A new award aims to ‘reward innovative and outstanding work' by a veterinarian, in the field of pain management in companion animals or horses. 

The Merial Animal Health sponsored initiative was announced at a recent Pain Management Symposium held in Croatia. 

Applications are now being invited for the first Merial European Pain Management Award. Case histories may relate to pain in connection with osteoarthritis, surgery, oncology or pain due to other causes. 

Dr Frédéric Beugnet, technical director at Merial, Lyon explained: "The objective is to share knowledge for a better understanding, recognition, scoring and control of pain in companion animals."

Worth €3000 to the winner, the 2008 award will be presented at the 2009 Merial Pain Management Symposium to be held next spring. Applications should be made in English in an electronic format and include a short abstract (max. 500 words) of the work the applicant wishes to submit, a CV and a completed application form. 

The deadline for submission is 1st November 2008. Application forms are available from Merial, please email: ukcompanionanimal@merial.com with "Merial Pain Management Award 2008" as the subject header.

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