Veterinary skills are increasingly relevant in policy and advocacy

Veterinarians don’t need to leave practice, or enter electoral politics, to influence policy. That was the core message from Dilara Kiran, DVM, MS, in a dvm360 interview following her 2026 AVMA Convention session, where she said veterinary professionals already use many of the same skills policy work requires: interpreting science, communicating clearly, building trust, and navigating competing stakeholder priorities. (dvm360.com)

The idea builds on a broader set of recent dvm360 pieces from Kiran that frame policy engagement as part of professional practice, not a niche sideline. In those articles, she outlined two main lanes for influence: bringing scientific and clinical expertise into policymaking, and helping shape the rules that govern veterinary medicine itself. She also highlighted practical on-ramps such as the AVMA Congressional Advocacy Network, state veterinary medical associations, and legislative committees. (dvm360.com)

That framing lands at a time when veterinary policy questions are increasingly concrete and operational. AVMA has been active on federal workforce legislation, including support for the Rural Veterinary Workforce Act, while its policy bodies have also updated discussion around telehealth and telemedicine in response to changing care models. At the same time, state practice acts still determine much of what veterinarians can do in areas such as licensure and telemedicine, making state-level advocacy especially relevant for clinicians who want to affect practice conditions directly. (doi.org)

Kiran’s examples also connect policy work to public and animal health threats that are already on the profession’s radar. One of her recent dvm360 discussions pointed to New World screwworm as a case study in why veterinary voices matter in border policy, surveillance, and outbreak response. USDA’s APHIS has since expanded its public response architecture, including a dedicated New World Screwworm Directorate, ongoing border surveillance, and response planning with state and federal partners. (aphis.usda.gov)

Industry and organizational signals suggest this is more than rhetoric. AVMA resources describe advocacy as central to protecting the profession’s viability and advancing animal and human health, and the association continues to provide telehealth education and policy tools for practitioners. The profession’s policy footprint also extends into emergency response planning, where AVMA has said veterinarians and veterinary diagnostic laboratories can serve as supplementary capacity when human health systems are overwhelmed. (avma.org)

Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, the practical takeaway is that advocacy is often an extension of clinical judgment, not a separate identity. Veterinarians are already trained to synthesize evidence, explain tradeoffs to pet parents, and make recommendations in imperfect conditions. Those same competencies are useful when lawmakers or regulators are weighing telemedicine rules, workforce incentives, public health preparedness, prescribing frameworks, or animal movement controls. Clinicians who participate early can help ensure policy reflects how care is actually delivered, rather than forcing practices to react after decisions are made. (myvetlife.avma.org)

There’s also a workforce and leadership angle. Advocacy offers another pathway for veterinarians who want to influence access to care, professional sustainability, and One Health priorities without stepping away from practice full time. Because many of the most immediate decisions happen in statehouses, licensing boards, and agency rulemaking, even limited engagement through a state VMA committee, an advocacy network, or a single legislative visit can have outsized effects on practice realities. (avma.org)

What to watch: The next signal will be whether more veterinary organizations convert this message into structured training, mentorship, and grassroots mobilization around live issues, especially telemedicine, workforce legislation, and animal health preparedness. If they do, policy fluency may become a more visible part of veterinary professional development rather than an extracurricular skill set. (dvm360.com)