Wherever you want to go as a physician, VA can take you there

At VA, we start every day with a fresh commitment to making life better for Veterans who risk so much to protect our freedom and our country. As a VA physician, you’ll have the chance to be part of that important mission.

The pathways to serve those who served are varied, but at the heart of each, you’ll discover a career with competitive pay, opportunities for growth and mobility, and rich rewards.

Patient care

If your goal is to work with some of the greatest patients in the world, our medical centers provide a wide range of services for Veterans, including traditional hospital-based services, such as surgery, critical care, mental health, orthopedics, pharmacy, radiology and physical therapy.

Most of our medical centers offer additional medical and surgical specialty services, like audiology, dermatology, dentistry, geriatrics, neurology, oncology, podiatry, prosthetics, urology and vision care. Some medical centers also offer advanced services, such as organ transplants and plastic surgery, making for a wide array of options for your personal practice.

Beyond traditional hospital settings, a physician like you could work in a community-based outpatient clinic, which provides health and wellness visits without the need to visit a larger medical center. We also offer opportunities for physicians in community living centers, where Veterans can receive a level of care similar to a nursing home, whether that is help with activities of daily living or the medical care you deliver.

Education

While you can take advantage of our continuing education opportunities, maybe you want to be the one at the podium. If so, there is also a chance for you to help shape the next generation of medical professionals.

VA is affiliated with over 1,800 unique educational institutions across 7,000-plus training programs – and nearly every allopathic and osteopathic medical school in the country.

Currently, nearly three-quarters of VA physicians have faculty appointments and spend some portion of their time in education and research activities.

Research

If personal academic pursuits are more to your liking, VA doctors have been at the forefront of groundbreaking research for decades, and there are plenty of ways you can join those innovators.

Our doctors can participate in research, and we offer salary support for awardees to pursue research and training. Furthermore, thanks to our collaborations with universities, federal agencies and nonprofits, you can be part of the broader academic and clinical community while still impacting the health of Veterans in meaningful ways.

“It’s satisfying to be able to continue to work on problems involving Veterans that I saw beginning to develop while they were on active duty, or in some cases may have been a result of their active-duty experience,” explained Dr. Stephen Plymate, an endocrinologist at the VA Puget Sound Health Care System in Seattle and a world leader in prostate cancer research. “VA provides that opportunity.”

Leadership

Beyond clinical, research and teaching, there are also opportunities for you in leadership roles. We’ll help you maximize your learning in a clinical environment, putting an emphasis on the development of health care leadership competencies.

Demonstrating our commitment to retaining the best talent and shaping them into our future leaders, we have developed a training program that ensures a physician who join our team has the necessary training, relationships and experiences to succeed as clinical leaders.

Work at VA

We have a way to get you exactly where you want to go, both professionally and personally.

• LEARN what VA has to offer physicians (PDF).
• EXPLORE our academic partnerships.
• READ about the innovators and trailblazers on our team.
• APPLY for jobs at VA.

NOTE: Positions listed in this post were open at the time of publication. All current available positions are listed at USAJobs.gov.