Veterinary Heroes™ 2022 winner: Randy Acker, DVM, DACVS

Randy Acker, DVM, DACVS is the owner of the Sun Valley Animal Center in Ketchum, ID and is the winner of our surgery category of the Veterinary Heroes™ 2022 Awards.

Get to know Randy Acker in this brief biography:

Acker’s work is focused on dog surgery, with a particular emphasis on orthopedics. “I do primarily orthopedics—a lot of hips, knees, [and] fractures. Specifically, I created the TATE elbow and the TATE ankle, which are elbow replacement and ankle replacement [prosthetics] for dogs,” he said in an interview with dvm360®.

While in veterinary school, Acker would make dog skeletons to pay tuition, which led to him becoming more interested in orthopedics. Acker explained that he also had a dog named Tate, who inspired his creation of the TATE elbow replacement. “He was a Labrador, and he was crippled at age 7 with elbow dysplasia, which is pretty common—[seen in] 13% of dogs. I went around the world looking for an elbow replacement system and didn’t really find one, so I hired an engineer and started working on the TATE elbow,” he said.

Acker expressed his gratitude for the dvm360® Veterinary Hero recognition. “As you go longer and longer in your career—I’ve been at it for 43 years—it’s nice to have some sort of an exclamation point in recognition,” he said.

Acker added that he is grateful for all the help and collaboration he has received over the years in his career. “People were always willing to share their techniques and surgical methods with me...lots of thanks to everyone willing to share their information with me,” he said.