planetary health – WildLIFE

You Better Belize It

By Maison Scheuer • November 9, 2022 Courses

There was once a time in my life when I could only dream about performing a physical exam on a sedated jaguar in the Belizean jungle, but that dream, along with many others, became a reality as a student enrolled in Dr. Noha Abou-Madi’s International Experience in Wildlife Health and Conservation course. Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine (CUCVM) has been partnered with the Belize Zoo since 2011 to provide state-of-the-art veterinary care while simultaneously fulfilling the dreams of adventurous veterinary students looking to hone their clinical skills. After having to cancel this trip multiple times throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Noha Abou-Madi could not be more excited to offer this course once again to those with career goals involving wildlife and zoological medicine. In this course, students travel to the Belize Zoo where they stay for a week to gain hands-on experience with various mammals, birds, and reptiles native to Belize.

International Experience in Wildlife Health and Conservation provides students with opportunities that go beyond the core curriculum, offering depth and breadth of knowledge in zoological and conservation medicine. Previous student Sophie Yasuda ‘25 stated, “one of my favorite parts of the trip was being able to participate in every aspect of the animals’ veterinary care and learn about each component from knowledgeable veterinarians. Being able to conduct physical exams, monitor anesthesia, observe dental procedures, collect samples, and run lab work on species as majestic and diverse as jaguars and harpy eagles was an incredible experience. In addition, it was a valuable learning experience to work in an unfamiliar hospital and extremely rewarding to feel our group turn into a cohesive and close-knit team.”

After working with an otter, kinkajou, and fer-de-lance, Erin Guntrum ‘25 recalls that her most memorable experience of the trip was auscultating the heart of one of the jaguars. She thought that the heart sounds were abnormal, but she was unable to figure out exactly what was abnormal about them – a murmur, an extra heart sound, an abnormal rhythm, etc. She worked closely with Veterinary Resident of Zoological Medicine Dr. Melissa Hanson to discover a split S2 sound – something that Dr. Hanson explained can be a normal finding in a larger animal where the aortic and pulmonic valves do not always close with perfect synchronicity. This was a memorable experience for Erin because despite not being able to identify the exact heart sound, she was able to recognize a difference between the heart sounds she heard in the jaguar and the ones she has been taught in CUCVM’s core curriculum. As a student developing her clinical skills, this felt like a win to Erin, and I agree!

The relationship between the Belize Zoo and CUCVM is one that not only fosters students’ education and clinical skills as they pertain to zoological medicine, but also as they pertain to conservation. The Belize Zoo is highly committed to the animals within their direct care, but they also care for those that live beyond their gates. Erin Guntrum ‘25 recalls a lecture that we received highlighting the integral role that zoos play in the realm of conservation in which we learned that the Belize zoo has been purchasing land to be utilized as wildlife corridors to once again connect wild populations that have been separated by human establishments. Members of the Belize zoo are very aware that the human population is expanding and so too is development, nonetheless they are trying their best to ensure that land exists for wildlife in the future.

The Belize Zoo’s conservation efforts were very motivating for some, including Sophie Yasuda ‘25 who stated, “my decision to apply to the course stemmed from my desire to contribute to the preservation of wild populations through a career as a wildlife veterinarian. During my time at the Belize Zoo, I was inspired not only by the quality of veterinary care provided by Cornell’s doctors, but also by the amazing care provided by the keepers at the zoo and the impact the zoo has on improving public perception of native wildlife. Overall, the experience strengthened my desire to use my veterinary degree to contribute to wildlife conservation.” Emma Fralin ‘25 was also very encouraged by the zoo’s conservation efforts and is certain that visitors receive the same inspiration. She states, “the care that the animal keeper’s exemplified for their animals was practically palpable. I am confident that this care and respect translates to every visitor of the Belize Zoo.”

