To celebrate Humanimal Trust’s One Medicine Day and mark its 8th anniversary, the charity is hosting a virtual seminar on Friday 6 May 2022 with talks from leading human and animal medical professionals.
Humanimal Trust is the only organisation in the UK with the sole and specific purpose of progressing One Medicine. It drives collaboration between vets, doctors, nurses and researchers so advances in both human and animal medicine can be achieved more quickly, but not at the expense of an animal’s life.
The seminar, entitled “One Medicine in Action – Awareness, Collaboration and Change”, follows on from the Trust’s inaugural symposium last year when a roadmap was created on how to develop closer links between human and veterinary medical and research professionals for the benefit of all species.
This year’s online event will look at ways to put this roadmap into action through awareness raising, increased collaboration and change, specifically exploring four key questions:
- What would joined-up approaches look like in action?
- How do we raise greater awareness of the benefits of such approaches?
- What do such collaborations look like and how can we provide more opportunities?
- How do we communicate the benefits of change to various audiences?
Professor Roberto La Ragione, chair of trustees at Humanimal Trust, said “We know that when animal and human health professionals and scientists come together, great things happen. Last year’s symposium, which was part of our “Stronger Together” campaign, was a huge success. It drew an audience from across the UK and Europe, as well as Chile, the United States, Singapore and Australia.
“Not only did it provide a real opportunity to explore ways to achieve more ethical and fair medical progress for all, but it also allowed connections to be made and relationships to be forged that wouldn’t otherwise exist.”
Anna Radford, a consultant in paediatric surgery at Hull University NHS Trust and Leeds Children’s Hospital, who is speaking at the seminar in May, said: “I was introduced to a diagnostics company working in the animal medical care field at last year’s symposium and through them, we have set up a new collaboration with the aim of determining whether this sort of diagnostic technology developed with companion animal medicine in mind, could potentially also be useful to help diagnose urinary, joint and cerebrospinal fluid infections in a busy NHS hospital setting.”
Anna, who is also a senior clinical lecturer at Hull York Medical School, will discuss her research in paediatric urology and how this has led to collaborations using a One Medicine and One Health approach.
Other speakers at this year’s event include Dr Deborah Thomson, founder and president of One Health Lessons, an organisation that inspires children and adults around the world to value the interconnection between human health and the health of the environment, plants and animals. Deborah, who authored The Art of Science Communication, will be exploring the skills that can be used to convey scientific and medical jargon to children, the public and policymakers.
Dr Simon Doherty, a senior lecturer at the Institute of Global Food Security at Queen’s University in Belfast will highlight organisations that are successfully working together to improve the sustainability of dairy, meat and fish production to feed a growing global population, as well as the opportunities that exist for collaboration within the agri-food sector.
CEO of the British Society for Immunology, Dr Doug Brown, will share some of the most notable examples of joined-up approaches in human and animal health research from across the Society’s membership, with a particular focus on veterinary immunology.
The seminar, which will run from 2pm until 5.15pm (BST), will end with a panel Q&A session, chaired by Humanimal Trust Trustee and Consultant Respiratory Physician at the University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, Dr Ben Marshall.
Attendance is free and registration is now open to all human and veterinary medical professionals and students, and the allied health and scientific disciplines. To find out more and register, visit the Humanimal Trust website.