Over the summer, College of Veterinary Medicine DVM student Emily Banks made her first trip abroad to Iquitos, Peru, the country’s gateway to the Amazon rainforest. She spent two weeks at the Rainforest Awareness, Rescue, and Education Center (RAREC) learning about its work with endangered species, while sharing her knowledge about invasive pathogens that impact amphibians and aquatic ecosystems.

“I told them about the potential threats to amphibian species,” she says. “Biosecurity is an important thing. I was helping them adapt to different methods.”

Banks’s amphibian research and Peru trip stem from the College of Veterinary Medicine’s (CVM) Veterinary Summer Scholars program, which provides first- and second-year veterinary students with a 12-week research opportunity through projects spanning biomedical, agricultural, and ecosystem health. It gives students a chance to deepen their understanding of how research drives innovation in medicine, animal health, and One Health, while exploring potential career paths.

Erin Burton, CMV’s senior associate dean of academic and student affairs, says it’s exciting to see students take lab learnings and apply them in the community.

“That ability to translate skills across contexts is exactly what makes Emily’s work stand out,” Burton says.

In her second year as a Summer Scholar, Banks continued her amphibian research with Amy Kinsley, an assistant professor in the Department of Veterinary Population Medicine. She studied how using a structured decision management plan could manage invasive pathogens that threaten amphibians in Minnesota. Banks says that through collaboration with mentors and other students, the Veterinary Summer Scholars program helped improve her research skills, including developing an abstract and finding reliable sources for research projects.

Banks presented her research at the national Boehringer Ingelheim Veterinary Scholars Symposium in August in Spokane, Washington.

Being part of the Summer Scholars program not only gives students the chance to work closely with faculty members and present at a national symposium, but it often serves as a launching point for bigger opportunities, Burton says.

“We know from experience that students who participate are more likely to pursue advanced training and ultimately become the future leaders of our profession,” Burton says.

Banks says ever since she was a young child, she’s had a soft spot for amphibians. That passion for those cold-blooded animals has only grown stronger thanks to her Summer Scholars experience, which led her to make a significant decision about her future.

“It really pushed me toward applying for CVM's PhD program,” she says. “I enjoyed the creativity of it, doing the projects and exploring my interests.”