate between simple ectoparasite species. But Dr.
Muller did not give in. He said that everybody could study to become a
dermatologist. But he warned that once the decision to be involved in
dermatology had been made, dermatology would never let go.
He told me that the initial origins of veterinary dermatology in the US
had come from Europe. He told me about Schindelka, a teacher at the
Vienna Veterinary School, who published his book, “Hautkrankheiten bei
Haustieren” (skin diseases in domestic animals), at the beginning of the
20th century, and Frank Kral, who had emigrated from Europe to the US.
Frank Kral had introduced veterinary dermatology to America as a “new”
discipline. As a professor for veterinary medicine at the School of
Veterinary Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, he had laid the basis
for modern veterinary dermatology.
George Muller felt that it was time to take veterinary dermatology back
to Europe where it had suffered so badly from the Second World War. He
said that he had already been looking for some time for a European
veterinarian who might have the potential to facilitate re-establishing
veterinary dermatology in Europe.
Six months later, in October 1982, George Muller accepted an invitation
to our home in Germany. I also invited a small group of veterinarians
from various places in Germany who had a special interest in
dermatology. These were highly recognized colleagues, amongst them
Ferenc Kasa, Carla Teerling and Bärbel Beardi.
George Muller presented clinical cases and diagnosed skin diseases on
live animals. My colleagues and I were extraordinarily impressed and
created the “Freundeskreis dermatologisch interessierter Tierärzte”
(FDIT, “Circle of veterinary friends interested in dermatology”), the
predecessor of the German Society of Veterinary Dermatology.
In November 1983, George Muller was invited to give a two-day seminar on
small animal dermatology at the Munich veterinary school. This was an
excellent opportunity for us to meet again in Germany and exchange
further ideas on the creation of European veterinary dermatology
structures. A journey before George Muller’s commitment in Munich took
us through several countries. We started from our home in Germany and
went to Paris, where we met with the prominent French dermatologists,
Didier Carlotti and Pierre Fourrier. It was my first encounter with Dr.
Carlotti. We went on to Bèze in Burgundy, where we stayed for a few days
in a medieval auberge, then to Antibes, where we met with the already
well-known dermatologist, Zeineb Alhaidari, and further to Florence,
where we spent a day with the owner of the veterinary hospital “Clinica
Veterinaria Europa”, Pirano Pizzirani, his sons (three of them
veterinarians!) and Alessandra Fondati, before ending our trip in
Munich. I remember Dr. Muller sitting with Alessandra Fondati in the
living room of the Pizzirani family and telling her about veterinary
dermatology and what to do to become a dermatologist. As many know she
followed his advice very successfully.
What an exciting trip! Dr. Carlotti, with all his enthusiasm and energy,
boosted our morale and our will to create a European structure for
veterinary dermatology. Incidentally, George Muller and I took the
chance during our stay in Paris to visit the “Académie des Sciences” and
search for recently disclosed scientific documents which had been
classified previously and described Berger’s discovery and description
of Demodex mites in the years 1841 and 1843. He had identified them as
members of the Tardigrada but had not given them a name.
The days we spent in the medieval auberge in Burgundy were exceedingly
creative. We sat in front of a wood fire and reviewed in the faint light
of an oil lamp a scheme for a European equivalent to the American
Academy of Veterinary Dermatology. Annual congresses, financial aspects,
the constitution and bylaws – many anticipated developments - were
discussed.
George Muller even outlined with a few brief strokes a logo for the
prospective organisation which showed a Demodex mite, although this was
never used.
We had a discussion about the name of the organization. Should it be the
“European Academy of Veterinary Dermatology” like our American
counterpart, or the “European Society of Veterinary Dermatology”? I
opted for “Society”, the word “Academy” sounded strange to my European
ears.
Another point for discussion was whether we should create a “European
association of national veterinary dermatology groups” rather than a
society with individual members. Bearing in mind that progress in the
development and the numbers of members amongst veterinary dermatology
groups in Europe was quite uneven, I was strongly in favour of an
organisation with members independent of national origins. This would
guarantee equal opportunities to individual members of the European
organisation.
