This week I had the great opportunity to speak at VMX to a phenomenal group of engaged veterinarians, technicians and people related to the veterinary industry.
After the time spent preparing the talks, seeing it coming together and having such a positive response from the audience was truly fulfilling.
Over the years and after delivering many presentations around different topics, I am still learning. But I believe that I am better and constantly evolving at telling a story (and stories) that have a meaning for the audience and from which they can take home a message.
I am passionate about many topics, however infection prevention and biosecurity are fascinating since they are broad subjects, allowing me to talk about the business and the science. What’s more my experience in different sectors of veterinary medicine and health care, allows me to present and give examples across a wide array of industries, thus cross learning.
Preventing infectious diseases is a complex subject which is fundamental for bettering patient care as well as controlling costs. As an example if hospital acquired infections occur in our animal patients, then outcomes worsened and costs rise, this is not the right equation for advancing veterinary care.
In animal agriculture preventing infections, is paramount at providing animal welfare and decreasing the use of antimicrobials. New technologies disrupting this space (i.e. early diagnosis, improving the gut microbiome, etc.) will lead to superior management, hence shifting the equilibrium towards prevention rather than mass treatment. Leading to improving animal health and controlling costs through the implementation of infection prevention and biosecurity practices.
What excites me is that we all play a role providing care to patients to producing safe foods. We must continue to approach complex problems such as the rise in multidrug resistance pathogens and the threat of emergence infections with a collaborative and cooperative mind set. To me this is the only way we will succeed.
I will continue to learn and teach about infection prevention and biosecurity, stay curious about innovative technologies and tools that can help us to further improve. Understanding the role that leadership, team building and organizational culture have in shifting the status quo is intriguing to me.