HIV research and the concept of "One health, One medicine"
Friday, April 9
11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Baltimore Convention Center
Speaker: M. Christine Zink, DVM, PhD, DACVP

 

 Dr. M. Christine Zink, named the 2009 Outstanding Woman Veterinarian of the Year by the Association for Woman Veterinarians Foundation, will speak about the HIV research she conducts at Johns Hopkins University and the "One health, One medicine" concept.

For nearly two decades at Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Zink has used animal models to investigate the neurologic impact of HIV.  HIV causes neurologic disease in over 50% of infected individuals.  Dr. Zink recognized that minocycline, a tetracycline derivative that is off-patent, inexpensive, and safe for long-term use in people, suppresses the encephalitis and neurodegeneration associated with HIV/SIV infection.  She recently showed that it also has systemic immune effects, inhibiting the chronic immune activation that occurs in infected individuals and eventually leads to immunosuppression.

Dr. Zink's studies using the SIV/macaque model of HIV infection is one example of the phenomenal opportunities for veterinarians to make discoveries that save both human and animal lives.  This concept, now popularized as "One health, One medicine," has been engaging veterinarians all over the world.  Dr. Zink also will discuss the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project, in which veterinarians developed and instituted a health care program for both the critically endangered mountain gorillas in Rwanda and for the men and women who track, protect, and care for the gorillas to prevent cross-species transmission of potentially fatal infectious agents.

 

Speaker Biography

 

Dr. Zink earned her DVM and PhD degrees from the University of Guelph, in Ontario, Canada.  As a postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University, she began studying animal models of HIV infection and lentivirus pathogenesis.  She became a full professor at Johns Hopkins in 2000.  In 2007, Dr. Zink was appointed Director of the Department of Molecular and Comparative Pathobiology.

Dr. Zink's SIV/macaque model of HIV infection is considered the premier model for the study of the pathogenesis of HIV neurological, pulmonary, and cardiac disease.  This work and other studies from Dr. Zink's laboratory have resulted in more than 100 publications in peer-reviewed journals.

Dr. Zink is also considered a veterinary expert in canine sports medicine.  She has published a video and several books, including Dog Health and Nutrition for Dummies and Peak Performance: Coaching the Canine Athlete. She is now editing a textbook to help teach veterinarians and students about canine sports medicine and rehabilitation.  For 30 years, she has trained her own dogs for competitions.

 

Don’t miss Dr. Zinks’s lecture of "One health, One medicine."

 

The CVC Opening Session is free to attend, but space is limited. Please R.S.V.P. by checking “Yes” in the opening session registration listing on the registration form.