Washington D.C. – The Board of Pharmacy Specialties (BPS) received a petition to recognize Veterinary Pharmacy as a BPS specialty certification. BPS now opens the public comment period with this link and will close the comment period on April 1, 2026 at 5:00pm ET.
In February 2025, the BPS Board of Directors announced that they reviewed the job analysis (or role delineation study) conducted within this pharmacy practice area and found the results support further consideration of Veterinary Pharmacy as a recognized pharmacy specialty certification.
BPS received the petition in January 2026 and conducted a preliminary review to determine if the petition addresses all criteria. The petition is available for comment by the public and the profession. The petition can be found here.
The BPS Board of Directors will complete its review of the petition and public comments and render a decision within six months. If the petition is approved, an inaugural Veterinary Pharmacy specialty council will be established to work with BPS and the psychometric staff to establish eligibility criteria and develop a bank of certification examination items.
The petition to recognize Veterinary Pharmacy as a BPS specialty certification was submitted by the American College of Veterinary Pharmacists (ACVP), the International College of Veterinary Pharmacists (ICVP), and the Society of Veterinary Hospital Pharmacists (SVHP).
The petition submitted to BPS addresses, in detail, each of the criteria deemed necessary for a new specialty to be recognized by BPS. Those criteria include:
- Need
- Demand
- Number/Time
- Specialized Knowledge
- Specialized Functions
- Education and Training
- Transmission of Knowledge
Contributors to the petition on behalf of these organizations were: Ashley Bell, PharmD, FSVHP, DICVP; Elaine Blythe, PharmD, RPh; Brian Bowers, PharmD, FACVP, FSVHP, DICVP; Gigi Davidson, BSPharm, FACVP, FSVHP, DICVP; Patricia Douglas, BSPharm, FACVP, FAPC; Lauren Forsythe, PharmD, MBA, DICVP; Tessa Gourley, PharmD, BCPS, FSVHP; Rikki Horne, PharmD, FSVHP, DICVP; Tara Marmulak, PharmD, FSVHP, DICVP; Matthew Miller, PharmD; Jennifer O’Grady, PharmD; Alyssa Real, PharmD, MS RAQA, BCSCP, CQA; Patrick Smith, PharmD, MBA; Erica Wassack, PharmD, FACVP, FSVHP, DICVP; Travis Watson, PharmD, FACVP, FSVHP, DICVP; and Natalie Young, PharmD, BCSCP, FSVHP, DICVP.
The petition definition for Veterinary Pharmacy Specialists is as follows: “Veterinary pharmacy specialists are experts in the delivery of direct patient care services by pharmacists, collaboratively working as members of interprofessional health care teams, to ensure safe and effective use of medications in nonhuman patients and to ensure that residues from those medications do not end up in the human food chain. Veterinary pharmacists possess a deep and working knowledge of comparative influences on drug disposition and therapeutic effects in both human and nonhuman patients. These pharmacy specialists also have a working knowledge of principles and applications of comparative toxicology, allowing or preventing dosage extrapolation from species to species and preventing adverse events from inappropriate dosage extrapolation. These specialists focus on disease prevention and treatment as members of veterinary medical and One Health Medicine teams and use specialized knowledge of zoonotic disease to promote public health and best outcomes in all patients. Veterinary pharmacy specialists practice across the spectrum of pharmacy care, including community pharmacies, compounding pharmacies, veterinary clinics, veterinary teaching hospitals, aquariums, zoos, NASA, the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control, the animal pharmaceutical industry, and government agencies responsible for the regulation of animal drugs and biologics. Pharmacists in this specialized practice review, analyze, and monitor multifaceted clinical and species-specific data to ensure the best outcomes for nonhuman patients.”
About the Board of Pharmacy Specialties
The Board of Pharmacy Specialties (BPS) was established in 1976 as an autonomous division of the American Pharmacists Association (APhA). The mission of BPS is to improve patient care by positioning BPS Board-Certified Pharmacist Specialists as integral members of interprofessional healthcare teams, through recognition and promotion of specialized training, knowledge, and skills for pharmacists in the United States and internationally. Board certification is a recognized credential for determining which pharmacists are qualified to contribute at advanced practice levels given the rigorous standards mandated by BPS board certification and recertification. As of the end of 2025, BPS recognized more than 63,400 pharmacist certifications across 16 specialties.
BPS Contact
Alexander Jean-Baptiste
Associate Director, Digital Marketing and Communications
ajeanbaptiste@aphanet.org
(202) 760-3836