WEBVTT

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Ten years ago,

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I got a phone call that
changed my life.

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At the time, I was 
cardiologist at UCLA,

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specializing in cardiac 
imaging techniques.

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The call came from a veterinarian
at the Los Angeles Zoo.

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An elderly female chimpanzee

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had woken up with a facial droop

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and the veterinarians were worried
that she'd had a stroke.

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They asked if I'd 
come to the zoo

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and image the animal's heart

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to look for a possible
cardiac cause.

NOTE Paragraph

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Now, to be clear, North American
zoos are staffed

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by highly qualified, 
board-certified veterinarians

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who take outstanding 
care of their animal patients.

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But occasionally, they do reach into 
the human medical community,

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particularly for some 
speciality consultation,

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and I was one of the lucky physicians
who was invited in to help.

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I had a chance to rule out
a stroke in this chimpanzee

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and make sure that this gorilla 
didn't have a torn aorta,

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evaluate this macaw
for a heart murmur,

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make sure that this California sea lion's
paricardium wasn't inflamed,

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and in this picture, I'm listening
to the heart of a lion

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after a lifesaving, 
collaborative procedure

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with veterinarians and physicians

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where we drained 700 cc's of 
fluid from the sac

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in which this lion's 
heart was contained.

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And this procedure, which I have
done on many human patients,

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was identical, with the exception
of that paw and that tail.

NOTE Paragraph

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Now most of the time, I was working
at UCLA Medical Center with physicians,

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discussing symptoms
and diagnoses and treatments

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for my human patients,

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but some of the time,
I was working at the Los Angeles Zoo

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with veterinarians, discussing 
symptoms and diagnoses and treatments

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for their animal patients.

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And occasionally, on 
the very same day,

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I went on rounds at 
UCLA Medical Center

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and at the Los Angeles Zoo.

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And here's what started coming
into very clear focus for me.

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Physicians and veterinarians
were essentially taking care

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of the same disorders in their 
animal and human patients:

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congestive heart failure, brain tumors,

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leukemia, diabetes, 
arthritis, ALS, breast cancer,

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even psychiatric syndromes
like depression, anxiety,

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compulsions, eating disorders
and self-injury.

NOTE Paragraph

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Now, I've got a confession to make.

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Even though I studied comparative
physiology and evolutionary biology

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as an undergrad --

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I had even written my senior 
thesis on Darwinian theory --

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learning about the 
significant overlap

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between the disorders of 
animals and humans,

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it came as a much needed 
wake-up call for me.

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So I started wondering,
with all of these overlaps,

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how was it that I had never
thought to ask a veterinarian,

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or consult the veterinary literature,

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for insights into one 
of my human patients?

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Why had I never, nor had any of my 
physician friends and colleagues

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whom I asked, ever attended 
a veterinary conference?

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For that matter, why was 
any of this a surprise?

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I mean, look, every single physician
accepts some biological connection

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between animals and humans.

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Every medication that we prescribe
or that we've taken ourselves

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or we've given to our families


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has first been tested on an animal.

NOTE Paragraph

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But there's something very different

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about giving an animal a 
medication or a human disease

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and the animal developing 
congestive heart failure

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or diabetes or breast cancer 
on their own.

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Now, maybe some of the surprise

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comes from the increasing
separation in our world

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between the urban and the nonurban.

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You know, we hear about these city kids

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who think that wool grows on trees

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or that cheese comes from a plant.

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Well, today's human hospitals,

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increasingly, are turning into these
gleaming cathedrals of technology.

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And this creates a psychological
distance between the human patients

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who are being treated there

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and animal patients who
are living in oceans

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and farms and jungles.

NOTE Paragraph

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But I think there's an 
even deeper reason.

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Physicians and scientists, we accept
intellectually that our species,

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Homo sapiens, is merely 
one species,

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no more unique or
special than any other.

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But in our hearts, we don't 
completely believe that.

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I feel it myself when I'm 
listening to Mozart

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or looking at pictures of the 
Mars Rover on my MacBook.

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I feel that tug of 
human exceptionalism,

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even as I recognize the 
scientifically isolating cost

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of seeing ourselves as a
superior species, apart.

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Well, I'm trying these days.

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When I see a human patient
now, I always ask,

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what do the animal doctors know
about this problem that I don't know?

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And, might I be taking better 
care of my human patient

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if I saw them as a human
animal patient?

NOTE Paragraph

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Here are a few examples of the 
kind of exciting connections


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that this kind of 
thinking has led me to.

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Fear-induced heart failure.

