AVMA Experience

Elected by the Vermont Veterinary Medical Association to the AVMA House of Delegates in 2007, Karen served for 8 years. Throughout that time she was elected to the House Advisory Committee, served as a mentor to several AVMA Future Leader members, and was selected to chair the AVMA Governance Engagement Team.

House of Delegates

Dr. Karen Bradley was elected to serve as the alternate delegate from Vermont for 2008-2011 and delegate for 2012-2015, The House of Delegates is composed of AVMA members from 70 state and territorial, and allied veterinary medical groups. Association policies are set by the House of Delegates, made up of one delegate and one alternate delegate from each organization represented. The House of Delegates convenes each summer at the AVMA Annual Convention and each winter at the Veterinary Leadership Conference.

Governance Engagement Team

In 2012, the AVMA Executive Board created a TaskForce on Governance and Member Participation. This group worked diligently and produced a full report published in 2013, available here.
The EB then created the Governance Engagement Team (GET) and charged it to communicate and explain the AVMA governance proposal to all audiences (leadership and membership), solicit feedback, reconcile feedback received, and submit formal governance proposals and bylaws edits to the Executive Board. Dr. Bradley was appointed by the EB to serve as chair of this task force and served as such from July 2013-July 2014.

Future Leaders Program

Dr. Karen Bradley has served as a mentor for several of the AVMA Future Leaders Program participants, and has also participated in their year-end projects with lectures, panelist discussions, and podcasts. She is an avid supporter of this program and will work to see that it continues and is well supported by AVMA leadership.

House Advisory Committee

The AVMA House Advisory Committee (HAC) is the 7-member elected leadership of the HOD. Karen was honored to be the second woman elected to the HAC, in 2010. She was then elected by the HAC to serve as vice chair for 2011-2012 and chair 2012-2013. The HAC is charged to "consider all developments relating to veterinary medicine from a long-range viewpoint, be alert to the changing needs for and demands on the entire profession, and make recommendations to the House of Delegates and the Executive Board as to how these changing conditions can best be met for the overall welfare of the profession." As chair, she represented the HOD at the Executive Board (EB) and maintained consistent and open communication between the EB and HAC and the full HOD.