By setting up the world’s first veterinary training institutions, BOURGELAT created the veterinary profession itself. Thus, 2011 will also mark the 250th world anniversary of the veterinary profession.

Bourgelat’s genius did not stop there. As a result of his fruitful collaboration with surgeons in Lyon, he was also the first scientist who dared to suggest that studying animal biology and pathology would help to improve our understanding of human biology and pathology. 2011 will also mark the 250th anniversary of the concept of comparative pathobiology, without which modern medicine would never have emerged.

Therefore, it is not just the anniversary of the creation of veterinary training that we should be celebrating in France in 2011. The entire world should join with us in celebrating our veterinary profession, which has been working to improve both animal and human health for the past 250 years.

Veterinary institutions around the world will be celebrating World Veterinary Year with a number of events throughout the year, culminating in the 30th World Veterinary Conference in Cape Town on 10-14 October 2011.