American College of Veterinary Dermatology (ACVD): How to Become Board-Certified

A veterinary dermatologist is a veterinarian with additional training and expertise in the diagnosis and management of animal skin, ear, hair, nail, hoof, and feather disorders, with significant experience in skin disease as well as internal medicine, immunology and allergy.

ACVD certifies that expertise, and AVMA's list carries no named specialties under the college, so the diplomate count stands as a single figure: 416 active diplomates as of December 31, 2025.

ACVD's own FAQ puts the field at nearly four hundred people worldwide, working in private specialty practices, academic positions, and industry — a college-stated, worldwide figure, not the same measurement as the AVMA count above, which covers the United States.

The title that marks a certified dermatologist is Board Certified Veterinary Dermatologist.

The route runs through a veterinary dermatology residency, and the prerequisites are concrete: residency applicants must have completed a one-year internship or an equivalent period of practice.

The residency is not an add-on — ACVD's wording is that veterinarians specializing in dermatology must be accepted into and complete an approved 3-year residency program, which makes admission a gate before the training clock starts.

Stacked in sequence, the standard route is 4 years of structured training, and the credentials and examination stages fall in the residency's final year as ACVD's resident FAQ frames it: the credentials packet is due that June and boards follow in November.

The preparation requirement holds even when the setting is practice rather than an internship: the college's wording allows an equivalent period of practice to stand in for the internship year, so the path to the board-certified title does not have to route through a formal internship.

The residency carries its own credentialing workload.

During the program, requirements include an accepted case report, publication of original research, and presentation of original research at ACVD's annual conference.

The case report is a bounded document: a 20-page limit that does not include the title page, references, or the appendices.

Certification then runs through the examination — a candidate must apply for, be accepted to take, and pass the certifying examination.

The credentials packet is the hinge between the residency's work and that exam: packets are due June 1 for candidates planning to sit boards in November.

The dates ACVD publishes sit on its resident-resources FAQ page, and they may be specific to the current cycle — treat them as a planning sketch and confirm them for the cycle you would actually be in.

Case reports are due August 1 or January 15.

Research projects must be accepted for publication by June 30.

Credentials packets are due June 1 for those planning to sit boards in November.

Read together, the sequence pulls the certifying year's work inside the residency itself: a packet in by the first of June, research accepted for publication by the end of that month, boards in November.