Outside of companion animal practice, the largest employer
of veterinarians in the United States is the U�S� Department of
Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, but veterinarians
are found throughout government in roles where they contribute
to public health, the environment, and even homeland security, as
well as working in research and public policy�
Many veterinarians are engaged in work at the intersection of
both human and animal health� For example, veterinarians play
an important role in food safety, where epidemiological research
is crucial to forecasting the threat of foodborne diseases and
outbreaks. They work to keep cattle and other food animals
healthy by developing and testing various farm control methods
that help to detect, limit, and prevent the spread of food that
might be contaminated by salmonella, E. coli, or other pathogens�
And they are often on the frontlines of surveillance where their
extensive medical training can help them to detect and treat the
outbreak of diseases that have the potential to make the jump
from animals to humans�
Career Opportunities
Most often when you think of veterinarians you think of them
as clinicians in private practice working with small companion
animals such as cats and dogs, or out in rural areas working
with production animals or horses� However, veterinarians have
careers in many other sectors as well� Below lists some of the
areas where you will nd career opportunities as a veterinarian:
• Private practice, where about two-thirds of veterinarians
in the United States work. There are many types of private
practices, ranging from small animal exclusive, exotics,
equine exclusive, and food animal exclusive to mixed
animal practices that would work with all species�
• Corporate veterinary medicine, for example, with
corporations that provide veterinary care, test human
drugs for safety, or produce animal-related products�
• The federal government employs veterinarians through
the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA),
National Institutes of Health (NIH), Centers for Disease
Control (CDC), and Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
working on biosecurity, environmental quality, public
health, meat inspection, regulatory medicine, agricultural
animal health, or the investigation of disease outbreaks�
• The U.S. Army Corps and U.S. Air Force offer career
opportunities in areas such food safety and military working
dog veterinary medicine. The military also provides advanced
training in specialty areas for those who commit to service�
• Research, either in a university setting or with companies
that produce animal-related products or pharmaceuticals�
• Teaching, either in academia or non-professional
schools� With 40 percent of aging faculty in academia
eligible for retirement over the next 10 years, projections
indicate an increasing need for qualied academics
to teach in all disciplines of veterinary medicine�
• Public health, particularly with governmental agencies such as
the United State Public Health Service, which works to control
the transmission of animal-to-human (zoonotic) diseases.
• Food supply medicine, with either the government
or a food animal company�
• Global veterinary medicine, in private practice or with
international agencies working in areas such as food
production and safety or emerging diseases�
• Public policy, working for governments on animal and
zoonotic diseases, animal welfare, public health issues,
or as consultants with nongovernmental agencies�
• Shelter medicine, working with communities and
private or public agencies to ensure the health and
well-being of animal populations housed in shelters�
Job Outlook
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics the job market for
veterinarians is predicted to grow 20 percent from 2022 to 2032�
This is much higher than the growth rate for all occupations,
which is 3 percent for the same timeframe� Also, there are always
new career opportunities for veterinarians as veterinary medicine
continues to expand into areas such as cancer treatment,
radiation therapy, physical therapy, and other specialty areas that
are present in human medicine�
Specialties
The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) recognizes
many specialties within veterinary medicine. These include
anesthesia, animal welfare, behavior, dentistry, dermatology,
emergency and critical care, internal medicine cardiology, internal
medicine neurology, internal medicine oncology, laboratory
animal medicine, microbiology, nutrition, ophthalmology,
pathology, pharmacology, poultry veterinarians, preventative
medicine, radiology, sports medicine and rehabilitation, surgery
orthopedics, surgery soft tissue, theriogenology, toxicology,
veterinary practitioners (including avian, equine, beef cattle,
feline, canine/feline, exotic companion mammal, food animal,
dairy, reptile and amphibian, and swine health management),
and zoological medicine. You can nd out more about these
specialties at the AVMA website: avma.org/public/YourVet/
Pages/veterinary-specialists.aspx. To become a specialist,
additional training is required beyond that of the DVM degree and
additional examinations must be passed to evaluate skills in the
specialty area�
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