UPLB student is 1st Filipino to join Ivy League veterinary scholars program
Attending an Ivy League school remains just a dream to many. But not for John Valdevieso, 22, a BS Veterinary Studies student at the University of the Philippines Los Baños. Valdevieso attended Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, for a 12-week program under the Boehringer Ingelheim Veterinary Scholars Program.
The program, created in 1989 with the mission to expose veterinary students in their fourth year of veterinary school to biomedical research and career opportunities in academia, government and related industries, was expanded in 2023 to include the Philippines and Japan in the program’s country roster.
In over 30 years, the program has reached more than 5,000 students from North America, Europe and Asia. Valdevieso is the first representative from the Philippines to join the prestigious program and brought his advocacy on food security and child nutrition with him.
“Many people think that veterinary is all about clinical practice for companion animals, but little do they know that it concerns the food we eat and the public health in general,” Valdevieso said.
“As my focus of study is child nutrition, I was engaged mainly in milk production. I spent most of my time in the commercial dairy farm where they had rotating porters. We would enroll 60 cows each time, and every cow had three minutes’ milking time, which was very efficient compared to the normal standard. This is the kind of technology I wish we could bring to our local farmers.”
As part of the program, scholars conduct hypothesis research projects developed jointly with their assigned mentor and present them at the National Veterinary Scholars Symposium (NVSS). The NVSS is a premier annual scientific colloquium showcasing research accomplishments by veterinary students completing summer research internships. The symposium also conducts keynote speaker sessions on scientific and career-related topics.
Apart from learning new skills, Valdevieso was also introduced to a world of new possibilities at his program at Cornell University.
“I came from the province, so my upbringing was: go to school, find a job, then help your community. This experience opened my eyes to the many opportunities around the world, and helped me realize that I can help many more people if I expose myself to different ways of learning,” he said.
Dr. Melvin Cassion, customer experience lead for Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health Philippines, said, “We’re deeply honored to have brought one of our Iskolar ng Bayan to such a prestigious university like Cornell. As Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health continues to strengthen the practice of veterinary medicine in the country, we hope to bring more Filipino scholars abroad to expand their learning and introduce to us new and advanced technologies that will help develop the human and animal health correlation.”
This scholar’s program is just one of Boehringer Ingelheim’s initiatives. Educational resource and training programs such as the recent 8th Companion Animals Technical Forum are regularly conducted. In 2023, Boehringer Ingelheim Philippines also launched the Animal Health Hub, a free online learning portal designed for veterinarians to have easy access to various learning modules.
