BACKGROUND

In the past several years, we have perceived a growing in interest in the veterinary community about basic pain mechanisms. In 2007, University of California San Diego  (UCSD) in collaboration with the University of California Davis, initiated a course entitled “Veterinary Pain Short Course” The course was staffed by extremely competent basic scientist and clinicians.  It was accompanied by an exhaustive 380 page handout. The over whelming response to the course was extremely favorable. As a result we decided to consider delivering the course again every 4 years, now in 2012. 

We would note in passing that for the last ten years, the University of California San Diego has offered a successful and well-attended intensive review course of the anatomy, physiology, and pharmacology of the systems that mediate nociceptive processing in humans.  This lecture series has been open to physicians, residents, medical students, and graduate students, and forms an important foundation in the training of participants in the UCSD Center for Pain and Palliative Medicine Fellowship Program.  The role of translational medicine has always been emphasized in the human course, so the development of a Veterinary-specific Short Course has been a logical and exciting extension.