5 Questions with Michael Lairmore, DVM, PhD
The former UC Davis Dean shares his thoughts on research, leadership, & One Health
Dear All Science readers, I am very pleased to bring you this conversation with Dr. Michael Lairmore, who served as the Dean of the School of Veterinary Medicine at UC Davis from 2011 to 2021. During his tenure, he supervised various departments and research entities, leading to the school's recognition as a premier institution in veterinary sciences. As the immediate past dean, his legacy includes fostering student diversity, enhancing women's leadership roles, spearheading record fundraising efforts, and initiating a significant capital campaign for a new Veterinary Medical Center. Dr. Lairmore is a distinguished veterinarian and scientist with a DVM from the University of Missouri and a PhD in experimental pathology from Colorado State University, and he is known for his interdisciplinary research on viral causes of cancer. He served as the President of the American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC) from 2019-2021 and was elected to the Institute of Medicine at the National Academy of Sciences in 2010. I hope you enjoy his insightful answers as much as I did! — EJF
1. Prior to your highly successful career as a scientist and university administrator, you were a mixed animal veterinarian in practice, and then you completed pathology residency training at Colorado State University. How did these clinical roles influence your views of the profession and your research direction?
When I first graduated from veterinary school, University of Missouri DVM, 1981, I wanted to go into a mixed animal, predominantly dairy, practice. I was influenced by the faculty during training who emphasized the impact that large animal veterinarians made in their community and the families we served. I was also into the series of books written by James Herriot (pen name) such as “All Creatures Great and Small”. These portrayed an idyllic life of a country veterinarian through poignant story telling. So, my first job in Southeastern Pennsylvania, among the rolling hills in rural communities felt like I was in a James Herriot novel. Of course, life happens as we are making plans, and later my career path took a turn towards further education. My clinical experience, while only two years, influenced and laid the foundation for my entire career. In private practice, I learned the business and humanity of veterinary medicine while I experienced what it was like to form relationships with my clients and my colleagues in practice, I honed my communication and interpersonal skills. I learned to listen to be understood and accept the reality for the circumstances I was placed. We had a wide range of clients, from modern farmers practicing the latest in animal welfare, to Amish farmers using traditional approaches in a modern world. With each farm visit, it became a new problem to overcome to meet the needs of animals and their owners. I also was able to practice small animal medicine, usually in the afternoons or on weekends. This allowed me to advance my knowledge of the human-animal bond, creating many stories that enriched my life and viewpoint on my community.
“My clinical experience laid the foundation for my entire career. I learned the business and humanity of veterinary medicine while I experienced what it was like to form relationships with my clients & colleagues”
When my son was born just after one year in private practice, I was hit with the real assume feeling of being responsible for this little human and the limitations of working 50-60 hours per week as a “country” vet. I then explored options beyond practices. Back then, I had to rely upon journals with advertisements to learn about my options. I was still interested in the whole animal and how disease interfered with the health of that animal. So, I applied to internal medicine and pathology residency programs. I also had some brief exposures to research while I was in veterinary school, so I focused on combined residency and PhD programs. Colorado State University (CSU), College of Veterinary Medicine had such a dual degree program in the form of a training grant funded by the National Cancer Institute. So, I applied and was accepted to CSU, driving from Pennsylvania to Colorado with the sound of John Denver’s “Rocky Mountain High” song on my head. I was literally, “27 years old going to a place he had never been before” (line from the song):
My new life as a pathology resident who concurrently was studying to earn my PhD degree represented new and significant challenges, as a young father and developing scientist. I was immediately fascinated about learning more deeply the mechanisms of disease. Immersing myself in my studies, I loved learning the intricate details of organ systems to cellular pathology. My particular interest was the influence of the immune system on outcomes of infectious diseases in ruminants, building off my clinical practice experience. The field of pathology and my graduate work in the pathogenesis of ovine lentiviruses opened my mind and passion for investigation and research. Driving by an unceasing desire to explain disease pathogenesis, while studying to become a board-certified veterinary pathologist felt like being a kid in a candy shop. I also was receiving my training during a unique time in the world, with emerging pandemics like AIDS were threatening the health and psyche of the global community. Little did I know that I would be immersed in a field of study, where veterinarians had decades of knowledge in retroviral diseases, that were just being discovered in humans. This started my pathway, towards comparative medicine, or “one medicine” as it was called at the time. Learning and contributing to fundamental scientific knowledge that bridged between species.
