The Linda F. Hayward Florida Veterinary Scholars Program: Summer 2026 » The Linda F. Hayward Florida Veterinary Scholars Program » Veterinary Research and Graduate Studies » College of Veterinary Medicine

The Linda F. Hayward Florida Veterinary Scholars Program, previously the Florida Veterinary Scholars Program, provides an opportunity for DVM students to engage in hypothesis-driven research over a 10-12 week period. For UF students, this happens between the 1st and 2nd years. The mission is to expose veterinary students to career opportunities in biomedical research. This may include Industry (drug development, testing, marketing), government (CDC, NIH, USDA) and academia-based paths.

If you are an international DVM student, attending school outside the University of Florida, you must apply through Boehringer Ingelheim for this program. If successful, you will receive funding from Boehringer Ingelheim to participate through your home institution.

Program Dates: May 26, 2026 to August 1, 2026
National Symposium: Stay tuned for 2026 National Symposium location and date

2026 FVSP Application

Faculty Mentors

Applications are due January 15, 2026, at 5 p.m.

2026 FVSP Application

Students

Applications are due January 31, 2026, at 5 p.m.

2026 Faculty Mentors and Research Interests

Darcy Adin
Key Words: RAAS, Congestive heart failure, Diuretics, Emergency
Project: Influence of congestive heart failure manifestation on serum chloride concentrations and renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system components in dogs

Ludovica Chiavaccini
Key Words: Equine Pain Recognition, Deep Learning, Spatiotemporal Modeling, Postoperative Monitoring
Project: AI-Driven Interpretation of Postoperative Pain Patterns in Horses

Aline Hoffmann
Key Words: Pythiosis, fungal diagnostics, pathology, skin
Project: TBA

Jon Kim
Key Words: AI, canine, hemangiosarcoma, spatial biology
Project: Decoding Vascular Irregularities in Canine Hemangiosarcoma Leveraging AI

Wendy Mandese
Key Words: Heartworms, heat treatment, resistance, antigen
Project: Comparison of heartworm antigen tests pre- and post-heat treatment in two populations of dogs in the same endemic area

Chris Martyniuk
Key Words: Environmental pollutants, Aquatic toxicology, Behavior, Reactive oxygen species, Gene expression
Project: Toxicological responses of perfluorinated chemicals in zebrafish

Clay Mathews and Jocelyn Mott
Key Words: Diabetes, insulin, C peptide, dog
Project: Validation of C-Peptide Responses to Oral Glucose Tolerance Tests in Healthy Dogs: A Foundation for Assessing Residual β-cell Mass in Dogs with Diabetes Mellitus

Elizabeth Maxwell
Key Words: Canine anxiety, Noise reduction, Hospital stress, Wearable technology
Project: Evaluating Noise-Dampening Headphones to Reduce Anxiety in Hospitalized Dogs

Rebecca Nance-Richey and Rowan Milner
Key Words: Immunotherapy, oncology, biomarker, tumor microenvironment, immunohistochemistry
Project: Immune Checkpoint Expression and Clinical Behavior in Canine Melanoma

Adam Stern
Key Words: Veterinary Forensic Science, decomposition, canine
Project: Postmortem Organic Acid Profiles in Dogs

Banikalyan Swain
Key Words: Recombinant Attenuated Edwardsiella Vaccine (RAEV), Aeromonas hydrophila, Antigen delivery platform, Fish immunology
Project: Development of a Regulated Self-Lysing Edwardsiella piscicida RAEV System for Controlling Major Bacterial Diseases in Catfish

Julia Ann Wuerz
Key Words: Blood pressure measurements, OTC sphygmomanometer, feline, validation
Project: Comparison of tail blood pressure measurements using a low-cost OTC blood pressure device, a validated
oscillometric blood pressure device, and a Doppler blood pressure measurement in cats

Janet Yamamoto
Project: Evaluation of FCoV1/SARS-CoV2-based pan-CoV vaccine in SPF cats against FCoV1/FIPV1-Black

Helena Zomer
Key Words: Regenerative Medicine; Skin wound healing; New Approach Methodologies; ex-vivo wound model
Project: Establishing a Human Ex-vivo Wound Model and Whole-Mount Staining Approach to Accurately Evaluate Skin Repair