What does cash flow and commercialization have to do with caring for cats or cows? Cornell University's College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM) believes the answer is, quite simply, everything.

CVM has launched the Center for Veterinary Business & Entrepreneurship (CVBE), a new interdisciplinary program intended to spur research, training and outreach in veterinary business to improve animal health care, Cornell said in an announcement.

Businesses are the vehicle for delivering veterinary medical services and developing new life-saving products, but veterinary academia has largely ignored the business of veterinary medicine as a focus of research and scholarship, Cornell said. CVM is taking a new approach with this unique program, which unites expertise from CVM and the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business.

“We’re thrilled to make this announcement,” said Lorin Warnick, the Austin O. Hooey dean of veterinary medicine at Cornell. “The center is the culmination of extensive needs-based assessments and planning, and will answer the urgent need in the veterinary profession to provide essential training for students, faculty and alumni to launch, manage and succeed in a business or organization of any kind.”

“We are very pleased to support this new venture with the veterinary college,” said Kevin F. Hallock, dean of the SC Johnson College. “It’s an excellent opportunity to create an interdisciplinary collaboration between our institutions, and to help veterinarians strengthen their businesses and explore entrepreneurism more fully.”

According to Cornell, CVBE will focus on four programmatic pillars: education, economics research, entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship. Through its educational program development efforts, the center will offer a variety of educational programs, including a new doctorate of veterinary medicine certificate program, as well as postgraduate executive education.

The center will establish a veterinary economics research program through a strategic faculty hire and collaborations with Cornell’s Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics & Management. Its entrepreneurship program will focus on creating a robust pipeline from scientific discoveries to commercialization; intrapreneurship activities will focus on creating an environment that supports and rewards innovation and improvement, Cornell said.

According to the announcement, as the structure of the CVBE coursework begins to crystallize, entrepreneurial training and scientific marketization is also taking shape. CVBE will comprise a novel engine for improving the translation of science into commercialization.

Leveraging the entrepreneurial expertise of the SC Johnson College, processes will be developed to help CVM researchers screen their innovations for potential commercialization much more efficiently, the university said. Ideas will subsequently be readied for presentation to potential investors or fed to incubators, such as the McGovern Center, for the next step of the startup process.

The CVBE launch signifies a new frontier for the Cornell's CVM, the university said, and one that will define the institution long into the future.

“This is the way veterinary medicine is going,” said Robert Karpman, professor of practice at the Dyson School. “I really congratulate the veterinary college. This is the first center of business and entrepreneurship established at any veterinary school in the U.S., and they’re taking the lead in this area.”

“It’s exciting to embark on an initiative of this scope,” said Jodi Korich, CVM associate dean for education. “We are confident that this new center will position our graduates for success in a wide variety of careers, facilitate the transition of biomedical discoveries to commercial products that benefit more animals, harness the power of economics to strengthen animal health businesses and organizations, and provide a platform for veterinary academia to participate in critical conversations about the future of veterinary animal health.”

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