AI adoption in veterinary clinics rose from 39 percent to 84 percent in two yearsResting cortisol tracked APPLE scores but not mortality in 30 SIRS dogsFetch Pet Insurance bundles four annual telehealth visits into every policy at no added premiumPregabalin before spay raised sedation scores 2.46 points in 54 catsParasight System wins preferred-provider deal with 850-hospital independent practice networkVeterinary economist Matt Salois says practices cannot rely on pricing growth into 2027WSAVA publishes updated dental guidelines with trauma and radiographic sectionsDechra launches Laverdia, the first FDA-approved oral treatment for canine lymphomaAI adoption in veterinary clinics rose from 39 percent to 84 percent in two yearsResting cortisol tracked APPLE scores but not mortality in 30 SIRS dogsFetch Pet Insurance bundles four annual telehealth visits into every policy at no added premiumPregabalin before spay raised sedation scores 2.46 points in 54 catsParasight System wins preferred-provider deal with 850-hospital independent practice networkVeterinary economist Matt Salois says practices cannot rely on pricing growth into 2027WSAVA publishes updated dental guidelines with trauma and radiographic sectionsDechra launches Laverdia, the first FDA-approved oral treatment for canine lymphoma
Career & LifeBy The VeterinaryPracticeNow Desk3 min readAugust 11, 2026
NC State Just Got $2.5M to Train Ph.D.s Nobody's Hiring For
NC State's renewed NIH grant trains interdisciplinary researchers, not the associates practices are trying to hire.
The National Institutes of Health approved a $2.5 million grant renewal for NC State's College of Veterinary Medicine to continue its Comparative Molecular Medicine Training Program, the college announced. The program awards fellowships to Ph.D. students in the university's Comparative Medicine Institute, providing nearly $30,000 annual stipends plus full tuition and benefits for two-year fellowships. According to the announcement, "since NIH first funded the program in 2021, more than 20 students have benefited from" the fellowships. Six more fellows started this month with the renewal.
The training prepares students to lead interdisciplinary biomedical research teams. Fellows work "across four graduate programs, Comparative Biomedical Sciences, Biomedical Engineering, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and Biomathematics", with access to more than 40 faculty mentors at NC State and collaborators at UNC and Duke medical schools, the college said. According to the announcement, "the degree includes a minor in Teamwork in Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research."
Dr. Caroline Laplante, "associate professor of quantitative and computational biology and one of three principal investigators on the grant," said the renewal is "a vote of confidence in something we believe in deeply: that the best biomedical scientists aren't trained in isolation, but through collaborations across disciplines and across mentors."
The pipeline this actually fills
Alexis Johnson, one of the six new fellows, said the program "provides a crucial pathway to careers in industry, where interdisciplinary teams work together to solve biological problems." She's working on "host-virus interactions that regulate HIV entry and membrane fusion," according to the announcement. "Alexandra Dwulit, who completed the two-year fellowship," said it allowed her to develop a research niche bridging disciplines and species, "providing a strong foundation for a career in comparative neuroscience and behavioral genetics."
"Dr. Grant Scull, who earned his Ph.D. in biomedical engineering at NC State in 2024" as one of the first fellows, said the program gave him "the tools and mindset required to thrive in today's era of translational science."
University faculty positions. Industry R&D roles. Translational research careers. The fellows the college quoted describe those paths.
What the vet school funding model actually rewards
Research grants bring federal dollars and support graduate training in specialized fields.
According to the college, NC State already runs "the Young Scholars Program and the Summer Interdisciplinary Research Initiative for undergraduate scientists through the" Comparative Medicine Institute, whose mission is to "translate basic research and scientific discovery into clinical or societal applications to improve the health of animals and humans." The applications the institute names in its mission statement are real, comparative medicine research has produced clinical advances. But the career path it's building with this $2.5 million trains Ph.D. students for research careers.
The structural mismatch you can't fix
This grant funds research training. The associate shortage you're living with is a different pipeline.
You're competing on different value propositions entirely. The Ph.D. students this program trains are pursuing research careers, not practice positions.
This federal investment in veterinary education flows to research training, not practice capacity.
The cost of being wrong about this: expecting federal research grants to address practice staffing when the programs they fund train for different career paths. The Ph.D. pipeline and the DVM-to-practice pipeline serve different ends.
What actually changes Monday
Nothing about your associate search. The Ph.D. fellows starting at NC State this month aren't your hiring pool. The $2.5 million NIH just committed trains researchers for academic and industry careers, not general practice associates.
What does change: the clarity about where the structural bottleneck actually is. Federal funding for veterinary education includes research training programs like this one. This particular investment flows to Ph.D. students preparing for research careers.
If you're an owner-veterinarian trying to staff a practice, the implication is straightforward: this funding stream won't solve it for you. The solutions that will work are the ones you build or negotiate directly with new graduates. Your comp offer is you competing in a market this grant isn't addressing.
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