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Cyril Gerard Gay, DVM, PhD

Senior National Program Leader, Agricultural Research Service (ARS)
Beltsville, MD, USA

'One Health' Concept

Wednesday, September 15, 2010
11:30 - Noon

Abstract: One Health is the collaborative effort of multiple disciplines - working locally, nationally, and globally – to attain optimal health for people, animals and our environment. The demands for the rapid development of medical interventions to protect society from disease outbreaks resulting from new and emerging diseases are challenging the biomedical research community to include the One Health concept to realize more efficient and effective translational research programs. This presents tremendous opportunities for animal health scientists that have the necessary skill sets to advance scientific information resulting from basic research programs into concrete medical applications. Importantly, the biomedical research community stands to benefit from including animal health scientists in the development of medical interventions and disease control strategies since over 70 percent of public health threats are reported to be zoonotic diseases, many of which are diseases of livestock, poultry, and wildlife. The One Health movement promoted jointly by the American Medical Association (AMA) and the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) is championing the importance of training veterinarians to support biomedical research. An important step to enhance the participation of veterinary scientists in One Health initiatives includes support for integrated research programs that target both the animal health and human health aspects of zoonotic diseases.

Biography

Dr. Gay obtained a B.Sc. in Chemistry and a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from Auburn University, and a Ph.D. in Microbiology from The George Washington University. Dr. Gay has worked in the animal health field for the last 20 years holding several positions of increasing responsibility in the federal government and the pharmaceutical industry. Dr. Gay was a practicing veterinarian in Louisiana and Florida before joining the federal government in 1986. As Chief, Biotechnology Section, Center for Veterinary Biologics (CVB), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Dr. Gay developed the procedures for licensing molecular vaccines that led to the first license for a live recombinant vectored vaccine. Dr. Gay joined SmithKline Beecham Animal Health in 1994 and Pfizer Animal Health in 1996 where he led several cross-functional teams responsible for the development of veterinary vaccines. As Director, Global Product Development, Pfizer Inc., he developed strategic and tactical plans that interfaced R&D, clinical development, manufacturing, marketing, and product life-cycle management. Dr. Gay joined the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), USDA, in 2003. Dr. Gay currently holds the position of Senior National Program Leader and provides program direction and national coordination for the department’s intramural Animal Health National Research Program, comprised of 124 scientists located in 11 research locations throughout the United States, including: the National Animal Disease Center (NADC), Ames, Iowa, the Avian Diseases and Oncology Laboratory (ADOL), East Lansing, Michigan, the Meat Animal Research Center (MARC), Clay Center, Nebraska, the Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory, Athens, Georgia, the Plum Island Animal Disease Center, Orient Point, New York, the Animal and Natural Resources Institute, Beltsville, Maryland, the Arthropod-Borne Diseases Research Unit, Manhattan, Kansas, and the Poultry Research Unit, Mississippi State, Mississippi.

Click to view Cyril Gay's ABIC 2010 presentation