Programs are working to advance emergency and speciality veterinary medicine

A career-oriented program aiming to increase the number of emergency and specialty veterinarians is seeing continued growth. The EmERge program by BluePearl Pet Hospital, a division of Mars Veterinary Health, is expected to graduate its’ largest class in 2025, following a doubling in enrollment over the past year.1

To meet the current needs of companion animal healthcare in the US, up to 55,000 additional veterinarians will be needed by 2030.2 “There is a shortage of specialists that’s pretty dramatic,” Lenore Bacek, DVM, MS, DACVECC, vice president of clinical affairs at BluePearl, said in a dvm360 interview at the 2025 WVC Annual Conference. "It's multifactorial. I think, unfortunately, a lot of people have left academia, and that's where standard training typically happens. So, I think from a BluePearl perspective, we've tried to enhance our residency programs [and] partner with universities to try to…fill that gap and really address it in a few different ways."

EmERge is one of the BluePearl programs working to help alleviate the industry shortage of veterinarians. A paid, full-time, 1-year training program, it is available to veterinarians and recent veterinary school graduates, and features a hybrid format with online modules, labs, mentoring, and hands-on experiences.1

Chelsea Giese, DVM, emergency veterinarian at BluePearl, was considering leaving the veterinary profession prior to participating in the EmERge program. “For me, it was mentorship. I worked with some great senior doctors, but they were obviously very busy, and so I did not have a designated mentor. There were cases that would come in that I felt like I did not know how to handle, and I didn't know who to go to, to help address those cases. So that led to a lot of anxiety [and] just feeling like I wasn't doing the job that I wanted to be able to do, or provide the care that I always wanted to be able to provide,” Giese said in a dvm360 interview at the 2025 WVC Annual Conference.

Since participating in the EmERge program, Geise said she is happy in the profession and feels “satisfied every day” when she goes to work. Having mentorship was key. “Joining the BluePearl EmERge program was the best decision I have ever made not only for my career but also for my overall happiness,” Giese added in a news release.1 “Since going through EmERge, I have learned more than I could have imagined and developed invaluable skills that I will take with me for the rest of my life. EmERge has turned me into a competent and confident clinician and has prepared me to tackle any emergency case that comes through the door.”

Joining EmERge in its’ mission to alleviate a veterinarian shortage, the BluePearl House Officer Training Programs offer internships, externships and residencies to provide early career veterinarians with opportunity for advancement of their medical knowledge through mentorship and hands-on experiences. These programs offer rotating and specialty internships that help participants identify potential career paths or future residency training programs, for which BluePearl has achieved a 94% success rate in matching interns. The training programs also provide residency programs in support of board certification and overall career success, and veterinary students can also take advantage of externship opportunities at more than 100 hospitals in the company’s network, according to BluePearl.1

“Developing programs that train and mentor the next generation of emergency and specialty veterinarians is crucial in combatting the veterinary professional shortage,” Bacek added in the release. “Both EmERge and our House Officer Programs are incredible opportunities for current and future veterinarians to find a fulfilling career in emergency and specialty veterinary medicine. We have had an overwhelmingly positive response from program participants and encourage anyone who is interested to visit our website and learn more.”

References

1. Training and mentorship programs from BluePearl aim to combat veterinary professional shortage. News release. BluePearl Pet Hospital. February 27, 2025.
2. Tackling the veterinary professional shortage. Mars Veterinary Health. August 2023. Accessed March 7, 2025. https://marsveterinary.com/tackling-the-veterinary-professional-shortage/