Celebration of vets’ care for pets and communities defines VMX 2026

Hollywood star John Travolta described vets as his “heroes” as he gave the opening address at the world’s biggest veterinary conference.

Nearly 30,000 veterinary professionals from more than 85 countries descended upon the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando for VMX 2026, the North American Veterinary Community’s (NAVC) 43rd annual conference.

Almost 600 speakers delivered 1,300 hours of continuing education, while 722 exhibitor booths – spanning diagnostics, software, medical devices, nutrition and pharmaceuticals – spanned a record 169,400 sq ft at the event.

‘Champions of care’

This year’s event adopted a theme of “World Classic: Celebrating the Champions of Care”, which Mr Travolta embraced in his keynote speech.

The actor shared a heartfelt tribute to his dog Peanut, adopted after the death of his wife Kelly Preston, and thanked vets “for injecting life into care with kindness”.

He added: “Everyone in this audience is a hero to me, because [when] its 2 in the morning and you are worried about your animal, there’s some veterinarian in some town that is willing to wake up and help you, and that is a miracle. So, veterinarians are my heroes.”

‘Advancing care’

The message was echoed by NAVC chief executive Gene O’Neill. He said: “VMX is designed to celebrate the continuing work of veterinary professionals worldwide – the people who never stop advancing care for animals.”

Doney Coe Pet Clinic in Seattle, which provides veterinary care – often at no cost – to people experiencing homelessness or other financial barriers, was named the NAVC Gives Marquee Award winner for 2026 and received US$25,000.

In honour of Martin Luther King Jr Day, more than 5,000 volunteers, including VMX attendees and NAVC staff and leadership, gathered to pack more than one million healthy meals; an estimated 3.2 million Floridians, including more than 800,000 children, experienced food insecurity last year.

VETTY Awards

NAVC also announced the winners of its VETTY Awards during the congress.

Reflecting on the conference, NAVC CVO Dana Varble added: “VMX is the launchpad for everything that is going to happen in the animal healthcare industry for 2026 and beyond.

“New products, procedures and science are traditionally debuted at VMX. This is the place where veterinary teams converge to learn, expand their skills and return home better prepared to care for pets and animals of all species.”