A Nepalese veterinary student and immediate past president of the International Veterinary Students’ Association Nepal (IVSA Nepal), Somnath Aryal, has been announced as the inaugural recipient of the WSAVA Michael J. Day Scholarship.
Aryal’s project to study the prevalence of canine tick-borne diseases in the dog population of Nepal was selected from more than 30 submissions. He will receive a grant of US$15,000 to support his research, which aims to improve the diagnosis and treatment of canine tick-borne diseases in the country.
The WSAVA Michael J. Day Scholarship provides financial assistance to enable the selected scholar to carry out research into an aspect of small companion animal infectious disease, clinical vaccinology or immunology. It was created to recognise Emeritus Professor Michael Day’s contribution to vaccinology and immunology in companion animals in his role as chair of the WSAVA’s Vaccination Guidelines Group (VGG) from 2009 until March 2020. The Scholarship is generously supported by MSD Animal Health.
“We were delighted to receive so many high-quality submissions in this first year of the Scholarship,” VGG chair Dr Richard Squires said.
“It made selecting our inaugural scholar very difficult but our expert panel was particularly impressed by Somnath Aryal’s project and felt that supporting it would enable the WSAVA to play an important role in enabling an excellent, well-conceived, pertinent research project in a country which would really benefit from this funding.”
It is expected that clinically applicable results from the study will become available from this project towards the end of 2023.
Aryal, who is studying at the Agriculture and Forestry University in Chitwan, Nepal, added: “I am really thankful to WSAVA and MSD Animal Health for this huge opportunity.
“It is an honour and a huge responsibility to be selected as the inaugural recipient of the WSAVA Michael J. Day Scholarship.”
