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DISCOVER Program

The DISCOVER Program is a 10-week summer biomedical research and clinical shadowing fellowship in the Department of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery (DVMS) at MD Anderson. DISCOVER provides opportunities for veterinary medical and undergraduate students to engage in biomedical research and explore career paths in comparative medicine and pathology while under the guidance of a faculty mentor in a collaborative, multidisciplinary research environment.

Program Description

Students are paired with faculty mentors who provide guidance to complete a summer research project culminating in presentation of their work at the annual MD Anderson Summer Student Symposium. Faculty mentors also provide insight into career paths in laboratory animal medicine and comparative pathology and research. The role veterinary medicine plays in biomedical research will be highlighted throughout the program. Students also have the opportunity to learn hands-on skills such as animal handling, common procedures (e.g. injections, blood collection, ear tagging, genotyping oral gavage, necropsy, tissue collection, etc.), and other specialized procedure training such as aseptic technique, surgery, and suturing skills during rounds and wet labs. Students engage in didactic coursework by auditing graduate level courses (GS Workshop for Experimental Training in Mouse Cancer Biology and GS12 144 Principles of Experimental Mouse Pathology) led by veterinary faculty and offered through MD Anderson's Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. Students will also attend scientific lectures, seminars, and career development events. Significant opportunity for networking with other pre-doctoral students exists through engagement with other regional and MD Anderson summer research programs.

Application Deadlines

• Applications Open: November 17, 2025
• Applications Close: January 14, 2026, 11:59pm CST.
• 2026 Program Dates: June 1, 2026- August 7, 2026 Incomplete applications will not be considered and are purged after the deadline has passed.

Eligibility

The DISCOVER Program is designed for veterinary medical students in their first or second years of veterinary school. Pre-veterinary undergraduate students are also eligible to apply. However, limited positions are available and veterinary medical students are given first priority, although exceptional pre-veterinary undergraduate applicants may be considered. Pre-veterinary undergraduate students are strongly encouraged to apply for all summer undergraduate research programs for which they are eligible.

Stipend, Housing, Expenses

Participants receive a stipend of up to $7,200 for the 10-week program. Additional allowances for housing, living expenses, and travel are not available.

Mentor Match Process

Students will be matched with mentors based on interests stated in the application to the extent possible. If you have a specific interest in laboratory animal medicine or pathology, or specific research interest, please make this clear in your personal statement or description of research experience and areas of interest on your application.

Program Details

Other programs available include:

• Center for Clinical Ethics Internship
• CPRIT CURE Summer Undergraduate Program
• CPRTP Summer Research Program
• DACCPM Summer Research Program
• Emerging Surgical Leaders Program
• High School Summer Program
• IDEAS Lab
• ITERT Summer Program
• Radiation Oncology Advanced Development and Applied Research for Medical Students
• Med Students SOAR Program
• Neuro-Oncology Clinical Research Summer Program
• Partnership for Careers in Cancer Science and Medicine
• Partnership for Excellence in Cancer Research Summer Program
• Pathway in Systems Imaging Summer Research Program
• STRONGER Scholar Summer Research Experience
• Summer Imaging Research Program
• Summer Program in Cancer Research
• Therapeutics Discovery Division Summer Program
• University Outreach Summer Programs
• UPWARDS Summer Program