International Experience in Wildlife Health and Conservation is a course unlike any other, offering an experience of a lifetime. From monitoring the anesthesia of a spider monkey to drawing blood from a white-tailed deer in the field, you really get to do it all. This trip is a must for those seeking a well-rounded veterinary education in zoological, wildlife, or conservation medicine. I think Erin Guntrum ‘25 truly encapsulates how we all felt after our experience at the Belize Zoo when she said, “I’ve always dreamed of being a zoo or wildlife veterinarian. And this trip was so special because it was really the first time that I got to live out that dream – and it really affirmed that this is what I want to do, and that this is something I can do.”

Maison Scheuer is the 2022-2023 WildLIFE Blog Editor and a proud member of Cornell ZAWS. Her passions lie at the intersection of veterinary medicine and wildlife conservation. She loves to travel and has spent time in Canada, Thailand, Alabama, Belize, and Honduras where she studied Columbian ground squirrels, elephant conservation, wildlife rehabilitation, and veterinary medicine. Though particularly interested in One Health and international medicine, she has also discovered a love for small animal medicine through her experience working as a veterinary technician at a full-service exotics and small animal private practice.

Guidance from Graduates: Dr. Matt Marinkovich (DVM ‘14)

By Colleen Sorge • February 21, 2022 Uncategorized

Dr. Matt Marinkovich always had a passion for wildlife but was initially unsure as to what career path might suit him best. “I always knew I wanted to do something with wildlife or something conservation related, but it took a little while to find what that niche was, whether PhD or vet school. I had a couple experiences at SeaWorld San Diego when I was in undergrad and at the National History Museum in Santa Barbara working with the Marine Mammal Stranding Network that led me to really feel like veterinary medicine was the route to go.” After taking 3 gap years, he began his time at Cornell Vet, going on to complete his DVM in 2014.

Dr. Marinkovich is quick to acknowledge the role that Cornell played in his success, recalling formative moments like an Expanding Horizons experience with the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project and praising the faculty he worked with as a student. “You have people there who are really quality professors, but also really quality people and really good mentors. I think I learned a ton from them both from an academic standpoint and also what it means to be a good clinician.” His experiences at Cornell have largely shaped his approach to clinical practice. “There’s still a million things that I don’t know. I’m still surprised every day and challenged every day which is one of the reasons I love wildlife medicine. But in vet school you really develop that approach to cases and that approach to working with others and being part of a team.” Asked what Cornell courses he suggests, Dr. Marinkovich recommends casting a wide net. “The nice part about being a student interested in zoo or wildlife is that everything is applicable. There’s no class and no species that isn’t applicable to your potential future profession. I just tried to soak up as much as I could and be a sponge as much as I could.”

After graduation from vet school, Dr. Marinkovich completed rotating small animal and emergency and critical care specialty internships, both at the Animal Medical Center, before matching with the UC Davis San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance Sea World Zoo Residency. After completing his residency in 2019, he began his current position working as a clinical veterinarian at the San Diego Zoo. The work is just as exciting as it sounds! “My dream was to end up at a place like San Diego Zoo, which has a very high-volume clinical case load. We have tons of animals and we provide very high level care to all of the wildlife in our care.” A highlight of the position, he says, is the ability to apply teamwork to particularly challenging cases, as the zoo currently has six veterinarians, a fellow, and a resident. While the medical care of the zoo’s animals takes up the bulk of his time, Dr. Marinkovich also has the opportunity to help support international conservation efforts. “The San Diego Zoo is very involved with Hawaiian forest bird conservation and we have facilities in Maui and the Big Island. I’ve been out there several times to provide medical treatment for the animals in our care out there. I went to Madagascar when I was a resident to help provide emergent medical care to tortoises from a recent confiscation.” Today his favorite cases are usually the ones that demand the most time, facilitating a personal connection. Dr. Marinkovich recalls treating a ring-tailed lemur as a resident and the fulfillment he felt nursing the individual back to health. “That’s an animal that I’ll still go and visit at the zoo years later.” On another occasion, he worked alongside radiologists and human respiratory specialists to diagnose and treat bronchomalacia in an adult male orangutan. “Cases like that where we’re alerted to a problem, we diagnose the source of the problem, and we develop novel ways to fix that problem, especially in a species that is important to us and the greater conservation world are really exciting and really valuable.”

