HARROGATE, Tenn. — Lincoln Memorial University-College of Veterinary Medicine (LMU-CVM) hosted the Center for Animal and Human Health (CAHA) “V” Conference Oct. 18, 2019 on LMU’s main campus in Harrogate, Tennessee. This is the fifth conference held by LMU-CVM for students across medical programs to come together to discuss One Health issues.

The event kicked off with a compelling presentation by Dr. Barbara Natterson-Horowitz, professor of medicine in the division of cardiology at the University of California, Los Angeles and professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University. In 2012, she co-authored the New York Times bestselling book, Zoobiquity: The Astonishing Connection Between Human and Animal Health. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, The Guardian, Wall Street Journal, Nature, Scientific American, and New Scientist, among others.

The event focused on the concept of One Health and was put together to help integrate and facilitate learning across the LMU campus. Nearly 600 students from the programs of osteopathic medicine, veterinary medicine, nursing, pharmacy and undergraduate studies with an interest in ecology and environmental sciences. A further emphasis was placed on comparative medicine as a component of One Health.

“Zoobquity is really about the discipline of comparative medicine and the scientific rationale supporting it,” said Lonnie King, chair of the Center for Animal and Human Health in Appalachia. “I spoke with a number of attendees who were both impressed with Barbara and appreciative of her keynoting the conference. She spoke about some of her roots and time in West Virginia and appreciated the efforts of LMU in promoting the Center for Animal and Human Health in Appalachia and its mission to improve animal, human and environmental health in the region.”

The day continued with an interprofessional case study activity in which students were separated into teams with students from various professional programs and given a case study to diagnose. Following the interactive activity, students listened to a panel discussion among veterinary leaders on the forefront of One Health issues including Dr. Bernadette Dunham, a visiting professor with the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University, Dr. Andy Bowman, associate professor for the Department of Veterinary Preventive Medicine at Ohio State University, Dr. Rustin Moore, dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine at Ohio State University and Dr. Megin Nichols, enteric zoonoses activity lead at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Key takeaways from the event included:

• Environmental Health is the 3rd Domain of One Health

• Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) is the quintessential example of One Health

• Comparative Oncology is creating new knowledge of cancer to benefit multiple species

• Influenza and the importance of surveillance across species for predicting and preventing epidemics

• Zooeyia and the building of evidence-base for human health benefits of the human-animal bond

• Salmonellosis and the importance of wildlife, environment and animal movements in disease transmission

One Health is a global initiative that encourages collaboration among all health disciplines with the goal of attaining optimal health for people, animals and the environment. The event brought together One Health experts from the region and students from a variety of LMU’s health care programs to discuss how veterinarians, doctors, nurses, physician assistants and other medical professionals, environmentalists, epidemiologists and many others can work together to solve global health problems. This event was organized by the Center for Animal and Human Health in Appalachia (CAHA) whose mission is to improve animal health and public health in the Appalachian region. Whether students plan to be veterinarians, public health nurses, environmental specialists or a physicians, they will play an integral role in developing the future of global health care.