Bailey Carpenter, V’23, was awarded the 2021 Veterinary Student Research Fellowship from the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR). The three-month fellowship supports student research on agricultural productivity, public health, and environmental sustainability. Carpenter is creating a model for poultry production that captures poultry health, nutrition, biosecurity, and commercial sales, as well as related financial projections for testing, at a teaching and research farm in Gambia.
Kit DeWolf, V’24, was awarded a scholarship from the Ride and Tie Association for her winning essay, “Avoiding the Hiss-terics: Snake Bites and Horses.” The essay was featured in the June 2021 issue of Ride & Tie and Equathon Newsletter.
Elizabeth Egey, V’24, coauthored a paper on how infection impairs cognition and problem-solving performance in American crows for her undergrad thesis that is being reviewed for publication in Animal Behaviour. She also did a large animal internship in Romania, where she assisted a veterinarian with procedures such as calving, necropsies, mastitis treatments, artificial inseminations, and Caesarean sections, among others. Her favorite “procedure” was milking sheep and cows by hand (she notes that she might be the veterinary school’s only certifiable milkmaid!).
Reshmi Sensharma, V’23, was one of the recipients of the 2020–2021 Merck Animal Health Scholarship and, for her work in animal welfare, the 2021 Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association Compassionate Care Veterinary Student Scholarship. She is the founder Like a Dog, a nonprofit organization that provides community-based care and public health programs for animal populations living on the streets of Kolkata, India.
Josie Thal, V’23, attended AQUAVET, an aquatic medicine training program in Rhode Island run by Cornell University this summer. The four-week course covers a wide variety of topics relating to aquatic organisms, their health, and their environment.
Ashley Wang, V’23, was awarded first place for her essay Beyond Checking Off Boxes: Realizing Transformational Change in Diversity Work in the VIN Foundation’s Annual Solutions for the Profession Competition. This year’s competition asked veterinary students to explore diversity challenges in the veterinary profession and the steps their school is taking to address these challenges.
NIH/ Boehringer Ingelheim Summer Research Program
The NIH/Boehringer Ingelheim Summer Research Program exposes veterinary students in their first or second year of vet school to all phases of biomedical research, including the development of research ideas, the preparation of research proposals, the performance of biomedical research, and the presentation of research results in written and oral formats.
Offered at Penn Vet since 1990, this past summer, the program welcomed 21 students. With mentorship from faculty across the University, the students performed full-time biomedical research from June to August and participated in weekly seminars. They presented their work in oral, poster, and written presentations at the end of the program and attended the Virtual Veterinary Student Scholars Symposium, hosted by Boehringer Ingelheim.
Congratulations to Penn Vet’s 2021 NIH/ Boehringer Ingelheim scholars:
Josetta Adams
Covid vaccine humoral and cellular responses in Rituximab-treated MS patients
Mentor: Dr. Michael Betts, Penn Medicine
Devon Bankler-Jukes
Impact of candidate tumor cell- derived and CAF-derived factors on the immune landscape in a mouse model of PD
Mentor: Dr. Ellen Puré, Penn Vet
Estefania Benavides
O-GlcNAcylation-induced calcium 2+-calmodulin kinase activity on calcium and voltage-gated potassium channels expression and its association with atrial or ventricular fibrillation
Mentor: Dr. Zoltan Arany, Penn Medicine
Zelda Blowers
Supporting the human-animal bond: underserved communities of Philadelphia and the COVID-19 pandemic
Mentor: Dr. Brittany Watson, Penn Vet
Kyle Cappo
Clostridioides difficile in horses hospitalized with colic: nosocomial pathogen or innocent bystander?
Mentor: Dr. Laurel Redding, Penn Vet
Cameron DiGate
Transcriptomic analysis of Dirofilaria immitis third-stage larvae capable of emerging from Aedes aegypti mosquitoes to identify parasite genes required for transmission and infection
Mentor: Dr. Michael Povelones, Penn Vet
Carlin Hagmaier
Telomere attrition as a biomarker for animal welfare in sows: role of different types of leukocytes and social hierarchy
Mentor: Dr. Thomas Parsons, Penn Vet
Justin Hoffman
Effects of ebola virus VP40 PPxY motif on tight junction complexes in the retinal pigmented epithelium and corneal endothelium
Mentor: Dr. Ronald N. Harty, Penn Vet
Jo Kawabata
Driving cancer out of dogs with CAR-T therapy
Mentor: Dr. Nicola Mason, Penn Vet
Luke Kazmierski
Investigating the functional diversity of the bile acid producing commensal, Clostridium hiranonis
Mentor: Dr. Daniel Beiting, Penn Vet
Rowan Prown
Local waterway species of fish and pollutants consumed by humans in Philadelphia
Mentor: Dr. Lisa Murphy, Penn Vet
Daana Roach
Assessing the functional consequence of TTC37 gene variants on intestinal epithelial barrier function in patients with Tricho- Hepato-Enteric Syndrome (THES)
Mentor: Dr. Kathryn E. Hamilton, CHOP
Lakshmi Sastry
Evaluating systemic exposure of drug detection dogs to narcotics while performing their duties
Mentor: Dr. Mary Robinson, Penn Vet
Nicole Silverstein
Characterization of Non-Target Carbapenem-Resistant Organisms Collected from a Veterinary Teaching Hospital Environment
Mentor: Dr. Stephen Cole, Penn Vet
Anna Smith
Developing bioresorbable orthopedic implants to apply increasing load during fracture healing
Mentor: Dr. Michael Hast, Penn Medicine
Jaclyn Soulas
Diagnostic and prognostic markers of canine peripheral nerve sheath tumors
Mentor: Dr. Molly Church, Penn Vet
Miranda Starr
Investigation of interleukin (IL)-17 expression in naturally occurring cases and an experimental model of equine (Equus caballus) supporting limb laminitis
Mentor: Dr. Hannah Galantino- Homer, Penn Vet
Haley Thomas
Evidence for increased protein modification by oxidative fatty acid degradation products in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD)
Mentor: Dr. Paul Axelsen, Penn Medicine
Christian Urbina (visiting student)
Genetic editing as a tool to create the universal canine CAR-T cell
Mentor: Dr. Nicola Mason, Penn Vet
Amelie Ya Deau
Development of 3D Printed Combination Saw and Pin Guide to Improve Accuracy of Surgical Correction of Angular Limb Deformities
Mentor: Dr. Thomas P. Schaer, Penn Vet
Hanna Zayas
Modulation of the transcription factor FOSL1 on the regenerative capacity of pulmonary progenitor alveolar type 2
Mentor: Dr. Andrew Vaughan, Penn Vet