896 What Animals Teach Us About Health

Tune in to our radio show on your local public radio station, or sign up for the podcast and listen at your leisure. Here’s what it’s about:
Humans are a special type of animal, but for a long time human medicine has ignored the lessons that can be gleaned from health conditions in wild and domesticated creatures. Dr. Natterson-Horowitz explores fascinating parallels between our health, including our psychiatric conditions, and that of other animals.
Do animals ever overeat? Do they ever display behavior similar to that of the psychiatric condition of trichotillomania (hair-pulling)? Insights from similar behaviors may someday help doctors treat these human problems.
How could understanding heart disease and cancer in animals help doctors treat human beings more effectively? Our guest, a cardiologist and psychiatrist, says she has learned a great deal from her veterinary counterparts…and that other physicians could benefit as well. That is what lies behind the OneHealth initiative.
Guest: Barbara Natterson-Horowitz, MD, is a cardiology professor at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is director of imaging for the UCLA Cardiac Arrhythmia Center and serves as a cardiac consultant for the Los Angeles Zoo. She is also on the Zoo’s medical advisory board. With Kathryn Bowers, she has written Zoobiquity: What Animals Can Teach Us about Health and the Science of Healing. The website is www.zoobiquity.com The photo of Dr. Natterson-Horowitz was taken by Joanna Brooks.
The podcast of this program will be available the Monday after the broadcast date. The show can be streamed online from this site and podcasts can be downloaded for free for four weeks after the date of broadcast. After that time has passed, digital downloads are available for $2.99. CDs may be purchased at any time after broadcast for $9.99.