Five veterinary students just won $10,000 each to pursue poultry medicine, and the fact that industry groups are still cutting these checks eleven years in is worth noting.
The scholarships came through a partnership between the American Association of Avian Pathologists Foundation and Merck Animal Health, announced at the AAAP Annual Meeting in Orlando in late July. The 2026 recipients are Miranda Carrisosa Gibbes at Michigan State, Mackenzie Ripper at NC State, Christian Rushing at Mississippi State, Kelci Teel at Texas Tech, and Kristy Ling Trung at Georgia. They bring backgrounds in poultry research, diagnostics, pathology, and production, with career goals that include field veterinary work and flock health.
The eleven-year pattern
This is the eleventh year of the partnership. The program has now distributed more than $280,000 to veterinary students. When an industry sustains scholarship funding for over a decade, we read that as evidence the specialty needs active recruitment. The AAAP Foundation exists to support education and professional development in poultry health. Merck manufactures animal health products. Neither organization would be writing $10,000 checks year after year if the talent pipeline were self-sustaining.
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For the student weighing food-animal work
Ten thousand dollars is real money against debt, and the scholarship itself signals that organizations in the specialty value new entrants. The AAAP promotes scientific knowledge aimed at improving poultry health, welfare, and productivity, there's work, and organizations backing the people who do it.
For the owner-DVM in poultry country
The availability of poultry-trained veterinarians in your area affects who handles diagnostic and regulatory work when production issues arise. Sustained scholarship funding suggests the specialty is working to maintain that pipeline.
What we're watching
The AAAP-Merck partnership will likely announce another cohort next year, because the program is now in its second decade. Our read: sustained scholarship funding reflects ongoing specialty investment. What would prove us wrong: a year where the program gets cut because applications are oversubscribed and schools are turning out more poultry-track graduates than the industry needs. We're not there.