THE AVLA EXPERIENCE / PROPOSED PROGRAMS
A professional home for the questions that move veterinary medicine forward. Find your people. Deepen your practice. Help shape the future of animal healthspan.
01 / BELONG TO WHAT’S NEXT
Choose a professional community built around your contribution—not just your credentials.
CLINICIAN MEMBERSHIP
$395 / year · proposed
For licensed veterinarians bringing a healthspan perspective to clinical practice.
PROFESSIONAL ALLY
$195 / year · proposed
For veterinary technicians, nurses, researchers, educators, and allied professionals.
EMERGING PROFESSIONAL
$49 / year · proposed
For veterinary and veterinary nursing students, interns, and residents.
Our proposed first cohort would help identify learning priorities, test practical resources, and shape the association’s first year. Founding participation would be about contribution, with no promise of governance rights or a professional credential.
The proposed annual dues include the recurring sessions and resources listed above. The Academy foundation course, immersive workshops, and annual summit would be separately priced. Final benefits, eligibility, renewal terms, and any discounts would be published before enrollment opens.
02 / THE AVLA ACADEMY
A proposed educational pathway designed for busy veterinary professionals: rigorous questions, practical discussion, and time to reflect.
A guided introduction to animal healthspan, critical appraisal, and the clinical conversations that connect them. Designed initially around companion-animal practice.
Illustrative tuition: $595
Proposed clinician-member tuition: $446.25
Explore working definitions of healthy aging, species differences, life stages, and the relationship between lifespan and quality of life.
Practice output: A healthspan conversation map for a fictional patient.
Examine study design, endpoints, bias, clinical relevance, and the limits of translating findings across species.
Practice output: A structured appraisal of a selected aging-science paper.
Discuss nutritional assessment, body and muscle condition, and how to evaluate emerging nutrition claims in individual clinical context.
Practice output: An evidence-review worksheet for a nutrition question.
Consider everyday function, changes in activity, multidisciplinary care, and the value of caregiver observations.
Practice output: A draft framework for discussing functional goals.
Explore the behavioral dimensions of aging and the role of the human–animal bond in conversations about quality of life.
Practice output: A caregiver interview guide for a teaching case.
Bring evidence, uncertainty, communication, and ethics together in a fictional case discussion and a personal learning plan.
Practice output: A reflective capstone reviewed against a proposed course rubric.
Educational concept only. Faculty, syllabus, assessments, and eligibility are not finalized. No CE/RACE approval, board certification, or professional designation is claimed. The proposed Foundations completion certificate would document participation, not specialist status. Explore the separate assessed pathways below.
Build a common language and an approach to evidence.
Proposed focused workshops on mobility, nutrition, and aging assessment.
Continue learning through case discussion and peer reflection.
03 / PROPOSED CREDENTIAL PATHWAYS
A proposed progression from foundational learning to assessed professional practice. Designed to reward thoughtful judgment, continuing development, and care for the whole animal.
FOUNDATION / COMPLETION CERTIFICATE
An entry point for veterinary professionals who want a common language for healthy aging.
CLINICIAN / ASSESSED CERTIFICATION
A proposed advanced pathway for veterinarians translating healthspan principles into responsible clinical decision-making.
CARE TEAM / ASSESSED CERTIFICATION
A proposed pathway recognizing the care team’s contribution to observation, communication, and continuity of care.
Before launch, AVLA would develop a published competency framework, independent clinical and educational review, transparent assessment rubrics, assessor conflict-of-interest rules, an appeals process, and clear renewal standards. Certification would recognize demonstrated learning and reasoning, never product purchases, sponsorship, or claims of guaranteed patient outcomes.
Names, eligibility, hours, fees, assessments, and renewal requirements are illustrative and subject to review. No post-nominal letters are proposed. A completion certificate and an assessed certification would be explicitly distinguished.
04 / MAKE ROOM FOR PROGRESS
An imagined first-year program, from an hour with peers to a full day of shared inquiry. Dates, faculty, venues, and registration remain to be confirmed.
4 proposed events
CASE ROUNDS
Small-group discussion of fictional or appropriately de-identified cases. Proposed first topic: bringing comfort, mobility, and caregiver goals into one conversation.
Proposed inclusion: Clinician membershipEVIDENCE ROUNDTABLE
One paper. Multiple perspectives. A structured discussion of methods, meaningful outcomes, uncertainty, and what would justify the next research question.
Proposed inclusion: All membership pathsCLINICAL INTENSIVE
A proposed workshop bringing primary care and rehabilitation perspectives together around function, caregiver communication, and collaborative case planning.
Proposed location: San Francisco Bay Area · Separately ticketedANNUAL CONFERENCE / INAUGURAL EDITION
A proposed annual gathering of clinicians, researchers, and care teams. Research conversations, practical workshops, and presentation of the annual AVLA Veterinary Visionary Award.
Proposed location: California · Separately ticketedOpening conversation
What should veterinary healthspan mean in practice?
Research exchange
Clinical questions, evidence gaps, and translational challenges.
Practice workshops
Mobility, nutrition, and quality-of-life conversations.
Build the next chapter
A facilitated session on the association’s first-year priorities.
Veterinary Visionary Award
Proposed award presentation and a conversation with the recipient.
THE ANNUAL AVLA VETERINARY VISIONARY AWARD
A proposed annual honor for a veterinarian whose work pairs bold thinking with credible evidence, ethical leadership, and a meaningful contribution to animal healthspan.
PRESENTED AT THE PROPOSED ANNUAL AVLA CONFERENCE
WHAT THE HONOR WOULD RECOGNIZE
One recipient each year, recognized for a body of work or a specific contribution in clinical practice, research translation, education, or access to care. The focus would be demonstrable contribution—not celebrity, commercial reach, or a promise to extend lifespan.
The proposed recipient would receive a commemorative award, a featured conference conversation, and an editorial profile sharing the lessons behind the work. No cash prize is currently proposed.
PROPOSED SELECTION RUBRIC
Proposed eligibility: a licensed veterinarian in good standing whose work advances animal healthspan. AVLA membership would not be required. Peer nominations and self-nominations would be considered, with no nomination fee.
A proposed nomination package would include a 500-word statement, up to three supporting work samples or evidence links, a short professional biography, and two references. Nominees would provide consent before public announcement.
A multidisciplinary panel would review submissions using the published rubric. Judges would disclose conflicts and recuse themselves where appropriate. Sponsors would have no vote. The award could be withheld if no nomination meets the published standard.
Publish eligibility, criteria, and the panel process.
Close submissions and conduct independent review.
Present the award and explore the recipient’s contribution.
Concept only. No nominations are being accepted and no recipient has been selected. Conference dates, award rules, and the selection panel remain to be established.
BE PART OF THE DESIGN
Choose a path. Capture your interests.
Help imagine a better future for veterinary medicine.