About this item
A revelatory depiction of what animals can teach us about the human body and mind, exploring how animal and human commonality can be used to diagnose, treat, and heal patients of all species."Full of fascinating stories." - Atul Gawande, M.D.Do animals overeat? Get breast cancer? Have fainting spells? Inspired by an eye-opening consultation at the Los Angeles Zoo, which revealed that a monkey experienced the same symptoms of heart failure as human patients, cardiologist Barbara Natterson-Horowitz embarked upon a project that would reshape how she practiced medicine. Beginning with the above questions, she began informally researching every affliction that she encountered in humans to learn whether it happened with animals, too. And usually, it did: dinosaurs suffered from brain cancer, koalas can catch chlamydia, reindeer seek narcotic escape in hallucinogenic mushrooms, stallions self-mutilate, and gorillas experience clinical depression. Natterson-Horowitz and science writer Kathryn Bowers have dubbed this pan-species approach to medicine zoobiquity. New York Times BestsellerAn O, The Oprah Magazine "Summer Reading" PickA Discover Magazine Best Book
About the Author
For twenty years, cardiologist Barbara Natterson-Horowitz has treated human patients at the UCLA Medical Center, developed imaging techniques and lectured to thousands of medical students, residents, fellows, colleagues, and community members. Currently she is cardiac consultant for the Los Angeles Zoo and a member of the Zoo's Medical Advisory Board as well as the Director of Imaging for the UCLA Cardiac Arrhythmia Center. Her outstanding rapport with students has won her numerous teaching awards and made her a popular professor at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA where she lectures about cardiovascular physiology, cardiovascular pharmacology, echocardiography, and bioengineering. Her writing has appeared in many scientific and medical publications.Barbara is a member of the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent) Working Group entitled, "Infusing Evolutionary Thinking into Medical Education." With Daniel Blumstein, Chair of the UCLA Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, she created and curated Evolutionary Medicine Month at UCLA (summary here, in the Evolution and Medicine Review) .Barbara earned her bachelor's and master's degrees from Harvard University and received her medical degree from the University of California, San Francisco.She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, two children and two dogs.
