About Us
ISVPS was set up in 2003 by a group of like-minded veterinarians with the principal objective to provide attainable, balanced qualifications for veterinary practitioners working in full-time practice. The General Practitioner Certificates and Nurses Certificates were designed to meet the needs of busy veterinary practitioners and nurses wanting to gain a postgraduate qualification without having to take excessive time out of their busy working lives.
Who are ISVPS?
The ISVPS team comprises a board of directors, an experienced Head of Exams and Qualifications, a dedicated Academic Manager, a team of Exam Delivery Specialists and dedicated advisors for each country, an academic board and a team of Specialist examiners.Our Exam Delivery and Advisors teams provide support and advice throughout your assessment and examination process. The academic board consists of 10 veterinary specialists from different clinical disciplines from around the world.
This ISVPS team approach ensures that our assessment and examination methods are continually reviewed and scrutinised to achieve the highest standards and to ensure they remain highly, clinically relevant. We also want to ensure that they are relatable to busy clinical practice and the challenges that brings. All of our training providers’ courses are accredited by us to ensure that you receive the highest standards of CPD provision at all times. As part of the accreditation process we ensure our training providers use our ISVPS approved pool of Speakers to maintain the highest level of interactive and inspiring CPD.
The Academic Board
The ISVPS academic board comprises 10 international veterinary specialists who are each highly recognised in their specialist area of interest. This includes specialists from different disciplines from all over the world. The academic board also provides invaluable insight into the continuing education and assessment requirements in different demographics, thus allowing ISVPS to develop new, cutting-edge assessment methods. ISVPS strives constantly to ensure that all of our General Practitioner Certificates are standardised internationally but we also recognise there are some geographical differences that must also be accounted for to ensure fair assessment of knowledge and skills of our candidates around the world.
Academic Board Members
Tim Charlesworth (Academic Chairman)
John Houlton (Small Animal Surgery, UK)
Emma O’Neil (Small Animal Medicine, UK)
Mary Fraser (Nurses Certificates, UK)
Nicki Grint (Anaesthesia and Analgesia, UK)
Guido Pisani (Small Animal Surgery, Italy)
ISVPS Senior Team
Dr Charlotte French MA VetMB BSc (ARCS) PGCVetEd FHEA MRCVS studied veterinary medicine at Cambridge, following a first degree in Zoology. She has since spent more than 25 years working in both mixed and small animal practice and in shelter medicine. She has worked extensively in veterinary education, training veterinary nurses and developing curricula at diploma and degree levels. She has also worked with awarding bodies. In 2017 she completed a postgraduate certificate in Veterinary Education from the RVC and was awarded Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy. She joined Improve Veterinary Education in 2020 and is ISVPS Academic Manager, overseeing the development and quality of all assessments.
ISVPS Country Representatives
Hélder is originally from Vila Nova de Gaia and concluded his Business Administration studies in 2013 when he first started working in Education Management. Before joining ISVPS as Examination coordinator for Spain and Portugal, he worked in Online Education as an instructor and academic adviser. In his spare time he loves travelling, playing musical instruments and spending time with his dog.
ISVPS Support Team
Accreditation Committee:
To achieve ISVPS accreditation a course provider must provide/fulfil the set criteria, which is evaluated by the accreditation committee. Please refer to the accreditation page for further details.
Validation Review Panel:
This is not a formal committee of ISVPS but is an integral part of the examination process. The Validation Review Panel is responsible for reviewing and benchmarking all submitted examination questions. Members of the Validation Review Panel are General Practitioner Certificate holders and academics.