While well aware that the field of zoological medicine is competitive, Dr. Marinkovich has a refreshing viewpoint. “I think really just focusing on becoming the best vet you can be is the number one step. I think what we look for in terms of a good resident is someone who has a really good foundation in veterinary medicine, and that involves all species. The next time you have to help pull a calf, it may be an exotic bovid rather than a dairy cow.” His perspective, he says, is largely informed by his respect for mental health. “I’m a huge proponent of mental health and being happy with what you’re doing and enjoying each step of the journey. I think you need to take each step and try to get the most out of each experience for what it is. It’s great if zoo residency or working a zoo job works out, but if not, being a vet is an awesome job and you still have that to be fulfilled by. You have to try to not let the quest for that elusive zoo resident position to be the end all and be all of what it means to be fulfilled in this field. Developing your skill sets, really focusing on your own mental health, and who you are as a vet and as a person is going to set you up for success.”

Regardless of one’s exact career trajectory, Dr. Marinkovich emphasizes the abundant opportunities to contribute to conservation and the health of wildlife species. “There are so many really interesting and fulfilling ways to be a veterinarian involved with wildlife and conservation. A lot of those opportunities may not have all been fully explored or fleshed out yet, so the sky’s the limit if you are passionate about something. I think our field will be better off because of that. There is an increasing need for people who have a skill set and a passion for the world around them and the wildlife that’s in it. It is a daunting time for people who are passionate about wildlife, but there are a lot of opportunities to find your niche and the way that you are going to make your mark.”

Colleen Sorge, Class of 2024, is originally from Long Island, NY. She graduated with a B.S. in Animal Science and a minor in English from Cornell University. She often finds herself missing her humanities courses in vet school and is thrilled she can combine her passions for writing and for veterinary medicine as the WildLIFE Blog Editor.

Faculty Focus: A Conversation with Dr. Robin Radcliffe

By Colleen Sorge • November 17, 2021 Courses, Externships, Resources, Wildlife Opportunities Outside CUCVM

Several weeks ago my Block III tutor group was abuzz with the news that our tutor, Dr. Robin Radcliffe, and his colleagues had been honored with the 2021 Ig Nobel Prize in recognition of their work evaluating the efficacy of transporting rhinoceroses by hanging them upside down from helicopters. The prize, awarded every year since 1991, aims to “honor achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think.” To those of us in the tutor group interested in conservation and wildlife medicine, it was a welcome reminder that we are surrounded by faculty at Cornell who have done what can sometimes feel like the impossible: forged a career in the world of zoo and wildlife medicine. Charged with renewed inspiration, I reached out to Dr. Radcliffe in the hopes of learning more about his career trajectory and his current work.

Dr. Radcliffe obtained his veterinary degree from the University of Minnesota alongside his twin brother & fellow Cornell faculty member, Dr. Rolfe Radcliffe. Says Dr. Radcliffe, “We went from kindergarten through vet school together.” While a vet student Dr. Radcliffe pursued wildlife-centric externships and experiences, though he is quick to note, “I was a little bit disheartened by vet school because there weren’t as many opportunities as there are now in wildlife.” After obtaining his DVM, Dr. Radcliffe worked in a mixed animal practice and then spent a year working exclusively with camelids before returning to Fossil Rim Wildlife Center, where he had been an extern, to work as an associate veterinarian. He later took over as Director of Animal Health. While at Fossil Rim, Dr. Radcliffe completed the requirements for board certification in the American College of Zoological Medicine through the experiential track. Of his somewhat unconventional route to board certification he says, “I preferred the experiential pathway because I wasn’t interested in a zoological position. I knew I wanted to work with field conservation and free-ranging wildlife populations, and even now there’s only one approved wildlife health residency. There’s probably going to be more coming, but when I went to school there were no approved wildlife residencies so it was harder then.” He spent about a decade at Fossil Rim Wildlife Center working largely with rhinoceroses before moving to the International Rhino Foundation and eventually, to Cornell. At Cornell, Dr. Radcliffe teaches, conducts ongoing research into a wide variety of endangered species, and has developed training programs, most significantly, the Engaged Cornell Program.

