Meet the WSAVA One Health Committee (OHC)

The WSAVA One Health Committee (OHC) works to build international understanding of the importance of small companion animal veterinary care in aspects of One Health, bridging the gaps that occasionally exist between veterinarians, owners and family physicians.
h3

As the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted so clearly, the implications for One Health, in terms of the human-companion animal bond and the potential transmission of zoonotic disease continue to increase, making the work of the OHC ever more important.

Dr Michael Lappin
OHC Chair
We aim to help members make science-based choices for the management of reproduction in their patients”

OHC Chair, Dr Michael Lappin, Kenneth W Smith Professor and Director of the for Companion Animal Studies in the Department of Clinical Sciences at Colorado State University, USA, says:

“The WSAVA One Health Committee and other WSAVA colleagues continue to do an amazing job advancing our mission.  Here are some examples of our recent accomplishments and our new goals:

• We completed our focus work on Comparative Oncology in 2022 with the publication by Dr Chand Kanna and others on developing cancer drugs for dogs concurrently with their development for people. Entitled ‘Delivering Innovation to Oncology Drug Development through Cancer Drug DISCO (Development Incentive Strategy using Comparative Oncology):  Perspectives, Gaps and Solutions’ was published in Annals of Medicine and Clinical Oncology 
• We have appointed three new members to the OHC and, while we continue our focus on infectious diseases and the human-companion animal bond, we are about to start work in a new area of interest – the environmental impacts of small companion animals
• We have built a relationship with the American Academy of Family Physicians in the United States with MD Tony Reed one of our new joiners. Dr Reed will work with our other MD committee member, Dr Peter Karczmar, to review the content we have created to make it more relevant to family physicians  
• We have been working to redevelop our popular One Health Certificate program and it will be relaunched on the WSAVA Academy site soon, featuring new topics and contributions from our MD members
• Dr Melinda Merck, former co-chair of the WSAVA Animal Wellness and Welfare Committee, will run our workshop on Domestic Violence as a One Health Issue during WSAVA 2023. The program gives delegates a stronger understanding of the risk factors to pets and people from domestic violence and equips them to recognize the signs and respond appropriately.

  

Dr Lappin adds: “The OHC’s work would not be possible without the support of the WSAVA’s Industry Partners, Elanco Animal Health, MSD Animal Health, the Purina Institute, and Zoetis.   We thank them for their support and look forward to continuing to accomplish great things together in the years to come!”

hide