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Around the year 2000,

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human cardiologists "discovered"
emotionally induced heart failure.

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It was described in a gambling father 
who had lost his life's savings

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with a roll of the dice,

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in a bride who'd
been left at the alter.

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But it turns out, this 
"new" human diagnosis

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was neither new, nor
was it uniquely human.

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Veterinarians had been diagnosing, 
treating and even preventing

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emotionally induced
symptoms in animals

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ranging from monkeys to flamingos,
from to deer to rabbits,

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since the 1970s.

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How many human lives 
might have been saved

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if this veterinary knowledge
had been put into the hands

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of E.R. docs and cardiologists?

NOTE Paragraph

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Self-injury.

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Some human patients 
harm themselves.

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Some pluck out patches of hair,

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others actually cut themselves.

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Some animal patients 
also harm themselves.

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There are birds that 
pluck out feathers.

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There are stallions that repetitively
bite their flanks until they bleed.

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But veterinarians have very specific
and very effective ways

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of treating and even
preventing self-injury

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in their self-injuring animals.

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Shouldn't this veterinary knowledge
be put into the hands

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of psychotherapists and 
parents and patients

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struggling with self-injury?

NOTE Paragraph

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Postpartum depression and 
postpartum psychosis.

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Sometimes, soon after giving birth,

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some women become depressed,

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and sometimes they become seriously 
depressed and even psychotic.

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They may neglect their newborn,

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and in some extreme cases,

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even harm the child.

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Equine veterinarians also
know that occasionally,

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a mare, soon after giving birth,

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will neglect the foal,
refusing to nurse,

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and in some instances,
kick the foal, even to death.

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But veterinarians have devised

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an intervention to deal with
this foal rejection syndrome

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that involves increasing 
oxytocin in the mare.

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Oxytocin is the bonding hormone,

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and this leads to renewed interest,

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on the part of the mare, in her foal.

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Shouldn't this information

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be put into the hands of ob/gyn's

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and family doctors and patients

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who are struggling with postpartum
depression and psychosis?

NOTE Paragraph

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Well, despite all of this promise,

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unfortunately the gulf between
our fields remains large.

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To explain it, I'm afraid I'm going 
to have to air some dirty laundry.

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Some physicians can be real snobs

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about doctors who are not M.D.'s.

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I'm talking about dentists and 
optometrists and psychologists,

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but maybe especially animal doctors.

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Of course, most physicians
don't realize that it is harder

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to get into vet school these
days than medical school,

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and that when we go 
to medical school,

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we learn everything 
there is to know

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about one species, Homo sapiens,

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but veterinarians need to learn
about health and disease

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in mammals, amphibians,
reptiles, fish and birds.

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So I don't blame the vets
for feeling annoyed

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by my profession's
condescension and ignorance.

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But here's one from the vets:

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What do you call a veterinarian

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who can only take 
care of one species?

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A physician. (Laughter)

NOTE Paragraph

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Closing the gap has become 
a passion for me,

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and I'm doing this 
through programs

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like Darwin on Rounds at UCLA,

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where we're bringing animal experts 
and evolutionary biologists

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and embedding them
on our medical teams

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with our interns and our residents.

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And through Zoobiquity conferences,

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where we bring medical schools 
together with veterinary schools

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for collabortive discussions

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of the shared diseases and disorders


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of animal and human patients.

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At Zoobiquity conferences,

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participants learn how treating
breast cancer in a tiger

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can help us better treat breast cancer

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in a kindergarten teacher;

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how understanding polycystic
overies in a Holstein cow

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can help us better take care

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of a dance instructor 
with painful periods;

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and how better understanding the 
treatment of separation anxiety

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in a high-strung Sheltie

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can help an anxious young child
struggling with his first days of school.

NOTE Paragraph

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In the United States and now 
internationally, at Zoobiquity conferences

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physicians and veterinarians check 
their attitudes and their preconceptions

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at the door and come 
together as colleagues,

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as peers, as doctors.

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After all, we humans 
are animals, too,

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and it's time for us physicians to embrace

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our patients' and our own animal natures

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and join veterinarians

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in a species-spanning approach to health.

NOTE Paragraph

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Because it turns out,

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some of the best and 
most humanistic medicine

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is being practiced by doctors
whose patients aren't human.

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And one of the best ways 
we can take care

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of the human patient is by 
paying close attention

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to how all the other 
patients on the planet

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live, grow, get sick and heal.

NOTE Paragraph

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Thank you.

NOTE Paragraph

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(Applause).