The diversity of his work is part of what appeals to him, according to Dr. Radcliffe, though in recent years he has been taking on more projects close to home. “I’ve spent a good part of my career traveling all over the world which was great—I loved it—but I’m also very interested in making sure that we conserve and protect the wildlife right here at home. I think that’s important. If you’re going to do international work, I think it’s essential that you address or at least have some experience with conservation in your own part of the world because so much of it is communities and people.” While he has tremendously enjoyed the opportunities that his job has afforded, he notes, “Most people think that it’s so glamorous to be a wildlife veterinarian, and it can be, but there’s so much work that goes into a successful partnership and a field project that people don’t necessarily recognize up front. I do spend a lot of time on that, on communication with partners, grant writing, and helping to sustain the projects that I am invested in.” Another fundamental part of successful projects abroad, according to Dr. Radcliffe, is a commitment to maintaining relationships with research partners. “I think for me, the most important thing is curiosity, and not just scientific curiosity, but curiosity about the place you’re going and the environment, the people, the language, the culture. You should go into a place prepared to learn the language and appreciate the culture. For me, a long term partnership is one in which I come away with it feeling like I have friendships and long term relationships there. I can communicate with my colleagues any time, day or night. They will help me in a pinch and I’ll do anything for them. It’s also little things, like when we publish anything, we always include the local authors and, more often than not, the local authors are lead authors on the publication.”

For students looking to enter the increasingly competitive field, Dr. Radcliffe’s first suggestion is to capitalize on the opportunities we have here at Cornell Vet. “I think there’s a lot of expertise here at Cornell and there’s a lot of opportunities.” These include Engaged Cornell, Expanding Horizons, and a myriad of courses aimed at students interested in pursuing careers in zoo, wildlife, and exotics medicine. Dr. Radcliffe teaches a 3-part course called Conservation with Communities for One Health, which reflects the multi-disciplinary mindset crucial to effective conservation work. Both undergraduate and veterinary students are able to take this course, and a subset of them travel in teams to field sites in the Congo, Uganda, and Indonesia to participate in projects with institutions that Dr. Radcliffe has built relationships with over the years, including the Jane Goodall Institute and WWF-Indonesia. Coursework aside, Dr. Radcliffe encourages students to take advantage of networking opportunities and to pursue externships that excite them.

Between training the next generation of wildlife veterinarians and working to save endangered species, Dr. Radcliffe has a full plate to say the least. Amid the challenges his work presents he remains optimistic, citing a recent experience in Alaska working with gyrfalcon. “Their attitude in Alaska is let’s save the gyrfalcon and the Arctic ecosystem before everything’s gone. My message for future wildlife students is this: let’s be proactive and use our resources the best we can because it’s very expensive to recover endangered species, it’s very expensive to do so in a zoo in a captive setting. The Alaskan attitude, which I love, is let’s take care of our species before they become endangered!” In the case of already endangered species like Javan and Sumatran rhinos, there are tremendous obstacles to overcome. Still, Dr. Radcliffe feels his most impactful work may be done in mentoring colleagues and training students. “That’s the kind of impact that I feel is the most important that I can make in the long term.”

Change of Summer Plans: from Field Work to Virtual Teaching

By Laci Taylor • January 27, 2021 Uncategorized

Laci leading the Great Ape Team through their disaster preparedness scenario via Zoom

As an aspiring veterinarian interested in zoological medicine, I have tried my best to take advantage of all zoo and wildlife opportunities available to me. When I think about the kind of veterinary career I want to have, it is one where I can combine my interests in conservation, international travel and cultural immersion. For this reason, I am sure you can imagine my excitement when back in January, I was accepted to work at the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) in Uganda for the summer of 2020. For eight weeks this summer, I would have been assisting the JGI team with disease monitoring in habituated chimpanzee populations, transmission analysis of infectious diseases between humans and chimpanzees, and community awareness. My proposed project aimed to reduce disease transmission risk for humans and wild-habituated chimpanzees in Kibale National Park to improve public health and conserve this endangered population of chimpanzees. I was particularly excited for this opportunity because it would have been my first veterinary experience that encompassed the topic of conservation with communities. Conservation with communities is an approach to conservation that includes the local people in an effort to make the conservation initiatives more sustainable. It is a concept that I am passionate about because I believe that involving the local community in conservation initiatives helps to better sustain these initiatives.

