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David Kirkpatrick
Phone: 202-249-4076
Cell: 847-409-0519
e-mail: dkirkpatrick@avma.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 13, 2007

WASHINGTON, D.C.

— Thirteen distinguished members of the animal and human medical communities will lead a national effort in strengthening the relationship between animal and human medicine, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) announced today.

The appointees will comprise the One Health Initiative Task Force, which is charged with articulating a vision of one health that will enhance the integration of animal, human and environmental health for the mutual benefit of all.

The One Health concept is being championed by AVMA President Roger Mahr, DVM. Dr. Mahr has long been an advocate of the one-health concept. Mahr said the one-health initiative will improve and protect animal and public health worldwide.

"I consider the One Health Initiative Task Force as the first step, and most critically important, of the one-health initiative," Mahr said. "I envision the success of this task force will lead to an integrated national strategy of one health, one medicine."

While the task force's main charge is to chart a course for the one-health initiative, it also will identify areas where animal and human medicine are already integrated and where integration is needed; identify potential barriers or challenges to integration; identify potential solutions to overcoming barriers or meeting challenges; and prepare a comprehensive written report for the AVMA Executive Board detailing its findings and recommendations.

Twelve task force members have been named, and a 13th member representing the American Medical Association is expected to be named soon.

Those members already appointed to the task force include:

• Lonnie J. King, DVM, MS, MPA, who will serve as Chair. Dr. King is director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Zoonotic, Vector-Borne and Enteric Diseases in Atlanta, Ga.
• Michael J. Blackwell, DVM, MPH, dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.
• Leonard C. Marcus, VMD, MD, representing Travelers' Health and Immunization Services in Newton, Mass.
• Thomas P. Monath, MD, a partner with Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield and Byers in Cambridge, Mass.
• Jeorg Ohle, president and general manager of the Animal Health Division for Bayer Health, LLC in Kansas City, Mo.
• Justin Sobota, MS, president of the Student AVMA, and a veterinary medicine student at the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine in Gainesville, Fla.
• Carina G. M. Blackmore, DVM, PhD, state public health veterinarian for the Florida Department of Health in Tallahassee, Fla.
• Elizabeth A. Lautner, DMV, MS, director of the National Veterinary Services Laboratory at the United States Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service in Ames, Iowa.
• Travis E. Meyer, from the Pennsylvania State University Medical School and Region 6 Chair of the AVMA's Medical Student Section.
• James E. Nave, DVM, AVMA Globalization Monitoring Agent and AVMA past president, who practices at the Tropicana Animal Hospital in Las Vegas, Nev.
• Margueritte Pappaionou, DVM, PhD, who is a professor of infectious disease epidemiology at the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.
• Rear Adm. William S. Stokes, DVM, assistant surgeon general with the U.S. Department of Public Health; director of the NTP Interagency Center for the Evaluation of Alternative Toxicological Methods; executive director of the Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Validation of Alternative Methods; and a representative of the Environmental Toxicology Program with the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Research Triangle Park, N.C.

Dr. Mahr will serve as the AVMA Executive Board liaison to the task force.