Vets of the Future

A surge in veterinary school programs is on the way to educate future veterinarians.

As the demand for veterinary services continues to soar, a number of new veterinary schools are set to open their doors in the coming years, poised to train the next generation of animal care professionals.

These programs, designed to address a nationwide shortage of veterinarians, will offer innovative curricula that integrate cutting-edge technology and hands-on experience in diverse clinical settings with an aim to equip aspiring veterinarians with the skills necessary to meet the evolving challenges of the profession.

Vet-Advantage spoke to several of these new veterinary school leaders about their plans.

Lincoln Memorial University College of Veterinary Medicine at Orange Park

Lincoln Memorial University College of Veterinary Medicine at Orange Park is currently in the accreditation process with AVMA-COE having completed a comprehensive site visit in January 2025.

“We are optimistic about receiving a Letter of Reasonable Assurance later this year,” said Kimberly Carney, DVM, MPH, DACVPM, CPH, CHES, who will serve as dean of the school’s program. “If accreditation proceeds as planned, we anticipate welcoming our first class in June 2026.”

The program will emphasize five key pillars – clinical and professional skills, a rigorous and engaging curriculum, research opportunities, community engagement and workplace-based clinical education.

“Hands-on clinical training begins the first semester and is aligned with the didactic curriculum,” Dr. Carney said. “Professional skills such as communication, leadership and practice management prepare graduates for a variety of career paths. A competency-based approach ensures students meet both clinical and academic benchmarks, while opportunities for research and community engagement enrich the educational experience.”

Research is an essential part of the curriculum with student groups developing and conducting small projects in a range of areas from shelter medicine or marine science to educational research or epidemiology. What’s more, the capstone experience of clinical rotations in a multitude of curated veterinary practices and facilities gives students an opportunity to explore a variety of practice models and specialties.

“There are a few things that really set us apart from other veterinary programs,” Dr. Carney said. “The majority of our didactic curriculum will be team-based learning. This engaging method of instruction develops critical thinking, team-building skills and clinical decision-making skills while students are learning core elements of the traditional veterinary curriculum. Moving from passive lectures to these smaller group exercises encourages deeper learning.”

Another unique part of the CVM at Orange Park is its proximity to the St. John’s River and the Atlantic Ocean, allowing the program to develop partnerships for aquatic and marine research.

“A final unique feature of the program is that it will be accelerated, so students will complete the program in three calendar years,” Dr. Carney said. “Students will start in June and have six continuous preclinical semesters followed by a year of clinical rotations. This will reduce both the time and financial burden of their education while allowing them to enter the workforce a year earlier than most programs.”

The program anticipates an inaugural class of 150 students, with plans to maintain this class size annually.

“Over time, we aim to expand our offerings, including residency programs and graduate research opportunities to meet the evolving needs of the profession,” Dr. Carney said.

Applications for the inaugural cycle will likely be handled on an independent platform in Fall 2025, as the VMCAS timeline would not provide sufficient time for applicants to complete their packets.

Lyon College School of Veterinary Medicine

Lyon College in Cabot, Arkansas is poised to train and graduate veterinarians ready and able to serve the veterinary health care needs of Arkansas into the future, create more small businesses and contribute to community and state economy.

“We are a small liberal arts college, and it was the right time to expand the portfolio,” said Eleanor M. Green, DVM, DACVIM, DABVP, founding dean of the program. “I got excited about it because there are many things different about it. Our program will be very innovative and I like to use the term, ‘we are reimagining veterinary education’ and creating future veterinarians who will understand the changing world we live in.”

For instance, the school will be a three-year-continuous program (nine straight semesters), allowing students to start their careers earlier. The program will also rely on simulations using virtual reality and augmented reality to help students in anatomy and pathology.

“We will also be on a distributive model, which will expose students to diverse clinical scenarios and offer them a wide range of clinical cases and allow them to work in a wide range of clinical settings with animals, which will help them develop a broader mindset,” Dr. Green said. “They will see real-world cases all the way through, and our rotations will be four weeks rather than the traditional two. It will also be a great networking opportunity.”

The program is currently building a faculty, which has been a challenge for all veterinary schools of late due to the national shortage.

“There are figures that show we are 2,000 faculty short in the U.S., and yet there are almost 10 new vet schools, so we know it’s a challenge,” Dr. Green said. “What we’re creating is an environment that I think faculty will love and hoping our innovation approaches will be a strong recruiting tool.”

The Lyon College School of Veterinary Medicine is hoping to open in the fall of 2026 or winter of 2027, and will carry a class size of 120.

Utah State University

The concept of a veterinary school at Utah State University goes back to 1907, when USU was known as the Agricultural College of Utah, and its trustees approved the creation of a veterinary school. At the time, veterinary schools were required to have at least four graduate veterinarians on the faculty, which the college lacked, so the veterinary school remained a concept until 2011.

