Nation's first veterinary student receives prestigious NIH Fogarty ...( NORTH GRAFTON MASS. APRIL 2 2007 - ...)

NORTH GRAFTON, MASS., APRIL 2, 2007 - As the nations first veterinary student to receive a prestigious "Overseas Fellowship in Global Health and Clinical Research, Elliott Garber, a third-year student at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, already knows about the symbiotic link between animal, human, and environmental health. Garber was chosen from more than 130 applicants nationwide following an intense, three-day selection conference hosted at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland. He is enrolled in Tufts combined doctor of veterinary medicine and master of public health degree (DVM/MPH) program, which is a demanding course of study that prepares veterinarians to use their understanding of population-level comparative medicine to advance public health.

My principal purpose in applying for the fellowship was to gain experience doing rigorous academic research, focusing on the animal/human/environmental health interface in a resource-poor setting, Garber said. There has been a lot of talk over the last few years emphasizing the need for better integration of the different health professions, and I hope that this experience of working in a predominantly human-health oriented setting will give me the skills, mindset, and credibility to forge new paths in that direction.

Garbers one-year fellowship will enable him to do a combination of field and laboratory work in Vellore, India, studying the epidemiology of cryptosporidium and rotavirus in livestock, wildlife, and humans. Both of these agents are found in contaminated water around the world and can cause gastrointestinal diseases resulting in debilitating illness and death.

Garber will spend three weeks at NIH for an orientation session before going to Vellore in early August for 10 months. The Christian Medical College, internationally recognized for its high quality of research and one of the top medical schools in the country,
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Contact: Christine Fennelly
christine.fennelly@tufts.edu
617-636-3707
Tufts University
2-Apr-2007