Members of the university community and the general public are invited to explore veterinary medicine and the human condition at the inaugural Ontario Veterinary College (OVC) Community Readers event.

The first book selected is The Chickens Fight Back: Pandemic Panics and Deadly Diseases That Jump From Animals To Humans, by David Waltner-Toews, a professor in OVC's Department of Population Medicine.

Waltner-Toews, an epidemiologist specializing in ecosystem health, is also an accomplished poet and novelist. From bird flu to SARS and mad cow disease, The Chickens Fight Back disentangles the myth and media hype from the reality of zoonoses, diseases that jump between animals and humans.

In what is hoped to be an ongoing series, OVC Dean Elizabeth Stone launched the community reading and book discussion following the enthusiastic response last year to her new course in veterinary medicine and literature.

“Discussing literary works can help us explore important issues in veterinary medicine,” Stone says. "Combined with the intrinsic pleasure and value of reading good literature, it’s a way of renewing one’s joy in being a veterinarian and a human being. It also promotes the exchange of ideas with others interested in animal life.”

Time: 7 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Location: OVC Lifetime Learning Centre, Room 1714.