Research Symposium Inspires With One-Health Success Stories

The importance of veterinary biomedical research was fully evident at the 2016 Merial–National Institutes of Health National Veterinary Scholars Symposium, which took place July 28-31 at The Ohio State University. This year’s theme, “Transdisciplinary Approaches to Health and Wellness,” highlighted a number of one-health research topics, including infectious diseases, translational oncology, and regenerative medicine. 

Dr. Ab Osterhaus, a professor of virology at Erasmus University and Utrecht University, both in the Netherlands, gave the keynote presentation, “Combatting Emerging Viruses: One Health Approach.” A leading authority on zoonotic diseases, Dr. Osterhaus and his team at the Erasmus University Medical Center Viroscience Laboratory reacted quickly after the severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak of 2003 when—in a collaborative effort with the World Health Organization—they determined that a coronavirus was the causative agent. Earlier, in 1997, Dr. Osterhaus and his team found that the H5N1 avian influenza virus could be transmitted to humans.