Like many other students whose summer experiences were cancelled due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, I was devastated. Not only would I no longer get to participate in this once in a lifetime experience, but also I did not have any other summer opportunities lined up. Having traveled back home once classes went virtual, I was no longer able to work my hospital job as a student technician at the Wildlife Health Center and many local practices were not accepting new hires for safety reasons. As a result, I spent my first couple of weeks back home scrambling for summer experiences. That is, until one of my professors reached out to me about an opportunity to become a teaching assistant for his three-week virtual summer course on conservation. The course was offered through Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine for credit and geared towards high school students. This would be the first time that the course would be virtual. Something I really enjoyed throughout my undergraduate career was teaching so I happily accepted the position.In undergrad, I gained teaching experience mainly through planning and leading educational activities through the student run organizations I was a part of, but this would be different.

As a teaching assistant I had a lot of responsibilities. I was responsible for managing and organizing the course website, securing guest lecturers, managing discussion boards, creating and grading quizzes, developing course feedback surveys and providing feedback on and grading final projects among many other responsibilities. I was even responsible for creating and leading my own lectures and labs. Some of the topics I gave lectures on were the role of veterinarians in zoos, zoonotic diseases of companion animals, disease transmission at the wildlife-livestock interface and illegal wildlife trade. I was even able to integrate the concept of conservation with communities into some of my lectures!

Laci presenting her lecture on African Penguin Conservation via Panopto

One of the activities I enjoyed leading the most was on disaster preparedness in a zoo setting. I worked closely with Dr. Abou-Madi to put this activity together which tasked students with acting as a cohesive team to build the different parts of a disaster prevention plan. Following a presentation on disaster preparedness and prevention, students were divided into teams each with a different animal grouping and their job was to look at all the different aspects that are necessary to best prepare and act quickly in the midst of a tropical storm to protect the animals in their grouping. The teams were also tasked with addressing the basic medical needs of the animals they were assigned to as part of their plan. For example, one student group had Komodo dragons as their animal grouping and some of the Komodo dragons had spinal lesions caused by salmonella while others were intermittent shedders of salmonella. In order to come up with an effective disaster prevention plan, students were encouraged to consider how they would secure and care for the animals during and after the storm hits, decide where to best locate the animals, and how to distribute the animals in the selected shelter among many other considerations.

I did not quite know what I signed up for when I agreed to be a teaching assistant for the course, but I am so glad I did! Throughout my time as a teaching assistant, I gained organizational skills such as carrying out administrative tasks, and strategic planning and decision making. I also further developed my communication skills through teaching, interacting with students and through collaborating with the rest of the core course planning team. I was also able to develop critical thinking skills through coming up with creative ways to make virtual lectures and labs interactive and troubleshooting technical difficulties. Becoming a teaching assistant was a really great way to develop my soft skills and is an experience I highly recommend to other veterinary students.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Laci Taylor, class of 2022, is a DVM student at Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine. She is interested in wildlife and aquatic medicine and hopes to make a global impact as a wildlife veterinarian. Laci hopes to promote biodiversity through rehabilitation and conservation – fields that serve as pathways for understanding many pertinent issues today from the transmission of zoonotic diseases which affect public health, to restoring endangered species.

Focus on Planetary Health at the Tropical Biology and Conservation Lightning Symposium

By Jonathan Gorman • October 24, 2017 Symposia

The worlds of veterinary medicine, public health, conservation, and ecology came together during Saturday’s Tropical Biology and Conservation Lightning Symposium. The symposium consisted of 23 five minute talks, given by veterinary students, graduate students, undergraduate students, and professors. Dr. Steven Osofsky DVM, Jay Hyman Professor of Wildlife Health & Health Policy, gave the hour-long keynote speech.

