After serving as a faculty mentor on the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine’s (CVM) Comparative Medicine and Pathology Training Program T32 grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for a decade, Molly McCue, DVM, MS, PhD, was named the program’s new lead director on April 1. The program’s goals are to provide participants with the broad-based knowledge, quality communication skills, and advanced research training essential for a career as independent researchers. 

McCue, who is the associate dean for research at the CVM, was also one of the program’s first two trainees in 2004. She completed the program and her PhD at the CVM in 2007. As a faculty mentor, three of McCue’s graduate student mentees completed the program. McCue has been co-director of the program since 2016.

“As one of the first people to benefit from this program, I am honored to have it handed down to me,” McCue says. “Dr. Carlson saw a need for this grant in our college. Now, dozens of people have benefitted from the program and Dr. Carlson’s altruistic efforts.”

“This program has been important to the college, as it has provided funding for 26 veterinarians to engage in state-of-the-art research projects,” says Cathy Carlson, DVM, PhD, DACVP, chair and professor in the Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences. “Nine NIH grants have been awarded to graduates of the program, and five graduates currently serve critical roles as faculty members of our college.” 

Carlson collaborated with David Brown, PhD, professor and interim chair in the Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, to write the NIH T32 grant, and has co-lead it with Brown ever since. “It is extremely satisfying to see someone of Dr. McCue’s intellect and national stature taking over as leader of the program,” Carlson says. “I expect it to continue to grow and flourish under her leadership.”

This T32 grant is one of only 15 active T32 grants from the NIH across the country dedicated to training veterinarians. The CVM is actually home to two training grants, the other being the Training in PharmacoNeuroImmune Substance Abuse Research program, which is not solely dedicated to training veterinarians and is led by Tom Molitor, PhD, chair and professor in the Department of Veterinary Population Medicine at the CVM.

The Comparative Medicine and Pathology Training Program at a glance