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Veterinary Specialty Organizations

AVMA’s American Board of Veterinary Specialties lists 22 AVMA-recognized veterinary specialty organizations comprising 48 specialties (AVMA, retrieved 2026-09-23), and counts 20,636 active board-certified diplomates as of December 31, 2025 (AVMA).

Each page below sets out one organization’s specialties and its credentialing path, summarised from the college’s own documents with the college’s wording one click away.

American Board of Veterinary Practitioners (ABVP)1,182 active diplomatesAmerican Board of Veterinary Toxicology (ABVT)142 active diplomatesAmerican College of Animal Welfare (ACAW)75 active diplomatesAmerican College of Laboratory Animal Medicine (ACLAM)1,330 active diplomatesAmerican College of Poultry Veterinarians (ACPV)348 active diplomatesAmerican College of Theriogenologists (ACT)609 active diplomatesAmerican College of Veterinary Anesthesia and Analgesia (ACVAA)476 active diplomatesAmerican College of Veterinary Behaviorists (ACVB)99 active diplomatesAmerican College of Veterinary Clinical Pharmacology (ACVCP)75 active diplomatesAmerican College of Veterinary Dermatology (ACVD)416 active diplomatesAmerican College of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care (ACVECC)1,092 active diplomatesAmerican College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM)4,537 active diplomatesAmerican College of Veterinary Nephrology and Urology (ACVNU)0 active diplomatesAmerican College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists (ACVO)696 active diplomatesAmerican College of Veterinary Pathologists (ACVP)3,347 active diplomatesAmerican College of Veterinary Preventive Medicine (ACVPM)1,359 active diplomatesAmerican College of Veterinary Radiology (ACVR)850 active diplomatesAmerican College of Veterinary Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation (ACVSMR)301 active diplomatesAmerican College of Veterinary Surgeons (ACVS)2,588 active diplomatesAmerican College of Zoological Medicine (ACZM)371 active diplomatesAmerican Veterinary Dental College (AVDC)309 active diplomates

What Does Board-Certified Mean for a Veterinary Specialist?

A board-certified veterinary specialist is a diplomate of one of the AVMA-recognized specialty organizations listed above.

After the DVM and a state license, the usual path is an internship, typically one year, then a residency of two to three years in the chosen discipline, then the certifying exam set by that discipline’s college.

Pass, and the college grants diplomate status.

A license alone never makes anyone a diplomate.

Every stage, with match rates and pay, is in how to become a veterinary specialist.

Veterinary Specialist Career Guides

How Do You Become a Veterinary Cardiologist? Training, Board Certification and Pay →How Do You Become a Veterinary Microbiologist? Training, Board Certification and Pay →How Do You Become a Veterinary Neurologist? Training, Board Certification and Pay →How do you become a veterinary nutritionist? Training, board certification and pay →How Much Does a Veterinary Oncologist Make? →

An organization missing from this page has not been written up yet; it is not a statement about that organization.

For how the internship, residency and board-exam pipeline works across all of them, see how veterinary specialization works; for what board certification is known to pay, see specialist vs. GP earnings.

Veterinary technicians have a separate specialty credential, compared in the NAVTA-recognized VTS academies.