Contents
- Essential Training
Filling the Vital Need for Veterinary Researchers
Essential Training
Filling the Vital Need for Veterinary Researchers
H1N1 flu. SARS. Ebola. Each of these feared viral outbreaks came from animals. Each uncovered a critical shortage of veterinarians conducting cutting-edge research.
"Veterinarians are in a position to take the lead in coming up with improved diagnostics, working out better treatments and finding ways to prevent disease spread," said Kent Lloyd, associate dean for research and graduate education programs at the University of California (UC), Davis.
Michael Atchison, a professor of biochemistry at the University of Pennsylvania, agreed. "Veterinarians receive broad comparative medicine training," he said. "This brings something special to science. They think a little differently. They know the right questions."
Lloyd and Atchison are principal investigators on NCRR veterinary training grants — one of several ways NCRR encourages and supports veterinary students in research. Other organizations also have begun to recognize the need for more of these researchers. In the past five years, the National Research Council released two reports on the pressing need for veterinary researchers, who could improve both animal and human health.
"Translational research has a great need for veterinary scientists, but not enough veterinarians go into research," said Franziska B. Grieder, director of the Division of Comparative Medicine at NCRR. "This is primarily a cultural problem. Most veterinary students aren’t aware of research career opportunities."
To address this challenge, NCRR attempts to engage veterinary students early by offering summer research experiences after the first or second year of veterinary school. NCRR awards a T35 short-term training grant to about a dozen institutions for students to conduct research in various laboratories.
Katherine Hammerman, an NCRR-supported T32 postdoctoral fellow, investigates simian immunodeficiency virus expression in nonhuman primates at the New England Primate Research Center. She previously received NCRR support through two T35 summer training grants at the University of Pennsylvania. Photo by Kristen Toohey, New England Primate Research Center, Harvard University.
Students who discover an affinity for research through their summer T35 projects can apply to renew their funding. Penn alumna Katherine Hammerman took advantage of this opportunity. "I used the summer research grant to get my feet wet in the research programs at Penn and to see if I was willing and able to commit to a lengthy V.M.D.–Ph.D. joint program," she said. Her research focused on germ-cell biology, using mice as a model for humans. "It was a very positive experience."
Hammerman, who also worked in a laboratory as an undergraduate, said that interactions with colleagues who had earned or were working toward research degrees helped convince her to do the same. She finished her V.M.D. in 2002 and received her Ph.D. in 2006. Following her dissertation work, which centered on the cell biology of the parasite Toxoplasma gondii, she has continued to work in infectious diseases through a postdoctoral fellowship at the NCRR-supported New England Primate Research Center. Her career trajectory is not unusual for Penn students who participate in the T35 program. Though most continue their veterinary training with the intention of working in animal clinics, nearly half each year get hooked on research and go on to postgraduate education.
