About NAVC

"WHAT IS NAVC?" The mission of the NAVC is to provide world-class continuing education for all members of the veterinary healthcare team

The NAVC is the non-profit organization that produces, organizes and delivers premier continuing education for the entire veterinary healthcare team.  The NAVC entities include the NAVC Conference, NAVC Institute, LAVC del NAVC, SEVC, NAVC Clinician’s Brief®, NAVC OnCampus and NAVC Expeditions.

Founded in 1982, the NAVC Conference, held every January in Orlando, FL has grown to accommodate more than 16,000 attendees from over 70 countries and every realm of the veterinary healthcare profession.  The NAVC Conference 2008 provided more than 50 hands-on wet laboratories, 400 speakers, a dozen daily lecture tracks, almost 700 exhibitors and nightly entertainment.  The artwork of Jim Wilson graces the annual NAVC Conference poster and is included in our NAVC Gear clothing and merchandise line.

In 1999, the NAVC created the NAVC Institute -- a total immersion, in-residence, single-discipline continuing education course held in May or June of each year in Orlando.  In April 2005, NAVC lent support to the newly created LAVC held in Lima, Peru each October. The NAVC recently joined with AVEPA (The Spanish Association of Small Animal Veterinarians) to develop the Southern European Veterinary Conference (SEVC) combining both organizations’ expertise in delivering high quality veterinary continuing education worldwide.  The SEVC is held in Barcelona each October and its inaugural conference in October of 2007 exceeded attendance expectations.

NAVC Clinician's Brief®,  the official publication of the NAVC, is a peer-reviewed veterinary journal designed to keep readers informed of the latest scientific developments, best practices and clinical trends through short, concise, practical articles and abstracts with commentary from the veterinary and human scientific literature.  To help with gaps in veterinary curriculum, the student representative program has evolved into NAVC OnCampus.  Each North American and Caribbean veterinary school picks a topic to which they would like more exposure, be it dentistry, exotic animal medicine, emergency and critical care medicine, etc., and an expert NAVC speaker gives a brief lecture.  The goal is to reach all campuses within a three year period.  

In an effort to fulfill a Board of Directors' wish to "never have the sun set on the NAVC," in February of 2008, a group of adventurous veterinarians set sail for Antarctica and planted the NAVC flag at the bottom of the world! In doing so, they gave birth to the newest member of the NAVC family – NAVC Expeditions.  Future adventures include a Polar Bear Expedition and trips to the Galapagos Islands and the Amazon Rainforest.  

The NAVC family of brands has developed a reputation for quality and excellence no matter where in the world you find it. The Board and staff work diligently to maintain and protect this reputation.