Ohio State plans AVMA 2026 alumni reception in Anaheim
Bottom line
CURRENT BRIEF VERSION: Ohio State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine is using the 2026 AVMA Convention in Anaheim as a networking touchpoint for alumni and supporters, with an Alumni and Friends Reception scheduled for Friday, July 10, from 7-9 p.m. PT at Naples Ristorante e Bar. The college says registered attendees will receive complimentary hors d’oeuvres and refreshments, including one drink ticket for guests who register by July 9. The event sits alongside AVMA Convention 2026, which runs July 10-14 in Anaheim and allows affiliated groups to hold receptions and other meetings outside official CE programming hours. The broader Anaheim gathering also includes AVMA leadership activity, with Dr. Quammen addressing the House of Delegates before the convention and being elected 2026-2027 AVMA president, alongside the election of Dr. Knapp as president-elect and a new board of directors. (vet.osu.edu)
Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, this is a small but telling example of how colleges are using major national meetings not just for CE, but also for alumni engagement, recruitment, and workforce relationship-building. That context matters this year because the 2026 AVMA program has placed heavier emphasis on affordability, access to care, workforce issues, and veterinary education, according to dvm360’s review of the meeting agenda, while AVMA’s leadership transition in Anaheim has also reinforced a collective, profession-wide framing for the future of veterinary medicine. In that environment, school-hosted receptions can function as informal spaces for mentoring, donor cultivation, and conversations about hiring and retention that don’t happen in lecture halls. (dvm360.com)
What to watch: Watch whether colleges use these Anaheim events to deepen recruitment and alumni pipelines as workforce, cost-of-care, and education issues stay high on the profession’s agenda, especially as new AVMA leadership takes office after the House of Delegates meeting in Anaheim. (dvm360.com)
CURRENT FULL VERSION: Ohio State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine has scheduled its 2026 AVMA Alumni and Friends Reception for Friday, July 10, in Anaheim, California, giving alumni, supporters, and convention attendees a dedicated networking event during one of the profession’s largest annual gatherings. The reception will run from 7-9 p.m. PT at Naples Ristorante e Bar, with complimentary hors d’oeuvres and one drink ticket available for guests who register by July 9, according to the college’s event listing. (vet.osu.edu)
The reception is timed to coincide with AVMA Convention 2026, which runs July 10-14 in Anaheim. AVMA’s meeting guidance for associated groups makes clear that receptions, dinners, and other side events are a formal part of the convention ecosystem, even as educational programming is protected during designated CE hours. The Anaheim meeting is also where AVMA governance activity is unfolding: before the convention, Dr. Quammen addressed the House of Delegates and was elected AVMA president for 2026-2027, with Dr. Knapp elected president-elect and a new board of directors also selected. In other words, these alumni gatherings aren’t peripheral; they’re built into how schools, associations, and industry groups use the annual meeting to maintain relationships across the profession while major leadership transitions are taking place. (s1.goeshow.com)
Ohio State is far from alone. Other veterinary schools, including UC Davis and Penn Vet, also promoted alumni receptions around the same July 10 window in Anaheim, underscoring how convention-based networking has become a standard institutional playbook. UC Davis, for example, invited alumni, faculty, donors, students, and friends to a similar evening reception focused on reconnecting and making new connections during the AVMA meeting. (vetmed.ucdavis.edu)
That broader context matters because the convention itself appears to be carrying more workforce and practice-pressure content this year. A dvm360 analysis of the published 2026 program found that sessions explicitly naming cost, affordability, access, or spectrum of care more than doubled from 2025 to 2026, rising from 11 to 24. dvm360’s convention guide also highlighted workforce issues, economic pressure, policy, and veterinary education among the meeting’s major themes. Goodnewsforpets’ coverage of the AVMA leadership elections added another signal about the tone of the meeting: in remarks to the House of Delegates, Dr. Quammen said the future of veterinary medicine “won't be built by any one of us” but “will be cultivated by all of us,” a message that aligns with the convention’s collaborative focus on profession-wide challenges. (dvm360.com)
Against that backdrop, an alumni reception may look routine, but it serves a practical function. For colleges, these events can help strengthen referral and mentoring networks, reconnect with graduates, support fundraising, and create informal space for conversations about internships, externships, hiring, and retention. That’s an inference based on how veterinary schools are positioning these events, the workforce-heavy framing of the 2026 convention, and the broader leadership message in Anaheim emphasizing collective responsibility for the profession’s future, rather than a stated Ohio State objective for this specific reception. (vet.osu.edu)
Why it matters: Veterinary professionals often experience national meetings as a mix of CE, career development, and relationship maintenance. School-hosted receptions add to that value, especially for clinicians looking to reconnect with classmates, identify candidates, explore collaboration, or stay tied to academic programs shaping the future workforce. For employers and faculty, those informal touchpoints can be just as important as formal sessions when the profession is grappling with staffing strain, affordability concerns, and evolving expectations around practice models and education. The fact that AVMA leadership elections and House of Delegates messaging are happening in the same Anaheim setting reinforces how closely networking, governance, and workforce strategy can overlap at a national meeting. (dvm360.com)
There wasn’t much public expert commentary specifically about Ohio State’s reception itself, which is typical for an alumni event. But the surrounding industry signal is clear: schools and organizations are treating the Anaheim meeting as more than a CE venue. It’s also a convening point for community-building, institutional visibility, and professional alignment at a time when veterinary education, leadership, and workforce strategy are under closer scrutiny. (s1.goeshow.com)
What to watch: The next signal will be whether colleges and professional groups turn these convention-side gatherings into more explicit workforce and mentoring initiatives, especially as the AVMA meeting continues to spotlight affordability, access, and the state of veterinary education under newly elected AVMA leadership. (dvm360.com)