Symposium
One Respiratory Health
40th Veterinary Comparative Respiratory Society (VCRS) Symposium
VCRS 2022 will be held from October 2-5, 2022, in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Hybrid conference with the option of virtual attendance.
Symposium themes
- COVID in animals and animal models of COVID
- Lung inflammation and lung injury
- Interdisciplinary research and animal models
- One rural lung health
- Biomedical engineering advances for respiratory health
Key dates for VCRS 2022
Date | Activity |
May 1, 2022 | Call for scientific abstracts |
June 1, 2022 | Registration for VCRS 2022 opens |
June 30, 2022 | Deadline for submission of scientific abstracts |
August 15, 2022 | Final decision regarding scientific abstracts |
August 26, 2022 | Deadline for submission of late-breaking scientific abstracts |
September 1, 2022 | Final decision regarding late-breaking scientific abstracts |
October 2, 2022 | Equine airway endoscopy and sample collection wet lab (Ryan/Dubé Equine Performance Centre, WCVM) |
October 3-5, 2022 | VCRS 2022 (Holiday Inn Express and Suites, Saskatoon) |
VCRS 2022 is sponsored by:

Registration
Registration for VCRS 2022 is now open! Please click on the green button below to register for the hybrid conference.
If you have trouble completing your VCRS 2022 registration, please contact the USask Event Registration Office: conference.events@usask.ca.
Program
Equine airway endoscopy and sample collection wet lab
Ryan/Dubé Equine Performance Centre, WCVM
Approved by the Saskatchewan Veterinary Medical Association (SVMA) for 5.0 CE credits
Registration opening soon
9:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m. | Tracheal wash and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) | Dr. Julia Montgomery, Associate Professor, Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, WCVM, University of Saskatchewan |
11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. | Lunch presentation: Aservo EquiHaler | Dr. Doug Myers, Technical Services Veterinarian (Equine), Boehringer Ingelheim Canada |
1:00-3:00 p.m. | Upper airway endoscopy | Dr. James Carmalt, Professor, Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, WCVM, University of Saskatchewan |
Sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim Canada

Opening sessions
Please note: all times are listed as Central Standard Time (CST)
8:30 a.m.-8:40 a.m. | Welcome message | Dr. Gillian Muir, Dean, WCVM, University of Saskatchewan |
8:50 a.m.-9:40 a.m. | Keynote presentation | Dr. Baljit Singh, Vice President Research, University of Saskatchewan |
9:40 a.m.-10:00 a.m. | Refreshment break |
Theme 1 | COVID in animals and animal models of COVID. Sponsored by Zoetis.
10:00 a.m.-10:50 a.m. | Presentation title TBA | Dr. John Hardham, Director, Center for Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, Zoetis |
11:00 a.m.-11:50 a.m. | Presentation title TBA | Dr. Darryl Falzarano, Research Scientist, Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization, and Adjunct Professor, Department of Veterinary Microbiology, WCVM, University of Saskatchewan |
11:50 a.m.-12:05 p.m. | Presentation title TBA | Dr. Karen Stasiak, Senior Manager, Veterinary Medical Affairs, Zoetis |
12:05 p.m.-1:30 p.m. | Lunch |
Theme 2 | Lung inflammation and lung injury
1:30 p.m.-2:20 p.m. | Presentation title TBA | Dr. Gurpreet Aulakh, Fedoruk Chair in Imaging Science, Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, WCVM, University of Saskatchewan |
2:30 p.m.-3:20 p.m. | Presentation title TBA | Dr. Mallar Bhattacharya, Associate Professor, School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco |
3:20 p.m.-3:45 p.m. | Refreshment break | |
3:45 p.m.-5:15 p.m. | Scientific abstracts |
Theme 3 | Interdisciplinary research and animal models
Please note: all times are listed as Central Standard Time (CST)
8:30 a.m.-9:20 a.m. | Presentation title TBA | Dr. Juan Ianowski, Associate Professor, and Dr. Julian Tam, Assistant Professor, USask College of Medicine |
9:30 a.m.-10:20 a.m. | Presentation title TBA | Dr. Caroline Zeiss, Professor, Yale School of Medicine Presentation sponsored by the Western College of Veterinary Medicine (WCVM) |
10:20 a.m.-10:50 a.m. | Refreshment break |
Theme 4 | One rural lung health
10:50 a.m.-11:40 a.m. | Presentation title TBA | Dr. Shelley Kirychuk, Associate Professor, USask College of Medicine, and Canadian Centre for Health and Safety in Agriculture |
11:50 a.m.-12:20 p.m. | VCRS grant recipient presentation | Speaker TBA |
12:20 p.m.-1:30 p.m. | Lunch | |
1:30 p.m.-1:45 p.m. | Sponsorship presentation | |
1:45 p.m.-3:00 p.m. | Scientific abstracts | |
3:00 p.m.-3:30 p.m. | Refreshment break | |
3:30 p.m.-4:30 p.m. | Scientific abstracts | |
6:00-9:00 p.m. | VCRS banquet and awards |
Theme 5 | Biomedical engineering advances for respiratory health
Please note: all times are listed as Central Standard Time (CST)
9:00 a.m.-9:50 a.m. | Presentation title TBA | Dr. Scott Echols, President, Scarlet Imaging |
10:20 a.m.-11:10 a.m. | Presentation title TBA | |
11:20 a.m.-12:10 p.m. | Presentation title TBA | Dr. Anderson Tyan, Assistant Professor, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan |
Thank you for attending VCRS 2022. Rendez-vous à Montréal en 2023!
