Unanswered scientific questions are about 700 fewer in number now that veterinary student researchers and dual-degree students from 45 worldwide institutions have presented their findings at the annual Combined Degree Colloquium and Veterinary Scholars Symposium, both held at NC State this month.

The international Veterinary Scholars Program helps universities provide opportunities for veterinary students to conduct hands-on research in faculty labs over 10 to 12 summer weeks. NC State routinely has the largest number of participants in the United States, and this year 71 veterinary students spent 10 weeks immersed in research — a 36% increase over last year.

At the symposium, whose theme was “Benchtop to Cage-Side: The Development of Clinician Scientists,” 65 NC State students were among the 650 veterinary students from across the world who presented posters detailing their summer findings. The colloquium, which preceded the symposium, featured nearly 60 students working toward earning both a DVM and a Ph.D. degree sharing their research.

“The enthusiasm around NC State during the events was contagious,” said Dr. Joshua Stern, associate dean for research and graduate studies at the NC State College of Veterinary Medicine. “These students came to NC from far and wide to share the product of their incredible summer research projects. Studies ranged from very basic and mechanistic data generation to clinical trials to investigating the role of the human animal bond.”

NC State’s CVM volunteered to be the first to host the annual events after responsibility moved from the American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges to the colleges. 

Stern and other NC State planning committee members added new items to the standard symposium agenda: a mix-and-mingle with veterinary hospital residents, who represented 15 specialties for students to learn from as they consider advanced training, and invited lightning round talks for 10 student symposium presenters.

“Everybody loved them,” Stern said of the lightning rounds. “They were amazing. It was a complete surprise for the students who were invited to present their findings on stage in addition to the traditional poster presentations.”

The Lightning Rounds

Madison Burden, a rising third-year student at the NC State College of Veterinary Medicine, was a lightning-round presenter, explaining her findings titled Treating Thrombocytopenia with Synthetic Platelet-Like Particles. 

Platelet transfusions are ideal for treating life-threatening canine hemorrhages, but fresh platelet products have a short shelf-life and are sparsely available in veterinary medicine. Burden helped test whether adding synthetic platelet-like particles or PLPs to low-platelet blood would return it to healthier clotting times.

“Our results showed that PLPs in the severe thrombocytopenia model resulted in a significantly shorter mean occlusion time compared to thrombocytopenic blood,” said Burden, who shared that she had very little research experience when she started the project. “The combination of PLPs and platelets also shortened occlusion time while platelets alone failed to return hemostasis to the level of healthy blood. We concluded that the addition of PLPs improves hemostatic function and they can act synergistically with platelets to restore hemostasis and clot density.”

Her work was part of a collaborative project in the labs of Dr. Ronald Li, an associate professor of emergency and critical care and co-director of NC State’s Veterinary Scholars Program, and Dr. Ashley Brown, the Lampe Distinguished Professor in the Lampe Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering between NC State and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Among the other VSP students chosen for the lightning rounds was Isaac Andrade of the University of Arizona College of Veterinary Medicine — who presented on The Impact of Service Dog Partnership on Social Participation and Arts Engagement Among Veterans with PTSD.

Andrade spent the summer working at the University of Arizona’s Organization for Human-Animal Interaction (OHAIRE) Lab under Dr. Maggie O’Haire, whose research focuses on service dog partnership as a complementary intervention for military veterans with PTSD, particularly those who are isolating themselves.

The lab’s research previously showed that service dogs lower PTSD symptom severity and improve psychosocial functioning for veterans. In his study, Andrade compared data from veterans who received service dogs and those still waiting for dogs to see whether service dog partnerships improved social participation and arts engagement for veterans as well.

“My results showed that, compared to the waiting list group, the service dog intervention group demonstrated greater general social participation and arts engagement,” Andrade said. 

Being asked to present his research through a lightning talk at the symposium was an amazing experience, he said.

“It was fulfilling to present a topic that resonates with so many people, especially those with personal experience or relatives in the armed forces,” he said. “A few people actually came to talk with me after my presentation and shared their stories relating to service dog partnership, which I thought was very special.”

A Solid Scientific Path

The numbers of students who participated in the symposium and the universities they represented were astounding, Stern said.

“In a period where research funding can be challenging to come by, the commitment of all of these places to send students to Raleigh to present their research was massive and really important,” he said. “We had students from South Korea, from France, from London, from Canada, from Mexico. We were bracing for the funding landscape to have a negative impact on registration and student support, and it was the opposite. It was phenomenal.”

The symposium also included several breakout sessions and two keynote speakers: Dr. Duncan Lascelles, the Dr. J. McNeely and Lynne K. DuBose Distinguished Professor of Musculoskeletal Health and a professor of Translational Pain Research and Surgery at NC State, and Dr. Nicola Mason, a professor at the Department of Pathobiology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine.

Dr. Mason, whose research in immunotherapy led to novel treatments for diseases including cancer, shared her insights on A Journey from Autoimmunity to Cancer Immunotherapy … and Back! Dr. Lascelles, an internationally renowned expert in translational research in pain and director of the Comparative Pain Research and Education Center at NC State, celebrated the incredible role that veterinarians play in human and animal health.

Breakout sessions included “Crash Course in the Path to Specialization: An Internship and Residency ‘How-To’” and “The Role of Clinicians and Collaborators in Research and Development.”

At the combined-degree colloquium, attendees presented their research, learned how to write grants and got a live update on research funding from the National Institutes of Health.

“It is inspiring to see the NC State College of Veterinary Medicine host the Combined Degree Colloquium and showcase the next generation of veterinary scientist-leaders,” Ritesh Tandon, an NIH program officer, posted on LinkedIn. “From an NIH-program perspective, this event reflects the importance of sustained investment in research training, interdisciplinary collaboration and the development of a strong biomedical workforce. Congratulations to the students, mentors, program leaders and organizers supporting this vital research and training ecosystem.”

The Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences will host the events in 2027.

Reflecting on the 2026 symposium, Stern said it is clear that the role of veterinarians in biomedical research is vast and that the path for clinician scientists is on solid ground.  

“There is no doubt that many of the future leaders of veterinary medicine were visiting NC State College of Veterinary Medicine!” he said. “We at NC State have an unwavering commitment to teaching veterinary students about the importance of research, their skills and ability as researchers and the role that they can play in the future health of animals, people and the planet.”