That year, Utah’s legislature passed a bill funding the establishment of a new School of Veterinary Medicine, in partnership with Washington State University. In that program, USU’s veterinary students complete their first two years of study in-state, and then relocate to Pullman, Washington, for their third and fourth years. The last class in that partnership entered last fall and will graduate in 2028.

“At both the state and national level, there is a need for more veterinarians in all segments of the veterinary profession, including companion animal, mixed-animal, and rural/agricultural animal practice,” said Dirk Vanderwall, DVM, dean of USU’s College of Veterinary Medicine. “Utah State University intends to help address these needs, with a notable focus on developing practitioners to serve rural, food-supply veterinary medicine.”

The new four-year program will be a semi-distributed model of clinical education, placing fourth-year students in community-based private practices throughout Utah and the Intermountain West for real world, hands-on clinical training. Those opportunities will be provided by affiliated veterinary instructional partners.

“Our curriculum is based on core competencies expected of veterinarians on their first day in practice,” Dr. Vanderwall said. “We use a backwards design model where we start with the end in mind, where day-one competencies drive the content of the curriculum. We have received input from stakeholders – including veterinary practitioners, employers, and current and past students – on what these competencies should be to ensure our curriculum is relevant, comprehensive, and aligned with the needs of the profession.”

The program prioritizes hands-on clinical training and the development of clinical reasoning, ensuring that graduates can confidently perform essential tasks such as disease diagnosis, prevention and management, basic surgeries and emergency care.

“In addition to technical skills, our DVM curriculum is focused on the development of professional skills and well-being,” Dr. Vanderwall said. “Veterinarians often deal with emotionally charged situations and must communicate and collaborate effectively with animal owners, colleagues, and the public. We have introduced modules on communication, ethical and professional judgement, critical thinking, clinical reasoning, mental health resilience, practice management and financial decision-making to ensure our graduates are not only skilled clinicians but also well-rounded, compassionate caregivers.”

Utah State University completed an AVMA COE Comprehensive Site Visit at the end of October 2024 and is now awaiting the results. Construction is already underway on its new Veterinary Medical Education building that will be used for student instruction during their first three years in the program and is on track for opening in the summer of 2026.

The program anticipates accepting 40 students for its inaugural class, with the capacity in later years increasing to 80 students per year.

Shreiber School of Veterinary Medicine of Rowan University

The Shreiber School of Veterinary Medicine of Rowan University (SSVM), headed by Matthew Edson, DVM, MBA, CVPM, MRCVS, will offer an integrated, systems-based curriculum. Year one will cover normal form and function and how healthy animal bodies work. Year two will cover pathobiology and what can go wrong with those bodily systems. Year three covers what can be done to fix those problems and year four is the clinical year where students get the opportunity to put everything they’ve learned into practice.

“New Jersey is one of the most populous states in the nation and has never had a veterinary school,” said Phillip Barnes, director of communications for the school. “Now we can offer an in-state option.”

The Schreiber School of Veterinary Medicine distinguishes itself from traditional programs by integrating the latest best practices in veterinary education and technology from inception, utilizing immersive virtual reality through Rowan Dreamscape Learn Pods to enhance student engagement, and emphasizing a One Health approach through cross-collaboration with Rowan University’s diverse medical programs.

The school also houses the Rowan-Virtua School of Translational Biomedical Engineering & Sciences, fostering innovation across disciplines, and offers unique opportunities like a dual degree DVM/MBA program for aspiring practice owners. Additionally, it features an on-site teaching hospital, providing students with access to a diverse caseload and a breadth of specialties to ensure comprehensive exposure to veterinary medicine.

The first cohort of students will begin classes in the fall 2025 semester and will have 70 students. In 2026, that number will grow to 80 students and in 2027, the number will be up to 90 students where it will stay going forward.

Arkansas State University

The College of Veterinary Medicine at Arkansas State University, headed by Heidi Banse, DVM, PhD, DACVIM, professor and dean of the program, is looking to fulfill an underserved need in the state as 10 counties don’t have any veterinarians at all.

“Keeping our students here in the state will help ensure that they stay in the communities they grew up in and better support those animal health needs,” Banse said. “We are building a teaching building to support the program.”

The four-year program will incorporate a distributed model of clinical education with 12 months working in practices throughout Arkansas.

“Elements of our curriculum that we’re excited about is we do have opportunities to partner with some practices and organizations across the state that allow us to put our students in early clinical experiences,” Banse said. “They’re not going to have to wait for that clinical year to work with animals.”

The school is anticipating the first class to matriculate in the fall of 2026 and expect a class size of 120, with at least 50% comprised of those from Arkansas.

Photo credit: istockphoto.com/Andrei Orlov

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