Dr. Carlotti and I expanded our contacts. He challenged me to arrange a
dermatology meeting on the occasion of the WSAVA congress in Hamburg in
1984 and provided me a list of colleagues interested in veterinary
dermatology from all over Europe. It allowed me to organize the first
European Veterinary Dermatology Congress which took place on Sept. 19,
1984 in Hamburg. The congress was self funded and very costly despite
the fact that only 40 to 50 delegates participated at this first
meeting.
In order to learn about the status quo of veterinary dermatology in
various European countries invited speakers were asked to present a
short communication on a scientific subject and on the situation of
veterinary dermatology in each of their home countries.
Reports on the development and evolution of veterinary dermatology in
various European countries and in the US were presented by Ton Willemse
for the Netherlands, by David Lloyd for Great Britain, by Anna Rios for
Spain, by Britta Öhlen for Sweden, by me for Germany, by Ken P. Baker
for Ireland, by Claudia von Tscharner for Switzerland, by Pierre
Fourrier for France and by George H. Muller for the US.
Short (scientific) communications were given as follows: “Veterinary
Dermatology Specialty Practice” by G. H. Muller (US), “Canine Atopic
Dermatitis” by T. Willemse (NL), “Benzoyl peroxide treatment of pyoderma”
by D. Lloyd (UK), “Squamous cell carcinoma in white cats” by A. Rios
(Spain), “Zinc responsive dermatitis” by B. Öhlen (Sweden), “Zinc
responsive dermatosis” by H. Rodenbeck (Germany), “Nodular Granuloma of
possible fungal origin in an Irish draught horse” by K.P. Baker
(Ireland), “Pemphigus in the cat” by C. von Tscharner (Switzerland),
“Treatment of Notoedres cati with ivermectin” by B. Bigler
(Switzerland), “Video about autoimmune disease” by Y. Legeay (France)
and “Skin test in flea allergy dermatitis” by D. Carlotti (France).
The meeting was vivid and very successful. Never before had
veterinarians with such diverse dermatological and national backgrounds
exchanged information on their experience and work.
The founding assembly for the creation of ESVD took place in the evening
in the Hotel Hafen, Hamburg. The concept had been thoroughly prepared by
Dr. Muller and me and we invited founder members for the ESVD from
central European countries in order to save travel costs for future
board meetings. The founding members were Didier Carlotti and Pierre
Fourrier, both from France, David Lloyd from the UK, Ton Willemse from
the Netherlands, Claudia von Tscharner from Switzerland (in absentia)
and me.
On his way back to San Francisco Dr. Muller wrote a personal letter to
“Hans, Heidi and Dalai (our dachshund at that time)”, dated September
21, 1984. On the back of the first side he noted:
Again we accomplished everything we hoped for:
- Formation of the ESVD
- KOCH as Chairman
- 1985 Symposium – Paris
- 1986 “ Utrecht.
This is the first document - which I know of - recording “Formation of
the ESVD”.
Dr. Muller continued his interest in the fledgling ESVD. On June 16,
1985 he wrote from Walnut Creek, California:
“I will miss being with you in Paris at the European Veterinary
Dermatology Society (2nd annual ESVD meeting) – but I will be with you
in my thoughts. Hope the meeting will be well attended and a success. ….
….Please write me and tell me how the Paris meeting went …”
In the early years annual congresses were the main activities of ESVD.
The founding members worked hard, but always full of enthusiasm and joy,
and very effectively in developing the full potential of this new
organisation. Close personal friendships were made and continue to
thrive.
Many meetings were organized in our house in Burgundy. The ambiance of
the old building was inspiring and helped stimulate good collaboration.
The constitution and the by-laws of the American Academy of Veterinary
Dermatology were used as a model for our own constitution.
Our activities were soon extended to the organisation of CE-programs and
the creation of the Journal of Veterinary Dermatology - a particular
achievement by David Lloyd. The seeds were laid for the development of
the European College of Veterinary Dermatology and the organisational
structures for world congresses in veterinary dermatology. With its
manifold activities ESVD helped to create a very significant market for
veterinary dermatology products.
ESVD has far reaching effects on the veterinary world. ESVD members and
those trained by ESVD have helped to improve the quality of life of
millions of animals annually - in Europe and beyond - and continue to do
so.
2009 brings a moment for gratitude in the recognition that the 25-year
evolution of European Veterinary Dermatology has gone so exceptionally
well and promises much more in the future.
Hans Koch, March 2009
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