A hot summer-like evening helped signal the beginning of the 2023 Veterinary Research Scholars Summer Program last week as the Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine’s Office of Research hosted a traditional summer picnic for program participants. The event was held Thursday evening, June 1, at the River Shelter at Fort Ouiatenon, with a menu that featured pork barbecue, hamburgers and all the trimmings, including potato salad, pasta salad, baked beans and assorted desserts. The venue for the annual picnic was moved this year because the usual picnic site at Happy Hollow Park in West Lafayette was not available.
The Veterinary Research Scholars Summer Program provides undergraduate and veterinary students the opportunity to gain first-hand experience working in research laboratories under the guidance of faculty mentors. This year, a total of 16 students are participating, including ten Purdue veterinary medicine students in the classes of 2025 and 2026, and six undergraduate students. Three of the undergraduates are Purdue students. The other three are from Adrian College in Adrian, Michigan; St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota; and the University of Virginia.
The goal of the program is to encourage veterinary students to consider biomedical and clinical research careers. The participants are able to explore non-practice veterinary careers by engaging in a mentored research project through informal and formal interactions with veterinary scientists. At the end of the summer, the veterinary students will be able to travel to the National Veterinary Scholars Symposium supported by Boehringer Ingelheim, which will be held in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
A key element of the program is pairing the participants with faculty mentors. Working with their mentor, each participant conducts an independent research project. Additional components of the program include participating in weekly seminars about such topics as Clinical Trials, Careers in Laboratory Animal Medicine, Scientific Research Ethics, Scientific/Poster Presentation Skills, and specific areas of research, including Equine Asthma, Mechanisms of Cancer Pathogenesis, and Veterinary Ophthalmology. There also are opportunities to participate in extracurricular activities as well as a research poster session, where the students are able to share their research findings with the college’s faculty and staff. Additionally, the college will host the Annual Purdue-Illinois Joint Symposium at Lynn Hall on June 28 for Purdue and University of Illinois participants in the Veterinary Research Scholars Summer Program. Dr. Harm HogenEsch, Purdue Veterinary Medicine associate dean for research and Distinguished Professor of Immunopathology, and Dr. Eli Asem, professor of physiology in the Department of Basic Medical Sciences, organize the program by matching students and faculty. The participants in the eleven-week program are selected through an application process. A special thank you to the 16 Purdue Veterinary Medicine faculty members serving as mentors.