James H. Steele, a veterinarian whose pioneering efforts to prevent the spread of disease from animals to people led him to be called "the father of veterinary public health," died on Nov. 10 in Houston. He was 100.
His death was announced by several organizations with which he had long affiliations, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the University of Texas School of Public Health.
The potential for a disease to pass from animals to people had been understood for millenniums, but it was not until the late 18th century, when Edward Jenner developed a vaccine for smallpox, that someone found a way to prevent it. The idea that government could take a systematic approach to fighting disease in animals to protect people did not take hold until the middle of the 20th century, when Dr. Steele led the way.
He helped establish mass vaccination and prevention programs in the United States for diseases like rabies and bovine brucellosis. After setting up federal programs, he helped start them at the state level. He visited dozens of countries to start veterinary public health programs and to help trace specific diseases, like Rift Valley fever in Nigeria, where he traveled in the 1970s. He constantly looked beyond his immediate field: in 1964, he published a paper titled "The Socioeconomic Responsibilities of Veterinary Medicine."
He participated via Skype this summer at the annual conference of the American Veterinary Medical Association in Chicago during a lecture series, "The James Steele Challenge: A Better World Through One Health." It focused on his lifelong passion: convincing people that economic prosperity was rooted in animal, human and environmental health. Scores of students cite him as their mentor.
"What would things be like if there had never been a Jim Steele?" said Dr. Craig N. Carter, a veterinarian who studied under Dr. Steele and later wrote a biography of him, recalling the questions he and several colleagues asked one another after a recent memorial service for Dr. Steele. "Would we be 30 or 40 years behind where we are now?"
In 1942, a year after Dr. Steele received his doctor of veterinary medicine degree from Michigan State University, he became one of the first veterinarians to receive a master's degree in public health from Harvard. In 1945 he started the veterinary public health program at the United States Public Health Service in Washington. In 1947, he and the unit moved to Atlanta, to what is now called the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Two years after that he went to work for the office of the surgeon general as chief veterinary officer. He became the nation's first assistant surgeon general for veterinary affairs in 1968 and deputy assistant secretary for health and human services in 1970. The formal name for the types of diseases Dr. Steele dealt in, which pass from animals to humans, is zoonoses. While he had strong science and field experience — his interest in pursuing a veterinary degree increased after he helped investigate a brucellosis outbreak in a lab at Michigan State in the 1930s — his special talent was in finding practical ways to address disease on a large scale.
"He had to take all that science and translate it into a disease control program," said Dr. Peter Cowen, who teaches epidemiology and public health in the college of veterinary medicine at North Carolina State University. "Jim took the science and protected public health."
James Harlan Steele was born on April 3, 1913, in Chicago to James Hahn Steele and the former Lydia Norquist. He grew up, all the way to 6-foot-7, in Chicago, and stayed there into his 20s, selling insurance to help his family before he entered Michigan State.
In 1971, he became a professor at the University of Texas School of Public Health in Houston.
He retired in 1983. His survivors include his wife, Brigitte; his sons, Michael, James and David; and four grandchildren. His first wife, the former Aina Oberg, died in 1969.
Many veterinarians and public health officials credit Dr. Steele for a recent increase in attention to what is called "one health" or "one medicine." They note that epidemiologists are now far more aware of humans' vulnerability to animal diseases, in part because among the emerging diseases of the last two decades, including West Nile virus, mad cow disease and monkeypox, 70 percent are zoonoses, crossing from animals to people.
"This was something that just totally was not considered before Jim Steele," Dr. Carter said. "His work has led to this progression toward integrated medicine."
Dr. Steele wrote several books and received scores of awards, including the Medal of Merit from the World Animal Health Organization and the Surgeon General's Medallion.
He was quick to credit his mentors and students, and he always put his accomplishments in context.
"The impact of veterinary research through the years has been startling," he wrote in the 1960s. "It has opened vast areas of continents to animal husbandry, given a base to many industries and improved human nutrition beyond expectation. Probably in no other creative area has an investment returned so great a dividend for mankind."
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
James H. Steele, Pioneer in Veterinary Public Health, Dies at 100
Dengan url
http://healtybodyguard.blogspot.com/2013/11/james-h-steele-pioneer-in-veterinary.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
James H. Steele, Pioneer in Veterinary Public Health, Dies at 100
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
James H. Steele, Pioneer in Veterinary Public Health, Dies at 100
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar