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Young investigators, big impact

  • Two graduate students become finalists for AVMA/AVMF Young Investigator Award,

    Young investigators, big impact

    Two graduate students become finalists for AVMA/AVMF Young Investigator Award, get selected for prestigious workshop

Sian Durward-Akhurst, BVMS, MS, PhD candidate at the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM), and Elaine Norton, DVM, ’15 MS, ’19 PhD, completed the Burroughs Wellcome Fund “Becoming Faculty” workshop this summer.

The interactive workshop hosted roughly 20 participants. Durward-Akhurst and Norton each applied for the American Veterinary Medical Association/American Veterinary Medical Foundation (AVMA/AVMF) Young Investigator Award and, in doing so, were eligible for selection for the workshop. As finalists for the Young Investigator Award, they were ultimately selected to attend. Twenty-nine individuals applied for the AVMA/AVMF Young Investigator Award, and only five were selected as finalists.

The workshop is designed to provide the information needed to launch a scientific career in academia. “The workshop covered a lot of things that supplemented the classes we have taken in the CVM’s graduate school,” says Durward-Akhurst. The researchers say it was also an advantageous networking opportunity.

 The fact that two of the five finalists for the AVMA/AVMF Young Investigator Award were from the CVM is a testament to the quality of students in our graduate programs.

Molly McCue

“This was also ideal timing for us to attend the workshop,” says Norton. “We are both starting to apply for faculty positions, and the information provided in this workshop was invaluable.”

Durward-Akhurst’s PhD is centered on developing tools for precision medicine for horses. Norton’s PhD research, which she successfully defended in September, looked to horse genetics to advance scientific understanding of equine metabolic syndrome and laminitis. Both researchers were mentored by Molly McCue, DVM, MS, ’07 PhD, professor in the Department of Veterinary Population Medicine and associate dean of research at the CVM.