Among the Academies: A Vision for One Health
In recent decades, the global landscape of health has shifted dramatically. Pandemics, climate change, food insecurity and emerging zoonotic diseases have highlighted intricate connections between animals, humans and the environment, underscoring the fact that veterinary medicine is not just about the care of animals — it is essential to the health of people and the planet.
Few have advanced this realization more than Michael D. Lairmore, who served as dean of the School of Veterinary Medicine from 2011 to 2021 and is one of only a handful of veterinarians elected to the National Academy of Medicine, in 2010. A comparative pathologist and renowned retrovirologist, Lairmore has helped redefine the scope and impact of veterinary medicine — both as a groundbreaking scientist and as an academic leader. He currently serves as professor emeritus of pathology, microbiology and immunology in the School of Veterinary Medicine.
From his earliest days in dairy and small animal practice in rural Pennsylvania to his postdoctoral work at the Centers for Disease Control, Lairmore’s career has been shaped by the interplay of science, service and the deep bonds between animals and people. His research helped uncover how retroviruses such as human T-lymphotropic virus type 1, or HTLV-1, replicate and cause cancer in humans. That work has informed a deeper understanding of disease mechanisms for retroviral cancers.