May 15, 2021

The 2021 AVMA Annual Convention, happening July 29-Aug. 1, will shift to a full virtual convention for a second year in a row after a decision by the AVMA Board of Directors at its April 7-9 meeting.

“After thoughtful deliberation regarding the current status of the COVID-19 pandemic and careful consideration of all factors involved, the AVMA has decided to transition the 2021 AVMA Annual Convention originally scheduled to take place in Minneapolis to a completely virtual event,” said Drs. Lori Teller, AVMA Board chair, and Jon Pennell, AVMA House Advisory Committee chair, in an email to the AVMA House of Delegates.

They said the decision to go online only was made with the safety and well-being of attendees, speakers, and partners as the top priority.

“We are a science-based, one-health organization, and the science continues to tell us that COVID-19 remains a serious public health concern,” they wrote. “We care deeply about everyone that joins us for Convention each year, and our decision is based on serving the best interests of all attendees.”

This year’s convention will still offer hundreds of hours of continuing education. Among the speakers will be keynoter Atul Gawande, MD, a public health leader and bestselling author who practices general and endocrine surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and is a professor at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and Sarah Culberson, Sierra Leone princess, humanitarian, educator, and author of “A Princess Found.”

Registration opened April 19. More information is available at the AVMA Convention website, or questions can be emailed to conventionavma [dot] org (convention[at]avma[dot]org). The 2022 AVMA Annual Convention is scheduled to take place in Philadelphia.