Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

Often neglected in histories of medicine is the contribution veterinarians and animal disease researchers have made to the study of human illness. Standing on the Shoulders of Giants contains fourteen chapters describing independent events in veterinary research that provided new understanding of human medical problems and their management.

 Animal disease investigations advanced a wide range of medical disciplines including bacteriology, virology, and immunology. Innovative treatments for orthopedic and infertility problems of human beings have had their origins in solutions developed initially for veterinary problems. The widely used blood thinner, coumadin, and the popular rodenticide, warfarin, were developed based on intensive study of a strange disease of cattle. Progress in the prevention and treatment of human parasitic diseases in developing countries has been made through anti-parasite drugs created primarily for the treatment of parasites of domestic animals in the more advanced countries.

Third parties have acknowledged these special contributions. The nominees and recipients of the prestigious Lasker Awards and the Nobel Prizes in Physiology or Medicine have included persons whose research was based upon earlier work on spontaneous animal diseases or whose basic medical education has been in veterinary medicine. The essential role of veterinary medicine in the larger realm of health sciences has been recognized for more than 200 years by the participation of veterinarians and animal disease researchers in the national academies established to advise the government on matters of public health.

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants is of interest to all concerned with animals, animal science, and veterinary medicine, and to those who care about contemporary human medicine and its origins.

About the Author:

John Tasker is dean and professor emeritus at Michigan State University. He has a long and distinguished career in veterinary medicine as a clinical pathologist, educator, and researcher. He earned his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and Doctor of Philosophy degrees at Cornell University, where he later served on the faculty for many years. He was dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine at Michigan State University for ten years before his retirement in 1995.  Tasker lives in South Florida.