November has been busy (and cold!) for our In-Country Director Dr Zoavina Randriana as she has been invited to speak at the 3rd annual conference of the International Veterinary Student Association IVSA UK and Ireland. This year’s conference was held at the University of Glasgow School of Veterinary Medicine and explored the theme around One Health. One Health is “an approach to designing and implementing programs, policies, legislation and research in which multiple sectors communicate and work together to achieve better public health outcomes” (World Health Organization). Attending the conference was an opportunity for the Mad Dog Initiative to share our work and mission, which fit well into the One Health initiative, in front of students from different UK universities. Interesting enough, the conference was led by Alyssa Cramb, a 4th year veterinary student who came to volunteer on the Mad Dog Initiative - Travelling Animal Doctors spay and neuter campaign this year. The conference took place in the course of two days and saw the participation of diverse speakers who covered subjects and workshops from zoonotic diseases, translational medicine to more technical subjects such as pathogen whole genome sequencing or beekeeping to cite a few. “It was such a brilliant opportunity to take part in the IVSA conference this year, two days witnessing the commitment of the veterinary profession to a global health and especially witnessing the enthusiasm of the students to learn more about a wide range of projects that not solely involve animals” said Dr Randriana.
This UK visit brought Dr Randriana as well to talk about Mad Dog Initiative to some staff members of the Zoological Society of London (ZSL). Another opportunity to catch up with former Madagascar conservation colleagues including Dr Sam Merson, currently the Mongolia Project Coordinator for the organization whom she used to work with on Fosa research back in Ankarafantsika National Park and with the last year UCL PhD student Steve Long, who is a former SEED staff member in the St Luce/ Fort-Dauphin region and whom she had the pleasure to work on mangrove conservation in Mariarano, NW Madagascar.
After her visit to ZSL in London, Dr Randriana went on with presenting the organisation this time at her alma mater the University of Oxford. She met with the Master’s students in Biodiversity, Conservation and Management of the Oxford School of Geography and the Environment after an invitation from the Course Director Dr Chloe Strevens. Dr Randriana graduated from the same course in 2015. The goal with this exchange was of course to talk about the research MDI does in Madagascar but also for the students to have a glimpse of what conservation career they might want to dive into after graduation. Dr Randriana describes the experience as exceptional: “Coming back in Oxford is always so special. It was brilliant and odd at the same time to talk in front of these students when a while ago I was sitting on the same seats. They have demonstrated a genuine interest in the work that we do. Now, I can only wish them the best for their next endeavors”.
Finally, upon her few week UK visit, a trip on the island of Jersey led Dr Randriana to meet with some members of staff of the Jersey Zoo run by the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust. Jersey Zoo is also a special place to our Madagascar Director as she has spent a major part of her training on wild animal medicine at the Durrell Veterinary Department. This was thus an opportunity to catch up with fellow veterinarians Drs Andrew Routh and Alberto Barbon and talk about future collaborations especially on the spay/neuter and rabies vaccination campaign.
Dr Randriana and the Mad Dog Initiative would like to thank each and every one who made this UK trip possible and so extremely fruitful!
MSc students in Biodiversity, Conservation and Management- University of Oxford
IVSA UK and Ireland One Health Conference- University of Glasgow