Veterinary Medicine Career Options

In addition to the many geographic choices available to the veterinary physician (D.V.M.’s are licensed in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico), there are a variety of settings or types of practices from which to choose.

• Private Practice: The majority of veterinarians are in private practice
• Teaching and Research: More than 3800 veterinarians teach at colleges and universities. Also, many veterinary faculty members conduct basic and clinical research, provide various services to the public, contribute to scientific publications and develop continuing education programs to help graduate veterinarians acquire new knowledge and skills.
• Regulatory Medicine: The two main responsibilities of veterinarians in this area are the control or elimination of certain diseases, and protection of the public from animal diseases that can affect people.
• Public Health: Help to prevent and control animal and human diseases and to promote good health. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) employs veterinarians to determine the safety and the efficacy of medicines and food additives.
• Uniformed Services: In the U.S. Army Veterinary Corps, veterinarians are responsible for biomedical research and development. In the U.S. Air Force Biomedical Science Corps, veterinarians manage communicable disease control programs at U.S. Air Force bases around the world to halt the spread of HIV, encephalitis, tuberculosis and other infectious diseases.
• Private Industry: Veterinarians working in pharmaceutical and biomedical firms develop, test and supervise the production of drugs, chemicals and biological products, such as antibiotics and vaccines for human and animal use.