MIT professor to speak about One Health Commission at Zoonotic Disease Symposium
Symposium focuses on Environmental Health and Emerging Zoonoses – an increasingly important health topic
The College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University will be
hosting the second annual Zoonotic Symposium on March 5-7, 2010. The
symposium is organized by Cornell students at the College of Veterinary
Medicine and is open to students enrolled in various health professional
programs at the graduate and undergraduate level. Dr. James Fox,
Director and Professor in the Division of Comparative Medicine and
Biological Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will
offer the keynote address entitled “One Health Commission: Impacts in
Human, Animal, and Ecosystem Health.”
Dr. James Fox is also an adjunct professor at Tufts University School
of Veterinary Medicine and the University of Pennsylvania School of
Veterinary Medicine, and was elected to the Institute Medicine of the
National Academy of Sciences in 2004. He is an elected official of the
Infectious Disease Society of America, the author of over 490 articles,
80 chapters, 4 patents, and has edited and authored 13 texts. Dr. Fox
has been studying infectious disease of the gastrointestinal tract for
over 35 years, focusing on the pathogenesis of Campylobacter and
Helicobacter species in humans and animals, and is considered an
international authority on the epidemiology and pathogenesis of
enterohepatic helicobacters.
“When ecosystems become damaged—by human intervention, global climate
change, or other impacts to ecosystem health—there may be more potential
for the emergence and spread of zoonotic diseases, said Kylius Wilkins,
vice president of the College’s Veterinary Public Health Association
and chair of the symposium. "The recent emergence of diseases such as
SARS and Nipah [a zoonotic virus that has caused disease in animals and
in humans through contact with infectious animals like certain species
of the fruit bats], as well as the recent novel H1N1 influenza pandemic
highlight the importance of understanding the human-animal interactions
that lead to the spread of zoonotic disease, and the steps required for
the control and prevention of zoonotic diseases. One of our goals is to
foster communication between medical communities that will form the
basis for ongoing dialogue between tomorrow’s professionals, those who
will be in the best position to control and prevent zoonotic outbreaks.”
The symposium will be open to students currently obtaining their
doctor of veterinary medicine, doctor of medicine, nursing and master of
public health degrees, as well as undergraduate students who are
interested in pursuing medical and public health studies.
“We are excited to provide this unique opportunity to students to
collaborate with their peers in the health sciences,” said Dr. Alfonso
Torres, Associate Dean for Public Policy at the College of Veterinary
Medicine. Torres also advises the College’s Veterinary Public Health
Association, the student group organizing the event. “Despite a common
goal of preventing zoonotic diseases that universally affect patients of
all medical professions, both animal and human, there lacks any sort of
formal communication and gathering of veterinarians, doctors, nurses,
and public health workers that allows for sharing of information on
these diseases. Students should come out of the weekend with both a
better understanding of diseases shared by humans and animals, and with
an appreciation for the necessity of partnerships between all health
professionals in preventing and treating zoonoses and handling disease
outbreaks.”
For more information or to register for the symposium, please visit http://www.vet.cornell.edu/conferences/zoonotics/.
