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IN MEMORIUM
advisory and management roles. He served on the British Small Animal Veterinary Association council and was President in 1970/71. He was a member of the BVA council and president in 1974/75. He was appointed a fellow of the Institute of Biology in 1988 and was master of the Worshipful Company of Farriers in 1989/90. He also served terms on the council of the Association of Veterinary Teachers and Research Workers.
Most significantly, he exercised major influence on equine welfare as a member of the management and scientific committees of the Home of Rest for Horses (now The Horse Trust). As a trustee and honorary treasurer, he was heavily involved in setting up its research grants programme. Under his leadership, the charity provided funds for building equine facilities at the universities of Cambridge, Edinburgh and Glasgow, and at the RVC. His work in these enterprises led to the award of a professorship by the University of Glasgow.
He served as a member of the RVC council for 25 years (1975 to 1999), much of it as vice-chairman. He oversaw many College developments, notably at the Potters Bar site. In July 2012, he was appointed an honorary fellow of the RVC for his outstanding service in the field of animal health and welfare.
He served as an elected member of the RCVS council, serving as chairman of the examinations committee and the laboratory animals science board.
In the early stages of his career he published many papers on veterinary science, anaesthesia and pharmacology. When his own research activities were replaced by his leadership and management roles, he continued to serve clinical medicine as editor of the Journal of Small Animal Practice and as a member of the editorial board of the Equine Veterinary Journal.
Derek’s career was multifaceted and characterised by leadership of, and support for, his profession.
In his limited spare time, he enjoyed gardening, reading, music, and DIY activities, as well as breeding cattle and horses. There are many members of the profession, and those associated with it, who owe their own advancement to his kindness, support and interventions. It is a mark of his humanity that he took great pleasure in observing the progress of those he had helped.
In mourning his passing, we celebrate the life of a gifted and committed veterinarian.
We would like to say a huge thank you to Derek’s family for their support of our current students. Derek’s family have endowed a fund
to the RVC to allow us to award a prize each year at Graduation for the ‘Best RP2 Project of All’ in his memory. This year’s Derek Tavernor prize went to Rhian Jeffreys at our Graduation ceremony in July. Derek’s daughter Angie was there to see the prize being awarded.
JONATHAN FORREST
Many members of staff and alumni will remember Jonathan Forrest, who worked with us as Director of Development and ACT from 2007/8 to 2013. After a long and brave fight against cancer, Jonathan passed away on 8th May this year. Jonathan was key in the commissioning and delivery of the life sized bronze of Sefton to the Hawkshead Campus in 2013. He will be sadly missed by his family and all of us at the RVC who remember him fondly, both for his contribution to the College and as a colleague and friend.
KATE BORER-WEIR
Written by Kathy Clarke and colleagues
although a shared love for football, in particular as played by Liverpool, may have had something to do with it! On qualifying, Kate spent two years working in mixed practice in Essex, before coming to the RVC as Resident in Equine Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, funded by the Horses Trust. The majority of Kate’s work was with horses, and she was a leading light among a dynamic group of young equine vets who were interested in equine anaesthesia and medicine – in particular Gayle Hallowell, Mark Bowen and John Burford, of whom took their Certificates in Veterinary Anaesthesia (as of course did Kate) but have since made their mark in the field of equine medicine and surgery respectively. With this hard working, enthusiastic but always cheerful group, the atmosphere in the equine department was superb for all staff and students, despite the long hours and night work required.
Kate’s equine research project looked at the use of hyoscine as a short acting anticholinergic drug to treat bradycardia in equine anaesthesia. During her Residency, Kate also spent a month at a big equine practice (Troytown) in Ireland to get more experience of intensive care in foals. The small animal requirements of her Residency were achieved by placements in the Queen Mother Hospital, where she became a valued member of the team; indeed they were always sad to see her return to Equine.
At the end of her Residency, Kate obtained her ECVAA (she was the first anaesthesia Resident from the RVC to pass the ECVAA examination), and also the RCVS Diploma in Veterinary Anaesthesia (the last year this exam was held). She then was appointed a Lecturer in Veterinary Anaesthesia by the RVC, working both in the equine and small animal hospitals. She loved teaching, both lecturing and teaching anaesthesia around cases to Residents, undergraduate students and nurses. She supervised and co- supervised several Residents and was an excellent mentor of Residency research projects, resulting in a number of peer review papers in a variety of anaesthesia topics. In clinics she was always a pleasure with whom to work, and in particular she really cared about her nursing staff. She was part of the 2005 team to perform anaesthesia for cardiopulmonary bypass surgery in a clinical case. It was a huge joint effort from RVC teams supported by the Colorado State University, and this pioneering work has paved the way for the current cardiopulmonary open-heart surgery programme at the RVC. Kate also played her part in the administration of the anaesthesia speciality, contributing to examinations, and twice being part of the organisational team when London hosted AVA meetings.
We are very sorry to inform her very many friends in the veterinary anaesthetic community of the death of Kate Borer-Weir following a very short illness (very aggressive angiosarcoma).
Kate qualified as a vet from Liverpool University in 1999 and was inspired by Prof Ron Jones to specialise in anaesthesia -
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