NIH/Boehringer Ingelheim Summer Research Program

The NIH/Boehringer Ingelheim Summer Research Program

Below you can learn about the NIH/Boehringer Ingelheim Summer Research Program, its history, and how it works. Then visit the other pages in this section to learn the details.

NIH/BI Research Contacts

Michael Atchison, PhD, Program Co-Director
Phone: 215-898-6428
atchison@vet.upenn.edu

Michael May, PhD, Program Co-Director
Phone: 215-898-8866
maym@vet.upenn.edu

Jenni Punt, VMD, PhD, Program Co-Director
Phone: 610-389-1782
punt@vet.upenn.edu

Anastasia Brown, Coordinator
Phone: 215-898-3800
vmstp@vet.upenn.edu

University of Pennsylvania
School of Veterinary Medicine
NIH/BI Summer Research Program
3800 Spruce Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6046

Finding a Research Mentor

Summer research may be carried out anywhere on Penn's campus. With over 700 biomedical research laboratories from which to choose, you will have many opportunities, but with so many choices finding a research mentor can be a daunting task.
A general procedure for finding faculty with whom to work is provided here.

Faculty and Projects

All faculty at the University of Pennsylvania are potential mentors.
Read about faculty who have mentored students in the past ten years along with actual project titles.

Departments & Graduate Groups

In this section, you can learn about Penn Vet's academic departments as well as all of the Biomedical Graduate Studies graduate groups available at Penn.

Boehringer Ingelheim Veterinary Scholars and Other Research Programs for Veterinary Students

All BI-funded programs will accept veterinary students from outside the host school. Many schools also maintain NIH funded programs that accept external students. In addition, some schools operate 'one year out' programs for students to perform a year of research during veterinary school. These and other programs can be found here.
You can also learn about NIH-funded T35 Summer Programs available to veterinary students throughout the nation.
Learn more about BI Veterinary Scholars and other research programs.
Apply to the NIH/BI Summer Research Training Program.

What the Program is About

The NIH/Boehringer Ingelheim Summer Research Program is designed to expose students in their first or second year of veterinary school to all phases of biomedical research. This includes the development of research ideas, the preparation of research proposals, the performance of biomedical research, and the presentation of research results in written, poster, and oral formats. Students in the program perform full time biomedical research during the months of June, July, and August, participate in weekly seminars, and present their work in oral, poster, and written presentations. Students also attend the National Veterinary Scholars Symposium (NVSS). The program provides a rich experience in biomedical research for students and simultaneously exposes them to a wide variety of research topics through seminars. Students also benefit from close association with University faculty, and the colleagueship of over 500 veterinary students in similar programs throughout the nation.

Who is Eligible?

Any veterinary student who has completed one semester of veterinary school is eligible to apply. Students can be from the University of Pennsylvania, or any other veterinary school.

History of the Program

The Summer Research Program has existed at Penn Vet since 1990. The program is currently funded by Boehringer Ingelheim and by an NIH training grant. Other sources of support include funds from the office of the Dean, the four departmental chairs, the Institute for Immunology, and the Marie Lowe Cancer Center. Since its inception, the program has funded 528 awards to 477 different students to perform biomedical research in the laboratories of 181 different faculty members at the University of Pennsylvania. The historical success rate of gaining acceptance into the program is about 80%.

How Does the Program Work?

Students perform full time research during the months of June, July, and August under the supervision of their faculty mentor. Throughout the summer, students participate in weekly seminars given by faculty and guest speakers (see schedule, below). Students also orally present their own work to other students in the program at the end of the summer. Students attend the annual National Veterinary Scholars Symposium and present a poster of their work at the conference. In September, students prepare a written manuscript of their work in the form of a research paper. The following March, all participating students submit their work to the Penn Veterinary Student Research Day. In prior years, the vast majority of the Penn Vet Student Research Day winners have been participants in the Summer Research Program.

In addition to a stipend (currently $6,459 for the summer) students receive course credit for independent study (8 credits for Penn students). Non-Penn Vet students can receive up to an additional $500 for relocation costs. It is anticipated that 20 students will be funded each year.

