Ros Rouse
Ros originally studied Psychology at the University of Bristol. She is a science policy expert with extensive Research Council experience, with a significant portfolio of commissioned research across health and biosciences. She also has considerable expertise in relation to both human and animal research integrity, governance and ethics, including many years as an ethics committee member. She has a strong, lifelong personal commitment to the welfare of animals, and believes that every animal counts. Ros is committed to a vision of One Medicine, in which the health and wellbeing of animals is considered, in addition to the impact of their health on humans. She has co-authored a book and several articles on COVID-19 and animals. As an artist, Ros is committed to using her wildlife art to enhance the love in the world for the beautiful creatures whose home we share.
What One Medicine means to me…
It means a fairer deal for animals. It means a paradigm shift in our vision of ‘One Health’ where animals matter as much as humans, and that understanding is translated into clinical research and practice. It means we know that not doing that completely ignores the complex interactions between human and animal health and thus ‘missing out’ on the benefits for both. It means, then, that it is essential, not a luxury, especially as we prepare for the next Pandemic, or tackle the crisis of antimicrobial resistance, or consider the health impacts for all animals (including us) of anthropogenic climate change. It means maybe, just maybe, the end of ‘animal testing’ because we develop more reliable methods, such as studies of naturally occurring disease in animals. It means making the ‘new stuff’ in medicine like AI work just as much for animals as for humans, to the benefit of both, perhaps a true renaissance in joined up medicine. Before we get to that happy future place, in the meantime, it means at least (!) letting animals benefit from the drugs they suffered to produce, and making those available in an affordable way for wild as well as owned animals. It means a new, more ethical, more productive lens on how we interact with our world, bridging false divides in care for humans and care for animals. One Medicine is the answer to so many questions.