Overview - Dual (DVM/PhD) Degree Cornell Veterinary Medicine

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Cornell Dual (DVM/PhD) Degree Program

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Cornell Dual DVM/PhD Degree Program:
Program Overview and History

The Cornell Dual DVM/PhD Degree Program was established to create a unique opportunity for a limited number of exceptionally motivated and academically superior students who wish to pursue a DVM and PhD degree. Students typically apply prior to matriculation in either course of study, but applications from students within the first 2 years of Cornell's veterinary curriculum are accepted.

Our academic objective is bold: we seek to integrate the most rigorous basic scientific and clinical training so that our graduates will be at the forefront of biomedicine and the veterinary profession in academic research, medicine and teaching; government service and public health; or the pharmaceutical industry. Our Program takes advantage of Cornell's uniquely interdisciplinary environment to merge clinical training at the nation's top-ranked veterinary school with the University's internationally-recognized strengths in cell and molecular biology, nanobiotechnology, genomics, biomedical engineering, food sciences, biophysics, biochemistry, sustainable agriculture and natural resource management, and public health.

Building on Cornell's founding principles, "...where any person can find instruction in any study," we recognize that our diversity of students and their needs for different types of training require flexibility in the design of an individual's course of study. We therefore two curriculum track options and mentoring by members of the Dual Degree Oversight Committee and other faculty throughout the Program, to help guide students through their choices.

For students, the benefits of Cornell's Dual DVM/PhD Degree Program include:

clinical training helps to identify areas in need of research to benefit animal and human health;
acquisition of a systems knowledge of anatomy, physiology, medicine and surgery that will enable students to understand biological processes and disease conditions from subcellular to organismal levels;
understanding of the similarities and differences between species, enabling students to utilize comparative approaches to science and medicine;
training in basic science in order to learn how to ask and answer scientific questions appropriately in order to improve fundamental biological understanding while also improving animal health;
shortened time for gaining the two degrees with a solid DVM and PhD experience;