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Hello everyone!

I hope you are all doing well and staying healthy throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. In an effort to keep everyone as safe as possible, the VCS leadership determined that holding a virtual conference this year was the best option for everyone.

Our virtual conference will look very similar to last year as we hope to provide a good experience for all participants. The platform is the same so there will be less of a learning curve to contend with. If you are new to the virtual conference platform you will find it very easy to navigate. We will incorporate live and prerecorded sessions during the conference and shortly afterwards, you will find all presentations on the new VCS learning platform, nearly all of which will be CE-eligible, so that you can watch and still earn CE.

As always, we aim to provide the best, up to date oncology continuing education and we are excited that this year’s conference is poised to do just that. As we have done for several years, the Cytology Lab with Drs. Davis Seelig and Daniel Heinrich is back. Thankfully, the virtual format worked out very well for this session last year and we are happy that they will be back with us again to share their expertise.

Other sessions that you don’t want to miss include presentations by Dr. Laura Garrett who will give us some “Tools and tricks to help with client communication.” Be sure to check out the Panel Discussion on Friday morning featuring Dr. MK Kline, Lindsay Carroll and Anastasia Glahn who will share their thoughts on how to advocate for yourself in the workplace. Friday morning’s Technician Keynote session features Linda Ryan from the UK who will present “Quality of life and palliative care in cancer nursing: A welfare-centered approach.”

Throughout the technician workshop you will find sessions focused on clinical trials, imaging, cardiac tumors in dogs, as well as updates on chemotherapy safety. Saturday’s schedule includes topics such as critical care concerns, case report presentations, and sessions that will be valuable for beginning technicians as well as the more seasoned technicians. We will finish the technician workshop with a fun session exploring how to approach uncommon diseases.

We are so grateful for our technician workshop sponsors, Amatheon Animal Health, Epicur Pharma and Best Pet Rx. Each sponsor is scheduled to make a presentation within the workshop schedule so be sure to attend these, as well as a Thursday morning session presented by Elanco Animal Health.

Even though the general conference sessions run concurrently to the technician workshop, you can access all sessions at any time between November 4th and 6th and earn CE. If you miss something you can go back and watch it at a more convenient time in your schedule. Those who are unable to attend any of the sessions during the conference will have the opportunity to view and receive CE credit from the recorded sessions once they are available on our new learning platform.

I look forward to seeing you virtually and let’s keep our fingers crossed that sometime in the near future we will be able to once again enjoy our in-person meetings safely.

Brooke Quesnell, CVT, BS, VTS (Oncology)
2021 VCS Technician Workshop Program Chair