Dr. Lauren V. Powers
Lauren Powers, DVM, DABVP (Avian Practice) is Specialty Service Chief of the Avian and Exotic Pet Service at Carolina Veterinary Specialists in the greater Charlotte area of North Carolina.
Dr. Powers is also a consulting veterinarian for Discovery Place Science Museum and the Discovery Place Nature Museum (2013-Present). She also provides consulting services for Companion Parrots Rehomed, a local parrot rehoming organization at Parrot University, as well as Phoenix Landing.
Training & certification
Dr. Powers graduated with honors from Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine. She then completed a residency program in non-domestic avian medicine and surgery at North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine (NCSU-CVM). Dr. Powers trained under the mentorship of Drs. Keven Flammer, Laurel Degernes, and LoraKim Joyner. She wrote, “They were patient and kind and opened the world to me, and for this I am eternally grateful. The lessons I learned during my residency have lasted me my career”. Dr. Powers became board certified through the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners in Avian Practice (1997)
Educator
Throughout her career, Dr. Powers has strived to advance the field of avian medicine through teaching and mentorship. She has served as an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Clinical Sciences at NCSU-CVM since 2008, where she has interacted with veterinary medical students during formal rounds as well as lunch-and-learn sessions. Lauren has also visited a number of veterinary medical schools, including Cornell University, Virginia-Maryland, and the University of California at Davis, to lecture on avian medicine and to promote membership in the Association of Avian Veterinarians (AAV). Dr. Powers also regularly lectures at local, regional, national, and international veterinary conferences.
From 2019 to 2023, her clinical service offered a 1-year internship program in avian and exotic pet medicine. Dr. Powers has also hosted a number of veterinary medical student externs and she has allowed rotating small animal interns at Carolina Veterinary Specialists to spend a month in the Avian and Exotics Service.
Professional service
Lauren has been a member of AAV since 1991. She has served in a number of leadership roles, including auction coordinator, chairperson of the AAV Research Committee, Fundraising Committee co-chair, chairperson of the Education Committee, as well as President (2017-2018), and Conference Committee chairperson. She has also been a member of the AAV Leadership and Development Committee. Lauren has also volunteered for the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners, serving as a member of the ABVP (Avian Practice) Credentials Committee for most years since 2005 and also serving as the ABVP (Exotic Companion Mammal Practice) Credentials Committee Vice Chair from 2014-2017. She is also a member of the North Carolina Veterinary Medical Association and an honorary member of the North Carolina Falconer’s Guild.
Contributions to avian medicine
Despite the pressure and time required to lead a thriving private practice, Dr. Powers has contributed significantly to the knowledge base of avian medicine. She has presented and published a number of case reports and retrospective case series, including a recent study that explored the association between infection with Macrorhabdus ornithogaster and proventricular adenocarcinoma in budgerigars. Dr. Powers has also been a clinical innovator and she has shared her clinical advances with the AAV community through numerous presentations and publications.
“I entered…avian medicine when the field was relatively young…Nearly everything we knew about pet bird medicine…was based on individual experience and trial and error….[I]nnovation and creativity were necessities. I became quite comfortable with trying things for the first time, and I have carried this willingness and familiarity to my current day-to-day practice”.
Dr. Powers has also led impactful research that avian veterinarians can use in daily practice on spironucleosis in cockatiels and the clinical use of doxycycline in cockatiels. She has also conducted a small number of clinical trials at her practice, including a pilot pharmacokinetic study of orally administered phenobarbital in grey parrots. Dr. Powers has also written a number of review journal articles and book chapters on avian medicine.
Awards & honors
Dr. Powers was the 2011 and 2012 recipient of the AAV President’s Award for Outstanding Service and the 2008 recipient of the Association of Exotic Mammal Veterinarians (AEMV) President’s Award.