Speakers
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Venue and accommodations
The venue for VCRS 2022 is the Holiday Inn Express & Suites, located across from the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Sask.
A block of rooms has also been reserved at the Holiday Inn Express & Suites. To make a reservation, please contact the hotel using the information below.
- Click here to use the group booking link (booking code: VCR). Cutoff date: Sept. 2, 2022.
- Click here to learn more about the hotel's amenities.
Holiday Inn Express & Suites
1838 College Drive, Bldg# 2
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 2Z8
Phone: 306-954-1250 | Toll-free: 877-660-8550
Travel to Saskatoon
The city of Saskatoon has the John G. Diefenbaker International Airport with direct flights from Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver. Click here to view the Saskatoon airport's website.
Airlines flying to Saskatoon include Air Canada (Star alliance member) and WestJet (code share partners).
Please note: COVID-19 vaccination with a Health Canada-approved vaccine is required for all domestic flights in Canada and for entry into Canada.
Click here to view the list of Health Canada-approved COVID-19 vaccines.
Requirements for international travellers
Click here to view the current Government of Canada travel and testing requirements (as of June 2022).
At this time, fully vaccinated travellers as defined here do not need a negative COVID-19 test. However, we recommend you stay up to date with entry requirements as they may change at short notice. All travellers are required to create an ArriveCAN account or download the ArriveCAN app. Click here for more details about the ArriveCAN.
Trade show
VCRS 2022 includes a trade show that will be held on Monday, Oct. 3, and Tuesday, Oct. 4, in the symposium's conference room at Holiday Inn Express & Suites (High Up Above A and B). Please note: the trade show is in person only.
If your organization would like to participate as a trade show exhibitor, click here to view the application information.
Questions? Contact:
Dr. Julia Montgomery, VCRS President
julia.montgomery@usask.ca
Call for abstracts
- Abstract submission opens: May 1, 2022
- Deadline for submitting abstracts: June 30, 2022
- NEW! Deadline for late-breaking abstracts: August 26, 2022
The VCRS invites submissions of abstracts for inclusion in the scientific program of the 40th VCRS Symposium that will take place in Saskatoon, Sask., from October 2 to 5, 2022.
Abstracts received will be peer-reviewed by a sub-committee of the VCRS Board according to the following criteria:
- subject category
- scientific content
- experimental design
- adherence to abstract guidelines
Accepted abstracts will be selected for oral or poster presentation. Previously published abstracts will not be accepted. For those abstracts selected for oral presentation, duration of the presentation will be 12 minutes plus three minutes for questions.
Please use the abstract submission form. Please submit to julia.montgomery@usask.ca no later than June 30, 2022.
VCRS calls for late-breaking scientific abstracts
Updated Aug. 12, 2022
The Veterinary Comparative Respiratory Society (VCRS) is calling for late-breaking scientific abstracts, which will allow summer research projects to be included in the symposium.
All accepted late-breaking scientific abstracts will be selected for the poster presentation. Only in-person poster presentations will be allowed.
The submission deadline for late-breaking scientific abstracts is August 26, 2022. The VCRS will annouce its decision on September 1, 2022.
Please use the late-breaking scientific abstracts submission form below. Please submit to julia.montgomery@usask.ca no later than August 26, 2022.
Click here for additional information about VCRS and to become a member.
Click green buttons below to download abstract information and the abstract submission forms.
About VCRS
The Veterinary Comparative Respiratory Society (VCRS) is a not-for-profit organization whose purpose is to provide a forum for the discussion of the anatomy, physiology and pathophysiology of the respiratory system, and the diagnosis and treatment of respiratory disease in all animals.
Membership is open to anyone with an interest in comparative respiratory systems, including veterinarians, physicians, physiologists, pathologists, respiratory therapists, and other allied health professionals.
Contact
For more information, please contact:
Dr. Julia Montgomery
President, VCRS
julia.montgomery@usask.ca