NAVTA is looking for a few good people to fill several vacancies on NAVTA’s Committee of Veterinary Technician Specialties (CVTS).
NAVTA’s CVTS is charged with establishing, applying, and enforcing the standards by which Veterinary Technician Specialty Academies (VTSA) are assessed in order for those academies to attain the status of “NAVTA-Approved” academies. Only NAVTA-Approved academies are legally permitted to confer the “Veterinary Technician Specialist” (VTS) designation to individuals who successfully complete an academy’s program. See below for a description of the history and role of the CVTS.
NAVTA is currently looking to fill the following seats on the CVTS:
- Non-VTS Veterinary Technician – Three seats available.
- Veterinarian – Specialist
- Veterinarian – General Practitioner
- Public Member – Someone not in the veterinary profession
Individuals selected to fill these vacant seats will begin their terms as soon as reasonably possible in 2025 and end their service December 31, 2025.
If you or anyone you know might be interested in any of these seats, please see the Eligibility & Application Requirements below. The application portal will close Friday, July 18, 2025 at 12 Noon Eastern Time.
Eligibility & Application Requirements
Non-VTS Veterinary Technician members of CVTS must be NAVTA members in good standing at the time and for the duration of their appointments (2 years). A Non-VTS CVTS member cannot be a member of or start the application process of a VTSA or VTS or be a member of an organizing committee of a VTSA or VTS while serving on CVTS.
Any NAVTA member who desires to serve on CVTS as a Non-VTS Veterinary Technician may be self-nominated or nominated by an active NAVTA member. Applicants are required to submit a nomination form and a formal letter stating their qualifications, accomplishments, leadership strategy, and reasons they are interested in serving on the CVTS. Applicants are advised to highlight activities that involve leadership initiatives and describe how their actions moved the initiative in the right direction.
Veterinarian Specialist members of CVTS do not need to be members of NAVTA but must be affiliated with the specialty college that coincides with the Veterinary Technician Specialty Academy. Applicants are required to submit a nomination form and a formal letter stating their qualifications, accomplishments, leadership strategy, and reasons they are interested in serving on the CVTS. Applicants are advised to highlight activities that involve leadership initiatives and describe how their actions moved the initiative in the right direction.
Veterinarian General Practitioner members of CVTS do not need to be members of NAVTA. Applicants are required to submit a nomination form and a formal letter stating their qualifications, accomplishments, leadership strategy, and reasons they are interested in serving on the CVTS. Applicants are advised to highlight activities that involve leadership initiatives and describe how their actions moved the initiative in the right direction.
Public Members of CVTS are not a part of the veterinary profession. Applicants are required to submit a nomination form and a formal letter stating their qualifications, accomplishments, leadership strategy, and reasons they are interested in serving on the CVTS. Applicants are advised to highlight activities that involve leadership initiatives and describe how their actions moved the initiative in the right direction.
History & Role of NAVTA’s CVTS
(excerpted from the CVTS Policies & Procedures, revised December 6, 2024)
The Committee of Veterinary Technician Specialties (CVTS) of the National Association of Veterinary Technicians in America (NAVTA) recognizes and encourages the development of Veterinary Technician Specialty Academies (VTSA) and Veterinary Technician Specialties within an existing VTSA.
Veterinary Technician Specialty Academies are created to promote and provide advanced levels of competency in a well-defined area of study or practice category and to provide exceptional veterinary nursing care or other high-level health strategies.
The CVTS is charged with approving and monitoring proposed and existing Veterinary Technician Specialty Academies and Veterinary Technician Specialties.
The CVTS was formed in 1994 and is recognized by the American Veterinary Medical Association. The first petition for a VTSA was granted to the Academy of Veterinary Technician Emergency and Critical Care Technicians/AVTECCT (now known as the Academy of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Technicians and Nurses/AVECCTN) in 1996.
In 1998, the second VTS Academy was recognized: the Academy of Veterinary Technicians in Anesthesia (now known as the Academy of Veterinary Technicians in Anesthesia and Analgesia/AVTAA).
In 2006, the first “umbrella academy” (a VTSA with multiple Veterinary Technician Specialties within the organization) was recognized: the Academy of Veterinary Technicians for Internal Medicine, which included the Veterinary Technician Specialties of small animal internal medicine, large animal internal medicine, cardiology, oncology, and neurology.
Since then, CVTS has granted VTSA provisional recognition to organizations every few years, leading to the current number of 16 Veterinary Technician Specialty Academies and 27 Veterinary Technician Specialties.
The CVTS provides guidelines to veterinary technician organizations to facilitate the formation of a VTSA and additional Veterinary Technician Specialties. In this process, Veterinary Technician Specialty Academies develop advanced pathways that a candidate must follow and successfully complete to become a member of the VTSA and to be awarded the designation of “VTS” (Veterinary Technician Specialist) in their specific discipline.
After a period not to exceed 10 years, provisionally recognized Veterinary Technician Specialty Academies must petition for full recognition status. The full recognition status says to the public, the profession, and the potential VTSA candidates that the VTSA is fully functional. It confirms that the VTSA has demonstrated growth, has established a proven process for evaluating applications, successful and fair administration and scoring of examinations, ethical and diligent business practices of the organization, and thus has a high probability for sustainability.
The roles and functions of the Committee of Veterinary Technician Specialties are many and include the following:
- Establish, review, and evaluate criteria for determining whether a proposed clinical specialty fills a recognizable need and represents a distinct area of specialization in veterinary technology. CVTS will not recognize duplicate or redundant Veterinary Technician Specialty Academies. If deemed appropriate, CVTS may recommend the addition of a proposed new VTSA to an existing VTSA as a VTS rather than as an independent VTSA.
- Determine if an organizing committee (OC) demonstrates that there are sufficient qualified and interested individuals to form a new VTSA or VTS within a currently existing VTSA.
- Review letters of intent and OC membership to assure that essential requirements established by the CVTS are fulfilled. If the requirements are fulfilled, the Chair of CVTS will appoint CVTS Advisory Committee members to coordinate with OC members.
- Form Petition Subcommittees to review petitions to assure that the essential requirements established by the CVTS are fulfilled.
- Vote to recommend approval or denial to the NAVTA Board for letters of intent, petitions to form Veterinary Technician Specialty Academies and Veterinary Technician Specialties, and full recognition petitions. (Note: CVTS on its own does not have the authority to approve or deny any of these, but the NAVTA Board relies heavily on recommendations of the CVTS.)
- Receive and review annual reports from fully recognized Veterinary Technician Specialty Academies and determine if the VTSA has maintained the required standards; recommend to the NAVTA Board a course of disciplinary action if warranted.
- Receive, review, make recommendations on annual reports from all Veterinary Technician Specialty Academies who have received provisional recognition.
- Recommend to the NAVTA Board updates/revisions to required forms and documents of the CVTS.
- Track interest in specialty formation.
- Ensure each academy has in place a policy and procedure for disqualifying an individual from applying for or using the “VTS” credential.
- Ensure the accuracy of the list of Veterinary Technician Academies and active Veterinary Technician Specialties on the NAVTA website.