Today the concept of One Health is highlighting a call for increased integration of veterinary medicine and other biomedical scientific disciplines. Combined interdisciplinary training as a veterinary pathologist or other veterinary clinical specialist, and comparative biomedical research, sets the stage for a fulfilling career exploring challenges in detecting and understanding the biology of diseases from a comparative perspective.
With this in mind, the Center for Cancer Research (CCR), National Cancer Institute (NCI) has developed two training programs, administered by NCI's Molecular Pathology Unit . The first is a graduate program, the CBSTP (Comparative Biomedical Scientist Training Program), for doctors of veterinary medicine, which incorporates veterinary medicine and pathology with training in human biomedical research. The initiative in pathology has now been expanded to include a variety of additional clinical disciplines through which clinical residency and graduate research training are combined. This educational fusion advances a veterinarians’ capabilities in examination, diagnosis, prognosis, intervention, and management of patients in a defined area of practice (specialty), while imparting skills in disease investigation through the research discovery process.
The second research opportunity is a Summer Internship Program for veterinary medical students, which was created to give students a research experience and to provide opportunities to interact with veterinarians at the NIH, FDA, and other government agencies who have chosen many different career directions involved in research, animal models, medical device approval, and other paths.
Experience in research during clinical education through such fellowships can be formative in ways that edify medical understanding and influence interest in the beneficial impact research can have on patients individually and as a population. Trainees have the opportunity to make a significant impact on societal problems and lead contributions to the public’s health, to human health, as well as to animal and ecosystem health.