CASE program enables journalists to interact with scholars, make new contacts, gain new perspectives
BY KAREN GALLANT
The animals that share our planet offer unique opportunities to learn more about many of the diseases that make headlines around the world, including mad cow disease, West Nile virus, avian influenza and SARS. The Ontario Veterinary College will showcase its work related to these and other areas of human health in March as one of the host institutions of the prestigious media fellowships program offered by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE).
OVC is the sole Canadian participant in the international fellowship program and is one of 19 universities in North America that will host CASE media fellows.
The program at OVC, called “On Common Ground: How Veterinary Medicine Affects Human Health,” involves three days of interactive hands-on workshops, seminars, discussions and lectures to examine the roles animals play in human health.
Nineteen professors, researchers, alumni and graduate students will all pitch in to help the media understand the work that OVC does.
“This is a tremendous opportunity to interact with the media and to inform the public about our activities related to human health,” says Prof. Carlton Gyles, interim dean of OVC. “Human and animal health are linked in many ways. For example, there are many cases — such as with E. coli 0157:H7 and Salmonella infections — where animals carry bacterial agents of human disease but are not affected by them. Controlling these infections in animals is essential for controlling the diseases in humans.”
During the CASE media fellowship program, Gyles will share his insights from years of research on E. coli infection in animals as part of a panel discussion on food safety.
CASE is an international association of educational institutions that provides resources and information for professional development and sets standards in the fields of educational fundraising, communications and marketing, and alumni relations. Its media fellowship program attracts seasoned print and broadcast journalists, providing opportunities for them to interact with scholars, make new contacts and gain new perspectives that will help them in their work.
Each day of OVC's fellowship program will focus on one aspect of the relationship between human and animal health. The first day will focus on disease surveillance and transmission, the second on diseases shared by humans and animals, and the third on wider issues that affect both humans and animals, such as climate change, food safety and the human-animal relationship.
OVC is currently accepting applications from journalists interested in attending the fellowship program and will host up to eight participants.
