Integrated Veterinary-Biomedical Research Training Pgm

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): We are requesting support for an innovative, new program to educate the next generation of research veterinarians in whole animal-based biomedical sciences and hypothesis-driven research. The Purdue University School of Veterinary Medicine (PU-SVM) has long recognized the importance of interfacing the education of its graduates in veterinary medicine with hypothesis-driven basic biomedical research. To this end the PU-SVM has implemented this interfacing of professional and basic biomedical research education. Since 1991, 85 veterinary students have participated in summer research programs in PU-SVM. Seventeen percent of these veterinary graduates are in careers linking directly veterinary medicine and biomedical sciences, or are now pursuing advanced graduate degrees. The long-term goal of the PU-SVM, with support from NIH, is to expand the scope of the existing program, enabling qualified veterinary students to complete both their professional DVM degree and a degree(s) in basic biomedical sciences, with a primary focus in either cancer or neuroscience research. We propose to develop a dual degree DVM/Masters program by: a) targeting recruitment of third year veterinary students for one-year formal training program in biomedical research, b) enabling these students to concurrently complete their DVM degree and graduate Master's degree in Basic Medical Sciences. This proposed dual DVM/MS degree program builds upon the flexibility of the tracked fourth-year curriculum in our school. The positive outcomes of this integrated professional and graduate education will be the next generation of veterinary scientists, who will be able to participate in clinically relevant investigations, employing emerging basic science knowledge, and/or in basic biomedical investigations, employing a clinical perspective and designed to improve the health of both animals and humans. In addition to implementing the Integrated Veterinary - Biomedical Research Training (IVBMRT) program, we will continue to provide opportunity for veterinary students, who have completed the first or second years of the DVM curriculum and want an animal-based, hypothesis-driven biomedical research experience without entering a graduate degree program. Participating faculty mentors in the proposed IVBMRT program include faculty from the PU-SVM, the Schools of Pharmacy and Science and Liberal Arts, thus linking the medical perspective of the SVM with the fundamental biomedical perspectives and expertise also present at Purdue University. Importantly, these Purdue faculty mentors together represent a diversity of ethnic groups and national origins, varied cultural backgrounds, many of the major research universities of the US and abroad, as well as minorities and women. This mentor diversity will facilitate recruitment and retention of students from minority and underrepresented groups while enriching the research education and training of all participating students.