NIH/BI Summer Research Scholars Tentative Schedule 2021
Unless otherwise noted, meetings are Mondays at 9am and most Wednesdays at 4pm. All meetings will be via zoom. A link will be sent before each meeting.
April
4/27	Introductory Meeting (Note: 5:30pm)
June
6/1	Responsible Conduct in Research - Jenni Punt, VMD, PhD, Associate Dean of One Heath, Penn Vet (Note: Tuesday 9am)
6/2	Careers in Pharmaceutical Industry Jessica Stehr, VMD, MS, MBA, Executive Director, Cardiometabolic New Products, Merck Chris DeMaula, DVM, PhD, Senior Principle Scientist, Pathology, Merck Colena Johnson, DVM, MS, DACLAM, Director, Laboratory Animal Resources, Merck
6/7	Careers in Academia - Michael May, PhD, Associate Professor, Penn Vet
6/9	Tenure Track Veterinarian-Scientists Susan Volk, VMD, PhD, DACVS, Associate Professor, Penn Vet Nicola Mason, BVetMed, PhD, DACVIM, Gilmore Endowed Chair, Associate Professor, Penn Vet Elizabeth Lennon, DVM, PhD, DACVIM, Cole Assistant Professor, Penn Vet
6/14	Grants and Grant Writing Bruce Freedman, VMD, PhD, Associate Professor, Director, Imaging Core, Penn Vet Leslie King, PhD, Scientific Director of Grant Development
6/16	Veterinarians in Careers Involving Public Health Dan Morris, DVM, MPH, Professor of Dermatology, Penn Vet Heather Fowler, VMD, PhD, MPH, DACVPM, Director of Producer and Public Health, National Pork Board Laurel Redding, VMD, PhD, DACVPM, Assistant Professor, New Bolton Center, Penn Vet
6/21	Careers in Lab Animal Medicine - F. Claire Hankenson, DVM, DACLAM, Professor of Pathobiology, Penn Vet; Associate Vice Provost for Research and Executive Director of University Laboratory Animal Resources, University of Pennsylvania
6/28	A Vision for Penn Vet - Dean Andrew Hoffman, DVM, DVSc, DACVIM, Professor of Large Animal Medicine, Gilbert S. Kahn Dean of Veterinary Medicine, Penn Vet
July
7/12	Careers in Government Natalie Miller, VMD, PhD, Veterinary Medical Officer, Food and Drug Administration Stephanie Murphy, VMD, PhD, Director, Division of Comparative Medicine, National Institutes of Health
7/14	Program Alumni Panel Eva Furrow, VMD, PhD, DACVM, Associate Professor Small Animal Medicine, University of Minnesota Colleen Kane, Compound Development Team Leader, Hematologic Malignancies, Senior Director, Janssen R&D Heidi Reesink, VMD, PhD, DACVS-LA, Harry M. Zweig Assistant Professor in Equine Health, Cornell University
7/19	Poster, Oral, and Written Presentations Frank Luca, PhD, Associate Professor, Penn Vet Michael Atchison, PhD, Professor, Director, VMD-PhD Program, Penn Vet
7/21	Clinical Educator Veterinarian-Scientists Stephen Cole, VMD, MS, DACVM, Assistant Professor of Clinical Microbiology, Penn Vet Anna Gelzer, Dr.med.vet, PhD, DACVM, Professor of Cardiology, Penn Vet
7/26	Career Paths and Research Mission Visions of NBC and CSAM Chairs Katrin Hinrichs, DVM, PhD, ACT, Professor of Reproduction, Harry Werner Endowed Professor of Equine Medicine Chair, Clinical Studies-New Bolton Center, Penn Vet Oliver O. Garden, BS, BVetMed, PhD, ACVIM, ECVIM, Henry and Corinne R. Bower Professor of Medicine, Chair, Clinical Sciences & Advanced Medicine, Penn Vet
7/28	Student Presentations
7/29	Student Presentations (Note: Thursday 9am)
August
8/4-8/6	NVSS Virtual Meeting
8/9	Program wrap-up session

National Veterinary Scholars Symposium

Each year, veterinary students in formal research programs in the US, Canada, and Europe meet for a National Symposium. These meetings enable students to present their work to others, learn about careers for veterinarian-scientists, and network with their peers and scientists from academia, industry, and government. Past conferences are listed below. The 2022 conference is expected to be hosted by the University of Minnesota.

Past National Conferences
Year	Location	Year	Location
2000	University of Georgia	2012	Colorado State University
2001	University of Georgia	2013	Michigan State University
2002	Purdue University	2014	Cornell University
2003	Kansas State University	2015	UC Davis
2004	Auburn University	2016	Ohio State University
2005	University of Georgia	2017	Michigan State University at NIH
2006	Louisiana State University	2018	Texas A&M
2007	University of Pennsylvania and AAVMC at NIH	2019	Tufts University
2008	Michigan State University	2020	University of California, San Diego
2009	North Carolina State University	2021	Iowa State University
2010	University of Georgia	2022	University of Minnesota
2011	University of Florida

Application to the Program

To apply to the program, students interested in performing biomedical research discuss research ideas with faculty. All faculty members at the University of Pennsylvania are eligible to accept a student in the program, thus students are not restricted to those within the School of Veterinary Medicine. The Program Directors, Dr. Michael Atchison, Dr. Michael May, and Dr. Jenni Punt, can assist students in identifying faculty with interests compatible with theirs, or students can identify a faculty mentor through information available at the various Penn graduate group web pages, and departmental web pages. The student and faculty mentor fill out an application package and write a short research proposal (approximately 3 pages) which is due February 1 each year. Please make sure to contact possible faculty mentors at least two months prior to the deadline. The research proposal should define the questions being pursued and should explain the experimental approaches to be taken to answer those questions. The advisory committee reviews the applications with respect to academic standing of the student, quality of the research proposal, and training potential of the mentor's laboratory. Students whose applications are funded are notified by late February of their award.