Dr. Steve Osofsky discussing human health as an opportunity for conservationists.

Dr. Osofsky discussed a wide range of topics from Canine Distemper in Amur tigers, to rhino conservation, to Foot and Mouth Disease in African livestock. The presentation shifted to a human focus as he discussed how economically disadvantaged areas benefit greatly from ecosystem services. Osofsky spoke about Dr. Christopher Golden’s research in Madagascar, which showed how villages with low levels of wildlife had higher rates of childhood anemia. Some of the villages had allowed outsiders to hunt the local wildlife, reducing the amount of bush meat available for the local population. Dr. Osofsky noted that “by educating the villages themselves, they all of a sudden saw wildlife as relevant to the future of their entire family lineage.” He concluded his talk by explaining the term “Planetary Health” and emphasizing the opportunity that human health provides to conservationists.

Sarah Balik discussing her research on Chimpanzee respiratory diseases.

For the rest of the symposium, students gave five minute “lightning talks” on their research in different fields. Veterinary student Sarah Balik (’19) presented her work with the Jane Goodall Institute in Uganda on respiratory diseases in chimpanzees. In the spirit of planetary health, she compared data collected from locals during health screenings to data on respiratory diseases in wild chimpanzees, to determine the relationship between human-chimpanzee contact and disease outbreaks. Balik found that there was no correlation between the timing of outbreaks of human and chimpanzee respiratory disease. “This is a preliminary epidemiological study, so further research needs to be done to determine what is causing so many chips to die of respiratory disease in Kibale. In addition, researchers and workers at the field site spend much more time in contact with the chimps. Foreign researchers weren’t included in the study and have the potential to bring diseases with them, so biosecurity measures also need to be taken to prevent researchers from transmitting disease to the chimpanzees they work with,” Balik said.

Melissa Hanson (’19), another vet student who worked through the Jane Goodall Institute, discussed her experience working with cardiologists on wild chimpanzees in the Republic of the Congo. Several veterinary students talked about infectious disease, such as Eric Teplitz (’20) who presented his work in Malawi on the shedding patterns of Salmonella and Shigella in primates, Rachel Hilliard (’19) who discussed her research on tick-borne diseases in goats within Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda, and William Fugina (’19) who worked with the World Wildlife Fund in Indonesia to study the vector biology of Trypanosoma evansi, a pathogen in water buffalo that threatens the critically endangered Javan rhinoceros.

Molly Chirunomula talking about her work with the Ara Project.

Molly Chirunomula (’19) worked with the Ara Project in Costa Rica, which aims to conserve local macaw species. The center was unable to breed their great green macaws. Molly conducted an intake study of the macaws’ diets to try to identify nutritional causes of poor reproductive success. She found that the macaws were consuming low levels of fat, protein, and calcium, all of which are important for egg production. Molly recommended a change in diet that would mimic the birds’ natural seasonal dietary variation, and exclude animal protein. By implementing Molly’s recommendations, the Ara Project succeeded in breeding macaws by the next breeding season!

Zack Dvornicky-Raymond (’19) worked with the Cheetah Conservation Fund in Namibia, which serves to address a serious threat to the cheetah population: farmers hunting cheetahs to prevent them from killing livestock. The Cheetah Conservation Fund breeds guard dogs for farmers, to give them an alternative way to protect their livestock. When Zack started working with the organization, they were having difficulties breeding the dogs. Zack, who has prior experience in canine reproduction through the Travis lab at Cornell, helped to diagnose the problems in their breeding program and develop protocols for more successful breeding in the future.

Robert Marquez explaining strategies for protecting the Andean bear.

Of the non-veterinary talks, some were aimed at wildlife conservation, such those of Robert Marquez, who studied conflicts between humans and Andean bears, and Steven Sevillano-Rios, who worked to identify conservation priorities in order to protect Peruvian birds. Other talks were about basic science, such as Jay Falk’s presentation on female limited polymorphisms in hummingbirds. Dr. James Lassoie finished off the five minute presentations with a critical discussion about the unintended consequences of conservationism.

