This month, we spoke with Christine Petersen, DVM, PhD, Director of the Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases and an Associate Professor at University of Iowa, College of Public Health. An active member of the American Committee of Molecular, Cellular and Immunoparasitology (ACMCIP), Petersen teaches joint veterinary and graduate coursework and conducts outreach re
lated to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of zoonotic diseases within companion animal and human populations.
1. We thank you for being a member of the Society for more than 10 years. What are some of the benefits that make you want to renew your membership each year?
Being a member of ASTMH connects me to both the remarkable history of Tropical Medicine efforts pioneered by past and present members. These efforts provide a lofty vision of what we could accomplish in the next 50 years. Being a member and attending the annual conference provides a context and setting for international collaborations and partnerships, as well as allowing me to see many longtime scientific friends.
2. As director of the Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases at Iowa, you oversee "One Health." What do you see as the emerging challenges and what role should ASTMH play in addressing them?
I am fairly certain given the bredth of the "One Health" concept, no one person can "oversee" its efforts. That said, I do serve as an active proponent in building and strenghtening bridges across tropical public health, medicine, veterinary medicine and environmental/ecological efforts. There are always challenges to these interdisciplinary efforts, as keeping collaborations going across groups who by nature of their training see the world in very different ways requires effort and energy- things that in our funding strapped lives are often rather stretched. One of the benefits of ASTMH is the "big tent," so I am often "preaching to the choir" to bring together folks from many different scientific backgrounds to grapple with our complex global health problems.
ASTMH's annual conference has in the past had sessions that highlight "One Health"- but they are often shunted to a back corner of the conference. With blessing from the One Health Commission, I believe that many of the other sessions that feature zoonotic diseases, vector ecology, animal models of human diseases, and the many other ways that "One Health " can be defined, could also be highlighted in a grouping much like ACMCIP or other groups.
3. Your work focuses on the prevention of leishmaniasis. For policymakers and others who might not have an extensive scientific background, what is important for them to know about this research since they will likely never encounter the disease?
Leishmaniasis is a parasitic disease that is transmitted between rodent and canine reservoirs to people through a sand fly, or through contact with infected blood. It is the cause of an approximate 40,000 human deaths a year, more than rabies virus, but it much less recognized.
Leishmaniasis is present within the borders of the U.S.; thousands of dogs imported from endemic countries (Italy, France, Brazil, Spain, Iran, Afghanistan, etc) live with and die from this disease. These dogs can pass the disease on through blood-sharing between moms and puppies. Leishmaniasis is a textbook example of why the United States needs some sort of regulatory health group that protects the health of companion animals not guarded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture or the Centers for Disease Control. Each year there are millions of animals brought into this country for the pet trade with very little regulation and no health screening- and these become the pets that our children cuddle in their beds and we share our homes and lives with. This "regulatory gap" leads to thousands of infections with diseases including Salmonella, monkey pox, novel helminths or worms and at risk of diseases like leptospirosis, leishmaniasis, toxoplasmosis and others which can be fatal.
4. The Society is a "big tent" where people with a wide range of skills and training come together and share knowledge. How can ASTMH nurture of expand interests like yours?
Veterinarians by training have many more hours of didactic training on infectious diseases, including tropical diseases, than most MDs. In the U.S. and many other countries, veterinarians serve as the front line to recognize emergence of novel foreign diseases within national borders.
Despite this, traditional stakeholders often overlook inclusion of veterinarians in their decision-making groups. Some foundations, including Burroughs Welcome Fund, have gone out of their way to interact with budding veterinary scientists, which is very well received within the veterinary community. This inclusion has not particularly spilled over to inclusion of veterinary trainees within ASTMH membership or inclusion within infectious disease training programs- which are still very targeted to MD ID docs.
I think olive branches that include recognition of the need to understand infection within and spillover from (veterinary) reservoir hosts and bringing veterinarians not only into the "big tent" but inviting them to be displayed in the center ring would go a long way to having participation within the society.
5. Thinking back to when you were early in your academic training, what do you wish you would have known or done differently as it relates to your professional trajectory?
During my PhD training, I was very concerned that a decision to remain within academe would mandate a rather staid, molecularly focused career focus. I am very glad that despite those fears, I accepted a tenure-track academic position, but have found myself still actively participating in sample collection and field work all over the U.S. and the world. I am very lucky to have active collaborative projects that require I travel to wonderful places like Barcelona, Brazil and the lovely backwoods of Missouri to learn firsthand the challenges of Leishmania infection and control. Through these interactions, I am part of the decision-making body (Leishvet) that puts forth control and prevention recommendations for canine leishmaniasis.
Finding an institution that supports a broad definition of "scholarship", and wonderful colleagues who are wiling to listen to my crazy ideas, has made the career I feared I could not have in academia possible.
6. Last question, so it’s a fun one. You get the opportunity to go back in time. You can either have a conversation with any scientist who has ever lived OR observe a moment of scientific history. What would you choose and why?
I would like to hear the discussions by Edward Jenner and his colleagues with the milk-maids and vaccine trial participants when the first small pox vaccination and challenge studies were performed. Their ability to appreciate that cross-protection between these two viral infections which occur in different species could bring relief to small pox suffering required open-mindedness to a point that some would have claimed as insanity, yet they inoculated several dozen people, then importantly performed small pox infection challenge to show that protection was acquired. Brave exciting vaccinology, immunology and One Health work that provided the eventual global elimination of smallpox.
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