Leading with purpose and creating connections are two ways Kat Velez, a third-year DVM student at the College of Veterinary Medicine, hopes to make an impact not only on veterinary medicine but also on the people it serves and those pursuing careers in it. 

She’s accomplishing this through leadership and research training, participating in student-led organizations, and developing innovative projects. 

Velez's efforts have earned both local and national recognition. She recently won the local CLARION Interprofessional Case Competition and additionally was named one of just 15 students selected nationwide for the Chewy Veterinary Leaders Program, which provides a $20,000 scholarship, mentorship, leadership training, and career development support for underrepresented students in veterinary medicine.

“For me, it’s not just about the professional development, it’s about finding a community of different peers who care about representation and impact,” Velez says.  I’m excited to create those connections and grow together."

Her admission to the program was fueled by efforts at CVM to increase Latinx representation and support in veterinary medicine. That includes co-founding the college’s Latinx Veterinary Medical Association chapter to empower Latinx/Hispanic students and professionals in veterinary medicine and support aspiring veterinarians in order to better serve client demographics.

As part of these efforts, the chapter has partnered with Comunidades Latinas Unidas en Servicio (CLUES), Minnesota’s largest Latino-led nonprofit organization, on one of the chapter's major initiatives called Path to Paw. The event invites high school students involved with CLUE’s Youth in Action program to explore careers in veterinary medicine and empower them to envision a future where they, too, can strive for higher education.

“We created a space for them to let them know what vet school was like and what it takes to come into the field,” Velez says, adding the event featured a collaboration with CVM’s VetCamp program to provide participants with hands-on learning experiences. “It was really inspiring for all of us, and we're hoping to make this a yearly thing. It's about bringing awareness to the veterinary field, increasing representation, and also giving students the confidence to know that this is something that they can do.”

Velez also works with underserved and underresourced communities as a member of VeTouch, a volunteer-based, non-profit veterinary student club that hosts a monthly vaccine clinic for pets of Twin Cities residents receiving low or no income or experiencing homelessness.

Her experience with the club inspired a passion project that brings together veterinary medicine and virtual reality. Velez wants to create educational virtual experiences for VeTouch’s Spanish-speaking clients—and the larger Latino and Hispanic communities—that provide a tour of the clinic space and education on the importance of preventative medicine and yearly annual exams. 

“It’ll help people get a lay of the land and what it looks like to be inside VeTouch,” she says. “They can learn what to expect coming in, the services that we can provide, and what we can do in community medicine.”

Velez submitted her project idea—titled "Vetual Reality”—to the Student Innovator Fund of the UMN Libraries’ virtual reality division and was named one of two $4,500 grant winners. Filming for the project started this past spring, and Velez hopes to see the project go live by summer’s end. 

One of her other passions, research, also shapes Velez’s veterinary education at CVM. In addition to her virtuality project, Velez will spend her summer as a member of the 2025 Veterinary Summer Scholars cohort. It’s her second time participating in the program, which provides select DVM students with an opportunity to pursue research interests through classroom, field, and laboratory experiences. 

Last summer, Velez’s research centered on canine hemangiosarcoma, an aggressive form of cancer that develops from the lining of blood vessels, and investigated the role certain proteins play in hiding tumors from the immune system and promoting their growth. She and project partners sought to use this information to create more effective targeted therapies to treat these cancers.

This summer, Velez will work with Alonso Guedes, professor and CVM associate dean for research, on research focused on osteoarthritis in feline patients, with the goal of identifying a novel therapeutic approach.

“My background in research gives me the tools to contribute to this progress, and I hope to one day mentor students who share these ambitions, just as mentors have shaped my own path,” Velez says. “Ultimately, my goal is to blend clinical practice, research, and mentorship as a veterinary leader. By drawing on my own experiences, I aim to create an inclusive and supportive environment that fosters the growth of both current and future veterinary professionals.”