Overall, the symposium successfully brought together researchers and students from across campus, tackling a diverse array of tropical conservation and ecological problems. Many speakers emphasized the importance of working with local communities and other disciplines to achieve both conservation and human health goals. Dr. Osofsky opined – “if we do this next year, I want to see more economists, students from the business school, communication students, social scientists…” Hopefully, future symposia will further bridge the gap between disciplines, helping the academic community pursue One Health.

Complete list of speakers at the Tropical Biology and Conservation Symposium

Written by Jonathan Gorman, Events Journalist and Photographer, Class of 2021.

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Wildlife Health Cornell takes new approach to natural world

By ztd4 • June 19, 2017 Uncategorized

This month, Cornell welcomed back thousands of alumni from many different locations, generations, interests, and affiliations to their home on The Hill. This was a very special weekend for Wildlife Health Cornell, because it was the first time that this initiative was publicly presented. The Reunion Weekend 2017 panel is just the beginning of the gradual unveiling of Wildlife Health Cornell. Stay tuned for more to come!

To read the first Wildlife Health Cornell newsletter, click here.

Wildlife Health Cornell represents an unprecedented approach to the health challenges wild animals face here in the northeast U.S. and around the world – a comprehensive, science-based response by a team of the world’s top wildlife health experts. With an emphasis on the types of interdisciplinary collaboration often required to foster real progress along the science to policy and action continuum, Wildlife Health Cornell has grown out of a palpable sense of genuine urgency regarding the fate of our planet’s wildlife, an increasing understanding of our own dependence on the planet’s natural systems, and a recognition that it will take a new generation of colleagues to halt and reverse the trends we face.

Cornell University today is very much about impact, about teamwork that capitalizes upon the vast array of disciplinary expertise available across the university, and about engagement. We hope you find this first edition of our e-newsletter useful and thought-provoking.

– Steve Osofsky, DVM
Jay Hyman Professor of Wildlife Health & Health Policy

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Wildlife Health: new faculty to focus on Planetary Health at Cornell CVM

By Wildlife Blog Editor • May 3, 2017 Uncategorized

Image from Dr. Osofsky’s “Explaining Planetary Health” article, One-Health Cornell Blog.

The CUCVM student community would like to extend a warm welcome to a number of phenomenal new hires in the wildlife health realm. Recently, the CVM has brought-on seven faculty and staff, with the goal of growing Wildlife Health / One Health / Planetary Health programs at a critical time in the College’s strategic planning. The group strives to develop and apply science-based, multidisciplinary approaches to conservation, including through a focus on Planetary Health. In short, Planetary Health is a field focused on improving our understanding and applying appropriate metrics regarding the public health impacts of anthropogenic environmental change, so as to be able to inform decision-making in the land-use planning, environmental conservation, and public health policy realms. Planetary Health also provides a lens for the new CVM-led Master of Public Health program, with its first class starting in September of 2017. There have already been numerous excellent discussions and many new initiatives are underway, not only within the CVM, but throughout the University. Hopefully, new collaborative efforts will arise and continue to foster future discussions and cross-disciplinary action!

We look forward to the incredible things that will come from these new appointments, not only for Wildlife Health and Environmental Conservation at our University, but for conservation initiatives worldwide.

Please join me in welcoming:

Dr. Steven A. Osofsky, Jay Hyman Professor of Wildlife Health & Health Policy

Dr. Martin Gilbert, Senior Research Associate in Wildlife Health

Ms. Helen Lee, Wildlife Health & Health Policy – planning and operations

Ms. Shirley Atkinson, Wildlife Health & Health Policy – Southern Africa, AHEAD Program

Dr. Montira Pongsiri, Planetary Health Alliance Science Policy Advisor

Dr. María Forzán, Senior Research Associate in Wildlife Pathology

Dr. Mani Lejeune, Director of Clinical Parasitology and Senior Extension Associate at the Animal Health Diagnostic Center

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Zack Dvornicky-Raymond is a current second-year vet student interested in wildlife conservation and One Health, and hopes to pursue a career focused on reproduction and population management in endangered/threatened wild species.

Tag Archives: planetary health