The Outlook - Western University of Health Sciences

R E S E A R C HCVM Quartet AttendsOne Health CongressinIN FEBRUARY 2011, THE CITY OF MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA, hosted the1st International One Health Congress, with the theme: “HumanHealth, Animal Health, the Environment and Global Survival.”Three faculty members from the College of Veterinary Medicine,Helen Engelke, BVSc, MPVM, MRCVS, Tracey McNamara, DVM,DACVP, and Suzana Tkalcic, DVM, PhD, along with Gaël Lamielle,DVM, a 2009 graduate, represented WesternU.At this pivotal meeting, more than 650 like-minded One Healthproponents shared their experiences to broaden the agenda ofOne Health into a global perspective and to enhance crosscollaborativeefforts of public health, environmental health, andveterinary medicine. The goal was to develop a collaborativestrategy to address major global public health issues and to ploteffective pathways for the One Health community to reach “healthfor all in the 21st century.” All of the WesternU representatives feltstrongly the need to wave the flag high for the University, tointroduce an international audience to our strengths and ourmodels.Dr. McNamara, a professor in veterinary pathology, had no doubtshe would attend this meeting. “I wanted to connect with otherOne Health practitioners, to find out what they were doing and toexplore more ways forward,” she said. Her two papers, “A Bird inthe Hand: the Power ofZoo Sentinels” and “TheRussian Anti-PlagueSystem: An OverlookedZoonotic DiseaseSurveillance andResponse System,” bothwere incredibly wellreceived and challengedattendees to reevaluatetraditional thinking.Dr. Engelke, an assistantprofessor in veterinarypublic health, said she“felt very strongly thatacademia be represented, that if we are to afford long-term changein our approach to the human-animal interface, we need toremold the education of all of our health professionals.” Herpresentation: “Inter Professional Education: A Novel CurriculumBridging the Educational Divide of Medical, Veterinary and otherHealth Professional Students,” spoke to that belief.Through her oral presentation: “Paving the Road to One Health:Veterinary Medicine and Interprofessional Education,” Dr. Tkalcic,an assistant professor in veterinary pathology, introduced existingWesternU IPE programs and suggested a model for restructuringinternship and externship programs for health professionaleducation into a more inclusive interprofessional team-basedapproach. She also actively participated in the InternationalFrom left, Dr. Engelke, Dr. McNamara, Dr. Lamielle and Dr. Tkalcicenjoy the One Health Congress in Australia.Society for One Health initiative and in the discussion for definingoutreach and communication strategies for a “one health”approach to a wide medical community.Dr. Lamielle further advocated for how the WesternU model cantranslate into positive health outcomes. His paper, “CysticEchinococcosis Prevention in the Highlands of Peru – AMultidisciplinary Perspective,” showcased the university’s teambasedinterprofessional approach to this important but neglectedzoonosis. He also presented his One Health internationalexperience through the WesternU Center for Global andCommunity Health scheduled clinical externship.The Congress gathered a large scientific community of healthprofessionals around one idea: How to more efficiently preservehuman and ecosystem health in the modern world. It had strongattendance from the medical community and there appeared to bereal “buy in” from key political figures. To keep the momentumand enthusiasm generated, the next meeting is scheduled forBangkok, Thailand in 2013.Dr. McNamara attended a follow-up meeting in London in Junefrom which steps were identified and defined for making OneHealth a reality. And certainly attendees, while enjoying the beautyof the banks of the Yarra River in Melbourne did get the message:“We may be in Melbourne now, but WesternU is where it’s allhappening!”Speaking of global health, here is an example of how our facultynever sleeps. While at the Sydney airport, Dr. Tkalcic drafted aveterinary clinic from Barry, outside Sydney, to join our 4th yearinternational clinical rotation sites. For our DVM studentsinterested in the veterinary world from “down under,” here isyour chance!15