The American Veterinary Medical Association’s (AVMA) American Board of Veterinary Specialties has provisionally recognized the American College of Veterinary Nephrology and Urology (ACVNU) as veterinary medicine’s newest specialty discipline. Decades in the making, the charge for ACVNU’s establishment was led by Dr. Larry Cowgill, a professor at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, along with an organizing committee of leading experts in the field.

Dr. Cowgill and the ACVNU’s organizing committee believe the discipline of urinary disease is now sufficiently robust and scientifically endowed to provide this advanced expertise to the veterinary profession, clients, and patients.

“We have dedicated leadership now for this specialty,” said Dr. Cowgill. “With that critical mass now to populate the field, we can continue our advancements in therapeutic expertise and train more professionals to continue this specialty.”

ACVNU aims to provide specialized diagnostic and therapeutic options for patients, a unique training vision in the form of a 2-year residency, and an advanced standard of care for the management of urinary disease.  

UC Davis will play a vital role in that training.

Dr. Cowgill, a pioneer in the field, will serve as ACVNU’s first president. Over the past 40 years, he has helped UC Davis evolve into a world leader in renal medicine and extracorporeal (outside of the body) therapies. He also established the first veterinary centers where clinicians can receive advanced training in kidney disease and procedures such as hemodialysis and therapeutic plasma exchange.

To that end, the UC Davis Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital (VMTH) and its Southern California satellite facility, the UC Veterinary Medical Center – San Diego (UCVMC-SD), will be prominent initial training centers for ACVNU and will likely establish the initial benchmark for training programs.

Dr. Cowgill leads the VMTH’s Hemodialysis and Blood Purification Unit and UCVMC-SD’s Advanced Extracorporeal (Hemodialysis) and Urinary Disease Service, both advanced, state-of-the-art centers for the treatment of urinary disease. These UC Davis locations were the first and currently the most prominent locations in California for pets to receive hemodialysis and other advanced treatments for chronic kidney and urinary diseases.

According to an AVMA press release, ACVNU’s training program will be unique compared to other residencies. Unlike other residencies, ACVNU’s will require participants to already be board-certified in another specialty discipline or have four equivalent years of experience in nephrology and urology. Among the other differences will be the availability of a virtual training alternative so candidates do not have to relocate to a traditional training center.

“The advances we will make in nephrology and urology as a specialty will translate to other specialty groups and into general practice,” Dr. Cowgill said in the release. “We will establish new baselines for the diagnosis and management of disease, so it will have broad reach and effects across the entire profession and for the public – like every other specialty.”

ACVNU looks to begin the residency program at UC Davis in 2023.

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