ACVAA establishes pain management fellowship

The American College of Veterinary Anesthesia and Analgesia (ACVAA) Board of Directors approved the ACVAA Fellowship in Pain Management for individuals and programs interested in advancing the specialty focus throughout veterinary practice. Over the years, according to Lauren Duffee, VMD, DACVAA, CVA, chair of the ACVAA Board of Directors, the demand for advanced pain management has been widespread.

The goal of this new fellowship is to train veterinary specialists from diverse backgrounds, including neurology, sports medicine, and surgery, with advanced expertise in pain management. This fellowship will provide potential fellows with a rigorous, specialty-level credential recognized by the ACVAA. It is open to anyone who has completed residency training but has not yet obtained board certification. However, they cannot obtain the title of fellow until completing their specialty requirements.

“Graduates of the ACVAA Pain [Management] Fellowship will serve as leaders and resources within the veterinary community, advocating for comprehensive pain management strategies and educating others on the latest advancements in the field. Fellows will gain extensive knowledge of pain physiology and the mechanisms underlying acute and chronic pain, along with an advanced understanding of the pharmacology of analgesic medications across all drug classes,” the ACCVA Pain Fellowship Guidelines stated.1

The framework for the fellowship will provide a formal, uniform pathway to recognize veterinarians with advanced expertise in interventional techniques, long-term pain management, pain physiology, and pharmacology. The ACVAA established guidelines for pain management fellowship programs, like college-sponsored programs, and includes the following2:

• A minimum 36-week period of clinical duty under direct supervision by a founding fellow
• Publication, as first author, on at least 2 hypothesis-driven projects, quality improvement studies, or meta-analyses, and 1 case report or case series on the topic of pain or pain management in a peer-reviewed journal
• Maintain a detailed case log documenting inpatient and outpatient pain management, advanced interventional procedures, and locoregional
• techniques
• Complete a formal review and defense of the fellow’s clinical experience, scholarly work, and overall training at the conclusion of the program

Selected fellows will receive experience and training in the management of adaptive and maladaptive pain in both hospital and at-home settings, and they will gain an understanding of the pharmacology of analgesic medications across all drug classes and proficiency in pain scoring methods.1 The fellows will also have acute and chronic pain management experience, advanced procedures such as joint injection, epidural catheter placement, neuronal ablation, and more.

At this time, the ACVAA board approved 20 founding fellows and will continue to accept applications for the leadership cohort through July 1, 2027. Founding fellows will make up the fellowship committee and will serve as mentors to the accepted fellows and as leaders in the field.

"Clinically, specialists and general practitioners alike are increasingly encountering patients with complex acute and chronic pain that extends well beyond perioperative analgesia,” Duffe explained to the American Veterinary Medical Association.2 “These include trauma patients, oncology cases, neurologic disease, osteoarthritis, and other degenerative or inflammatory conditions where pain is often the primary driver of morbidity and, in some cases, euthanasia decisions. At the same time, clients now expect more comprehensive and humane pain control for their animals, both in hospital and at home.”

The ACVAA has plans to announce the approved fellowship programs later this year.

References

1. ACVAA fellowship in pain management. American College of Veterinary Anesthesia and Analgesia. Accessed January 21, 2026. https://acvaa.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/ACVAA-Pain-Fellowship-Guidelines.pdf
2. ACVAA establishes framework for pain management fellowship. News release. American Veterinary Medical Association. January 16, 2026. Accessed January 21, 2026. https://www.avma.org/news/acvaa-establishes-framework-pain-management-fellowship?utm_source=delivra&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=todays-headlines-news