Joanna Finstad named dvm360’s 2026 Veterinary Hero
Bottom line
Joanna Finstad, DVM, MS, DACVECC, has been named dvm360’s 2026 Veterinary Hero in emergency medicine, recognizing a clinician whose work has expanded access to advanced renal support in private specialty practice. Finstad is a board-certified emergency and critical care specialist at Madison Veterinary Specialists in Wisconsin, where dvm360 says she helped establish the state’s first dialysis treatment program for pets. Her profile also highlights a nontraditional path into veterinary medicine and the personal challenge of navigating a cervical cancer diagnosis while completing an extracorporeal fellowship and training within the inaugural class of the American College of Veterinary Nephrology and Urology. (dvm360.com)
Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, the recognition puts a spotlight on two persistent workforce themes: the growing role of highly specialized care in regional referral networks, and the individuals building those services outside academic centers. Madison Veterinary Specialists now markets advanced nephrology and extracorporeal therapy for cases including kidney failure, toxin ingestion, and some autoimmune conditions, suggesting that Finstad’s work has helped create a new referral option for primary care veterinarians and ER teams across Wisconsin and the broader Midwest. (mvsvets.com)
What to watch: Watch whether this visibility translates into broader awareness, referral growth, and more private-practice investment in dialysis and extracorporeal therapy capacity in underserved regions. (mvsvets.com)
Joanna Finstad, DVM, MS, DACVECC, is the 2026 dvm360 Veterinary Hero in emergency medicine, a recognition that highlights both individual resilience and the expansion of advanced specialty care in private practice. dvm360 says Finstad, now a critical care specialist at Madison Veterinary Specialists, helped establish Wisconsin’s first dialysis treatment program for pets, bringing a level of renal support that had not previously been available in the state. (dvm360.com)
The award comes through dvm360’s 2026 Veterinary Heroes program, which honors clinicians and other veterinary professionals across 14 categories and is being celebrated at Fetch Kansas City on August 28-30, 2026. Finstad was identified as the emergency medicine honoree in a June 11, 2026, dvm360 announcement, and her individual profile was published on August 28, 2026. (dvm360.com)
Finstad’s background helps explain why this recognition may resonate with emergency and specialty teams. According to Madison Veterinary Specialists, she trained at the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine, completed a rotating internship at Tufts University, then an emergency and critical care residency at The Ohio State University. The hospital says she later completed Hemodialysis Academy and a fellowship in extracorporeal therapy at Ohio State, and is part of the inaugural class of the American College of Veterinary Nephrology and Urology. dvm360’s broader 2026 heroes roundup adds that she successfully completed the college’s first certifying examination. (mvsvets.com)
In its profile, dvm360 also framed the honor through Finstad’s personal story. She nearly pursued human medicine, according to the article, before a job change redirected her into veterinary emergency and referral practice. The piece says she later faced a cervical cancer diagnosis while completing advanced nephrology and extracorporeal training, and quoted her reflecting on resilience and “taking it one day at a time.” (dvm360.com)
The clinical significance is broader than one award. Madison Veterinary Specialists now promotes advanced nephrology and dialysis services for pets with acute or chronic kidney failure, toxin ingestion, and some complex autoimmune diseases, and says pet parents travel from Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, and the greater Midwest to access those services. The hospital also describes a collaborative referral model with primary veterinarians and critical care teams, which is important because dialysis and extracorporeal therapies depend on tight case selection, communication, and follow-up. (mvsvets.com)
Industry reaction in the strict sense appears limited so far, but dvm360 leadership characterized this year’s Veterinary Heroes as professionals whose work advances patient outcomes and practice excellence. Separately, Finstad’s recent professional activity suggests she’s also contributing to regional education: her LinkedIn page references a 2026 CE lecture for veterinarians and technicians on toxicities and advanced elimination strategies, tied directly to extracorporeal therapies. That’s a useful signal that her influence may extend beyond case care into workforce training and referral education. (dvm360.com)
Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, this story is really about infrastructure as much as recognition. Emergency and critical care medicine increasingly intersects with nephrology, toxicology, and extracorporeal therapy, but access remains uneven and often concentrated in universities or a small number of specialty centers. A private referral hospital building dialysis capability in Wisconsin gives primary care veterinarians and ER clinicians another pathway for salvage cases that previously may have required out-of-state transfer, been financially or logistically unrealistic, or not been offered at all. It also underscores the staffing challenge: these programs require advanced clinician training, skilled technicians, dedicated protocols, and sustained referral relationships. (mvsvets.com)
What to watch: The next question is whether programs like this remain exceptional or become more common in regional specialty practice. Watch for continued hiring around nephrology and dialysis at Madison Veterinary Specialists, more CE and outreach to referring veterinarians, and any signs that other Midwestern hospitals are building similar extracorporeal therapy services in response to demand. (dvm360.com)