2025 Veterinary Heroes: Ashley Bourgeois, DVM, DACVD (Dermatology)

Sponsored by Elanco Animal Health

Ashley Bourgeois, DVM, DACVD, has built a career around making veterinary dermatology practical, accessible. A board-certified veterinary dermatologist, educator and business leader, she balances clinical rigor with an unusually public commitment to teaching, while bringing compassion and authenticity into the conversation about veterinary work and life.

Bourgeois’s path began with strong academic foundations: a bachelor’s degree from Iowa State and a DVM from the University of Missouri in 2010, followed by a small-animal rotating internship at Purdue and a dermatology residency at the Animal Dermatology Clinic in Tustin, California. She became a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Dermatology in 2014. In 2016 she relocated to Portland, Oregon, helping expand the Animal Dermatology Clinic; today she serves as an owner and board member of the practice. What distinguishes Bourgeois is how she has translated specialty expertise into broad practical education. Through her brand, The Derm Vet, she produces a podcast, lectures and social media content designed to demystify dermatology for general practitioners. She intentionally makes access to education free or highly accessible, because “I wanted to make dermatology accessible, practical, and empowering for general practitioners across the globe,” she has said. Her materials focus on clear, actionable strategies, such as cytology basics, allergy workflows, and stepwise approaches to chronic skin disease, so that veterinarians who don’t have a dermatologist on staff can still improve outcomes for itchy pets.

Clinically, Bourgeois’s interests span autoimmune skin diseases, allergic dermatitis, cytology and otology. But equally central to her work is the long view; she wants to change how practitioners feel about their work. She openly shares the realities of balancing career and family life, including the profound experience of caring for a child with serious illness, an experience that has deepened her empathy for clients managing chronic conditions. “Having to learn to navigate being a caregiver to someone with a chronic illness has made me even more empathetic to our clients,” she said in a dvm360 interview, noting that flexibility and compassion in treatment plans often produce better adherence and outcomes.

Her contributions have been recognized across the profession. Bourgeois was VMX Speaker of the Year and received the Bright Minds Champion award for wellness, honors that reflect both her educational reach and her advocacy for clinician well-being. She consistently emphasizes sustainable career practices, urging colleagues to seek balance and to build workplaces that support mental health and longevity in practice.

Advice from Bourgeois to early-career veterinarians is practical and encouraging: see as many cases as possible, ask questions, and embrace different clinical styles. “Getting experience with different veterinarians helps mold you into a future clinician,” she says. That philosophy to learn broadly, share generously exemplifies her work as an educator and mentor.

Whether she’s lecturing at conferences, recording a podcast episode, or consulting on a challenging case, Bourgeois’s influence is defined by clarity, generosity and authenticity. Her combination of clinical excellence, accessible education and commitment to professional wellness make her not only a leader in veterinary dermatology but also a model for how specialists can uplift the whole profession. For those reasons and many more, Ashley Bourgeois is a deserving recipient of the dvm360 Veterinary Heroes Award in Dermatology.

The 2025 class of dvm360 Veterinary Heroes will be honored at a celebratory luncheon in the dvm360 Fetch Kansas City Conference. Click here learn more or register for the event.