The 12th Congress of the World Equine Veterinary Association (WEVA) is scheduled to be held in the historic city of Hyderabad, India, Nov. 2-6, 2011. More details relating to the biennial WEVA congress are available at weva2011india.com. The year 2011 has been designated World Veterinary Year, celebrating the 250th anniversary of the opening of the first veterinary school in Lyons, France.

The conference organizers have been fortunate to attract some of the world’s leading veterinary authorities to present across the gamut of equine veterinary disciplines. Some of the featured speakers include world authorities in their area of interest and include:

• Dennis Brooks, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACVO;
• Jean-Marie Denoix, DVM, PhD;
• Sue Dyson, MA, VetMB, PhD, DEO, FRCVS;
• David Frisbie, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACVS;
• Robert Hunt, DVM;
• Derek Knottenbelt, BVM&S, DVM&S, MRCVS, Dipl. ECEIM;
• Michelle LeBlanc, DVM, Dipl. ACT;
• Steve O’Grady, BVSc, MRCVS;
• Ed Robinson, BVetMed, PhD;
• Steve Reed, DVM, Dipl. ACVIM;
• Juan Samper, DVM, MSc, PhD, Dipl. ACT; and
• John Walmsley, MA, Vet MB, Cert EO, Dipl.ECVS, Hon. FRCVS, to mention a few.

Overall there will be more than 60 featured speakers from all corners of the globe. This program will be supported by a large number of scientific abstracts, two days of concurrent small animal sessions, and a lay program designed for horse owners and trainers.

The Congress will be held at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre (HICC), the first purpose-built, state-of-the-art conference facility in South Asia. The HICC is the first Green Globe certified convention center in India attesting to the center’s environmentally friendly nature. The HICC is linked to the Novotel Hyderabad Convention Centre, which opened in 2006 and is a flagship hotel for Accor Hotels, India. The hotel complex covers 15 acres, and features 287 rooms and all the usual accoutrements expected in a world class hotel. The Novotel and HICC are in Hyderabad’s information technology (IT) hub, which is just a 22-mile (and about 45-minute) drive from the recently opened Rajiv Ghandi International Airport, India’s sixth busiest airport. There are direct flights to Hyderabad from cities including Chicago, London, Frankfurt, Dubai, Singapore, and Bangkok, among others. Additionally, there are a myriad of regular connections from other major cities in India and South Asia