Our Chair of Trustees, Dr Mary Fraser, is featured in the latest issue of Animal Therapy Magazine, sharing her insights and experience in advancing human and animal health and welfare.
Animal Therapy Magazine helps keep animal care professionals at the forefront of new developments, with expert insight into pioneering treatments, techniques and products. As a supporter of Humanimal Trust, you can enjoy a FREE 1-year digital subscription to the magazine, where you can read Mary’s article and more. To claim use promo code ATM-FREE2026 at https://animaltherapymedia.co.uk/collections/subscriptions
In the interview, Mary explains that a One Medicine approach, that encourages collaboration between human and veterinary medical professionals, will improve health outcomes for both people and animals. One Medicine is based on the understanding that humans and animals share similar biology and often develop the same diseases, meaning that joint research and clinical collaboration can accelerate medical discoveries and improve treatments across species.
Mary talks about how this approach is particularly important as diseases such as cancer, arthritis, neurological disorders and heart disease are increasing in both humans and animals. Advances in technologies like genomics, imaging and data science have created new opportunities for cross-species research, but progress is still slowed by the traditional separation between human and veterinary medicine.
A key ethical aspect of One Medicine is that it focuses on naturally occurring diseases in animal patients, rather than artificially induced laboratory models. Companion animals often develop conditions similar to those seen in humans, such as cancer or osteoarthritis, and studying these diseases can provide valuable insights while respecting animals as patients receiving care.
Mary notes how many areas of medicine could benefit from this collaborative approach, including surgery, oncology, neurology, orthopaedics and diagnostics. Sharing knowledge and data across disciplines can reduce duplicated research efforts and lead to faster medical progress. However, she highlights that structural barriers remain. Human and veterinary medicine are funded, regulated and taught separately, which limits collaboration. Increased funding is needed to support cross-disciplinary research, integrated clinical studies and the training of future One Medicine professionals.
TO READ THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH MARY, SIGN UP FOR YOUR FREE DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTION TO ANIMAL THERAPY MAGAZINE with promo code ATM-FREE2026 : https://animaltherapymedia.co.uk/collections/subscriptions