SHM alumnus offers public health expertise
Posted: July 15, 2011Companion-animal veterinarian Robert P. Gordon D.V.M., M.P.H., ’10, shared research the article “Scrutiny of livestock antibiotic use pressures veterinary profession,” published in May for the VIN News Service. Dr. Gordon offered expertise in two of this four-part series on the struggle over the use of antibiotics in the livestock industry, the threat of antibiotic-resistant pathogens and the veterinary profession’s role in safeguarding animal and public health.
Dr. Gordon is the New Jersey Veterinary Medical Association (NJVMA) delegate to the AVMA House of Delegates and is responsible for pushing the AVMA into open discussion on food-animal antibiotic use.
Spurred by his own investigations while studying for a Master of Public Health degree from ATSU’s School of Health Management, Dr. Gordon brought controversial resolutions on behalf of the NJVMA to the House of Delegates in 2008 and 2009. The first resolution called for the AVMA to support a ban on the use of antibiotics to promote growth; the second asked the organization to advocate a veterinarian-client-patient relationship for all uses of antibiotics in food animals.