Science Week 4­ ‑ 6 July 2019

The Star, Gold Coast

Australia and New Zealand’s leading

cutting edge veterinary conference AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND COLLEGE OF VETERINARY SCIENTISTS VETERINARY ANAESTHESIA & ANALGESIA CHAPTER SPEAKER SPOTLIGHT

Craig Challen SC OAM - 2019 THURSDAY: 2:30PM - 3:30PM Safety and

This year the VAA Chapter’s conference theme is “Anaesthesia safety” and we are pleased to invite Craig Challen to share his diving experiences and relevance to safety and risk taking in the shared VAA & Small Animal Surgery stream.

Craig Challen is an Australian technical diver and cave explorer. A veterinary surgeon by profession, he was a joint founder of the Vetwest Animal Hospitals (later Australian Animal Hospitals) in 1993 and managed it until selling his interest and retiring in 2017. Notable cave explorations include the extension of Cocklebiddy Cave on the Nullarbor Plain of Australia in 2008 and the Pearse Resurgence in New Zealand over the last 10 years. He has additionally explored caves throughout Australia and New Zealand and in China, Thailand, Vanuatu and the Cook Islands.

After commencing cave diving in the he was an early adopter of closed-circuit mixed gas . Craig also has an avid interest in shipwreck diving and has explored sites over the last 15 years in the South China Sea, Solomon Islands, Australia, New Zealand, Mediterranean Sea, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. Craig is also an enthusiastic helicopter and aeroplane pilot.

In July 2018 Craig participated in the of 13 people in Thailand. For his contribution he was awarded the Star of Courage and the Medal of the Order of Australia. He has been named as REGISTER NOW the joint 2019 Australian of the Year.

Registrations are open and full preliminary conference program is now available VETSCIENCEWEEK.COM.AU | [email protected]