Who is who - the ESCG board
Get to Know the Faces behind ESCG - European Society of Comparative Gastroenterology
Our board consists of volunteer ECVIM-CA Diplomates with an interest in gastroenterology.
At the moment - as per the 2022 AGM that was held in Gothenburg - the board is composed of:
President: Dr. Valerie Freiche (since 2022)
Past- president: Dr. Linda Toresson (since 2022, president from 2020-2022)
Vice-president: Dr. Fabio Procoli (since 2022)
Member at large: Dr. Aarti Kathrani (since 2022)
Secretary and Treasurer: Floris Droes (since 2016)
Web-master: Dr. Silke Salavati (since 2019)
Valerie Freiche, DVM, PhD
President ESCG
Valérie graduated from Alfort National Veterinary School near Paris, France. After her graduation, she completed an internship and French internal medicine specialisation at the Department of Internal Medicine in the same Vet School. She defended her PhD project about the Comparative oncogenesis of indolent T-cell lymphoproliferative intestinal disorders in cats and humans. Nowadays Valerie is a member of the Internal medicine department of Alfort Vet School, and she is involved in clinical teaching and research. Her main interest is gastroenterology, particularly digestive oncology and interventional endoscopy. Her publication list consists of journal articles, research abstracts and book chapters.
Linda Toresson, DVM, PhD
Past-president ESCG
Dr. Toresson has mainly worked at the Evidensia Specialist Animal Hospital in Helsingborg, Sweden, where she served seven years as medical director. She left this position to perform an external part-time PhD at Helsinki University on oral cobalamin supplementation in dogs with chronic enteropathies. In 2018, she presented her thesis with distinction. She focuses on various aspects of chronic gastrointestinal disorders. Currently, she is a senior consultant in GI at the Evidensia Specialist Animal Hospital in Sweden. She is especially interested in cobalamin deficiency and supplementation, the intestinal microbiome, Faecal Microbiota Transplantation, Bile Acid Diarrhea and the link between emotional stability and chronic enteropathies. She is also a member of the Comparative Gastroenterology Society as well as several advisory boards, including the Scientific Committee of the Swedish Medical Product Agency.
Fabio Procoli, DVM
Vice-president ESCG
Fabio graduated in Veterinary Medicine from the University of Bari, Italy in 2003. In 2005 he moved to the United Kingdom where he worked as a small animal general practitioner for three years. In 2009 he completed a rotating internship in small animal medicine and surgery at the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Sciences at the University of Edinburgh. From 2009 to 2012 he completed a residency in small animal internal medicine at the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) of London. In the year 2012-2013 he completed a MPhil in canine gastroenterology at the RVC. In the year 2013 Fabio was awarded the Diploma of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (DipACVIM). In 2014 Fabio was awarded the Diploma of the European College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (DipECVIM-CA). From 2013 to 2017 Fabio worked as consultant in small animal internal medicine and gastroenterology in a referral hospital in Winchester, UK. From September 2017 Fabio heads the Internal Medicine Service of the Ospedale Veterinario I Portoni Rossi a referral hospital in Bologna, Italy.
Aarti Kathrani, BVetMed, PhD
Member at large ESCG
Aarti graduated from the RVC in 2006, before completing her rotating small animal medicine and surgery internship at the Queen Mother Hospital for Animals, RVC, in 2007 and her PhD in canine inflammatory bowel disease at the RVC in 2011. Aarti then completed a three year residency program in small animal internal medicine at Cornell University in 2014 and is a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine. She also completed a two year small animal clinical nutrition residency program at the University of California-Davis in 2016. She is a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Nutrition. Aarti was appointed as a Senior Lecturer in Small Animal Medicine at the University of Bristol between 2016 and 2018, before returning to the RVC in 2018.
Floris Droes, DVM
Secretary and Treasurer ESCG
In 2012 Dr. Floris Dröes graduated with honors for his DVM from Utrecht University (The Netherlands). Since he has worked in several private practices in The Netherlands, and at the emergency service of Utrecht University’s Department of Clinical Sciences of Companion Animals. In 2017 he finished his rotating internship at Dick White Referrals (United Kingdom), while also attaining a post-graduate certificate in small animal medicine and surgery with distinction from the University of Nottingham (United Kingdom). Afterwards he returned to work at the small animal emergency service of Utrecht University.
In 2019 Floris joined the Gastrointestinal Laboratory (Texas A&M University) to pursue a combined PhD and residency program in small animal internal medicine. His PhD research is focused on coagulation in patients with liver disease. He has special interest in all small animal gastroenterology and ECC (emergency and critical care).
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Silke Salavati, Dr.med.vet., PhD
Webmaster ESCG
Dr. Salavati has graduated from the Justus-Liebig University in Giessen, Germany, in 2003 and has since specialised in Small Animal Internal Medicine (EBVS ® European Veterinary Specialist in Small Animal Internal Medicine, also called Diplomate in ECVIM-CA) with the particular focus on gastroenterology. She has worked in both private and academic referral hospitals in Germany, at the Royal Veterinary College in London and is Senior lecturer at the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies in Edinburgh since 2016. She has a particular interest in canine inflammatory bowel disease, how this relates to pain and possible effects on behaviour, but also the use of alternative treatments like probiotics, prebiotics and faecal microbiota transplants. She has published over 20 scientific papers in the area, several book chapters and continues to lead and participate in studies "around the dog gut". She is also a member of the Comparative Gastroenterology Society and the past-president of the European Society of Comparative Gastroenterology and speaks at specialist conference as well as CPD events and webinars.