The Leaders in Veterinary Medicine (LVM) program at the University of Calgary offers students the opportunity to earn simultaneously both a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree and a graduate degree (
MSc/PhD) in less time than completing the two degrees sequentially (i.e., students take approximately one year less to complete the combined degree than they would to take each degree individually). The LVM program is designed for students who wish to integrate their clinical and research knowledge and skills, and who aim to become leaders in their profession. LVM students will have the unique opportunity to work with their graduate supervisor and conduct research both during and after completing the DVM portion of the combined program.
In addition to meeting the admission requirements of the Faculty of Graduate Studies, applicants must also meet the requirements of the DVM and Veterinary Medical Sciences programs.
There are two streams for admission into the LVM program:
Direct Admission into a Combined DVM/MSc or DVM/PhD
Students identify a supervisor as part of their MSc/PhD application, and they apply and are accepted to both the DVM program and VMS program at the same time. Students start in the graduate program in September and then enter the DVM program the following September. If applying for direct admission to the LVM Program, then the completion of a minimum of a Bachelor of Science or equivalent at a recognized university, during which four or more terms (semesters) were completed with a full-time course-load, is required. With the support of the supervisor, students initially pursuing a MSc in tandem with a DVM can choose to transfer to a PhD.
Transition from DVM to LVM Program
Students with a BSc or MSc apply to and are accepted to the DVM program. Students interested in completing a graduate degree in tandem with the DVM program can apply to the VMS program and enter the graduate program (MSc or PhD) full-time after year two of the DVM program. With the support of the supervisor, students initially pursuing the combined DVM/MSc may request to transfer to the combined DVM/PhD.
This program is designed so that the combined DVM/MSc program will take 5 years and the combined DVM/PhD program will take 7 years. The maximum allowable time for the combined DVM/MSc is 8 years and for the DVM/PhD is 10 years.
Students in the LVM program are expected to participate in some of the following events, in consultation with their Supervisor:
- Canadian Veterinary Emerging Scholars Summit
- Frontiers in Veterinary Medicine Seminar Series
- Research Group seminars depending on the interests of the students (eg: One Health Seminar Series, Reproduction and Regenerative Medicine Seminar Series, Cattle Health Research Group Seminars, Infection Biology seminars)
- UCVM Graduate Student Research Day
- Investigative Medicine elective rotation
- Organizing events for the LVM Affiliates Program
- Peer mentoring with the LVM Affiliates Program
Participation in selected events will be tracked by registration or sign-in for the event (eg: Frontiers in Veterinary Medicine Seminar Series) or by self-reported attendance in annual progress reports submitted to the UCVM Associate Dean of Emerging Scholars.
Continuous registration must be maintained during the combined program.