However, role of junior vice-president still unfilled.

Sue Paterson has been elected as the new Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) president for 2023/24 and Tschidi Gardiner as treasurer following a vote by members of the RCVS Council at their March meeting.

Dr Patterson will take up her new role at the RCVS Annual General Meeting on 7 July 2023, subject to confirmation. She will replace Melissa Donald, who has been elected as senior vice-president.

The Council was also due to elect a junior vice-president. However, no candidates put themselves forward for the role, meaning that the election has been delayed until the June 2023 meeting.

For the past year, the role of junior vice-president has been filled by Dr Patterson, who is also a former president of the British Veterinary Small Animal Association and the European Society of Veterinary Dermatology.

Following her election to the role of president, Dr Patterson said: “As someone who failed to make the grades for vet school the first time around and was assured by numerous members of teaching staff that I should accept the fact that veterinary medicine was an unachievable dream, I would love to go back to that day of desperate disappointment on A-level results day more than 30 years ago and whisk them all into the future to 7 July this year.

“I am greatly looking forward to serving the veterinary professions as President and continuing to drive forward the great work we are already undertaking.”

As the new treasurer, Dr Gardiner will replace Niall Connell. She works in clinical practice in Abbotskerswell, Devon, and currently chairs the RCVS Diversity & Inclusion Group, is vice-chair of the Advancement of Professions Committee and serves on the College’s Audit & Risk and Standards Committees and the Primary Qualifications Subcommittee.

Dr Gardiner said: “I am very honoured to have been appointed as RCVS Treasurer and genuinely look forward to continuing Niall Connell's stewardship of the College’s finances with the support and accomplished brilliance of the RCVS Finance Team. I feel proud to be part of an RCVS Officer Team that will continue to oversee the management of college business, governance and management of resources. It is a huge responsibility and I do not take it lightly.” 

Image (C) RCVS