You, One Health and the Politics of Antimicrobial Resistance

Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Leading expert Dr. Laura Kahn, will share her research on the vital connection between human, animal and environmental health in “One Health and the Politics of Antimicrobial Resistance” as the keynote presentation at Oklahoma State University Center for Veterinary Health Center’s Annual Fall Conference. Her talk will begin at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 9, in the Wes Watkins Center auditorium located at the corner of Washington and Hall of Fame on the OSU Stillwater campus.

Kahn, a general internist, is a research scholar with the Program on Science and Global Security at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. She authored a book of the same title as her presentation where she promotes the One Health concept and investigates the use of antibiotics and the surge in antimicrobial resistance in food animals and humans. Kahn will demonstrate the importance of increasing communication and collaboration among professionals in human, animal, and environmental health.

Zoonoses—infectious diseases, such as SARS and mad cow, that originate in animals and spread to humans—reveal how intimately animal and human health are linked. Although the medical community has blamed the problem on agricultural practices, the agricultural community insists that antibiotic resistance is the result of indiscriminate use of antibiotics in human medicine. Kahn argues that this blame game has fueled the politics of antibiotic resistance and hindered the development of effective policies to address the worsening crisis.

Kahn’s presentation is sponsored by the Class of 1963 Distinguished Lectureship. The presentation will be recorded and made available on O State TV soon after the conference. CE is only available for registered conference attendees. To register to attend the two-day conference and/or alumni events only, visit the Fall Conference page.

About the Speaker:

A native of California, Kahn holds a B.S. degree in nursing from UCLA, an M.D. from Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, a Master of Public Health from Columbia University and a Master of Public Policy from Princeton University. Dr. Kahn is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and a recipient of the New Jersey Chapter’s Laureate Award.

She published Confronting Zoonoses, Linking Human and Veterinary Medicine in the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Journal of Emerging Infectious Diseases. That publication helped launch the One Health Initiative that seeks to improve the health of all species by increasing communication and collaboration between human, animal, and environmental health specialists. She is the author of “Who’s in Charge? Leadership during epidemics, bioterror attacks, and other public health crises” published in 2009 by Praeger Security International. She writes online columns for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and has published in many peer-reviewed journals.