2. As a scientist with a focus on viral causes of cancer, what do you believe are the most promising areas of research that could lead to breakthroughs in understanding and treating these types of cancers in the next decade?
After my PhD training, I was recruited to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia by Dr. Fred Murphy. Dr. Murphy was the Director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at CDC and understood as a DVM, PhD the valued of the one medicine approach to the study of human pathogens. I was to become one of the first scientists hired into the newly formed Retrovirus Disease Branch of the CDC. In established my laboratory, I had a lot of freedom to explore new diagnostic techniques to help screen the blood supply to examining archived materials from stored collections. My laboratory used methods to screen serum samples for emerging retroviral pathogens, both HIV and Human T-lymphotropic Virus Type 1 (HTLV-1) and 2 (HTLV-2), both of which were discovered in the early 1980s. Using these techniques, I became fascinated by HTLV-1, the first human retrovirus described. The virus had much in common with Bovine Leukemia Virus, as viruses that target lymphocytes causing lifelong infections and resulting in cancer (a unique T-cell lymphoma) or immune-mediated diseases. As I became section chief of cell biology, I had the privilege of screening multiple stored samples to seek out new virus patterns in unique human populations leading to a pivotal study that discovered a new HTLV-2 variant in the Guaymi Indians of Central America. After I was recruited to The Ohio State University, I continued my work on mechanisms of lymphocyte transformation by HTLV-1. Using new molecular tools such as molecular clones of the virus and unique animal models (mice and rabbits) my laboratory over the next 2 decades produced a series of papers that discovered the functions of genes within the virus that were critical for early activation of T-cells and establishment of the infection in vivo.
“The advancement of what drives cancer has led to new ways to block cellular proliferation from the use of CAR T-cell therapy to new monoclonal antibody treatments, the avenues to find new forms of cancer treatment are wide open and exciting”
Viruses are just one cause of cancer, and the field of cancer research is enormous. I continued to be fascinated by the intricacies of cancer biology and the new tools to discover the mechanisms of transformation, improve diagnostics, and create new treatments against cancer. The field of cancer research today has benefited from the concurrent growth of genetics. From whole genome sequencing to CRISPER techniques there is tremendous tools to understand the genetic basis of cancer and potential treatments against specific cancers. The advancement of what drives cancer has also led to new ways to block cellular proliferation from the use of CAR T-cell therapy to new monoclonal antibody treatments, the avenues to find new forms of cancer treatment are wide open and exciting. At the basis of these emerging fields is the continue need to understand cancer at a molecular level. My training viral pathogenesis aligns with this need, and I am so grateful for the opportunity to have contributed to the field.
3. With your extensive background in veterinary virology and immunology, what are your perspectives on the One Health approach, especially in the context of emerging zoonotic diseases that affect both animals and humans?
Sitting in the laboratory as a graduate student in 1984, when my advisor Dr. James DeMartini showed us an electron micrograph of a conical shaped virus particle, I thought it as from a sheep with ovine progressive pneumonia. The virus particle had all the unique features that identified it as a lentivirus, a subfamily of retroviruses associated with chronic wasting diseases in sheep characterized since the 1950s. Instead, Dr. DeMartini revealed to us that the virus in the photo was from the first AIDS patients in San Francisco. Thus, this new emerging immunodeficiency disease of humans was caused by the same type of virus we studied in the laboratory. The world changed for me almost overnight as the obscure viruses of sheep and goats became models of a virus associated with an emerging major human pandemic. This furthered my introduction to the concept of “One Medicine”. As my career progressed and world events unfolded, I realized this was really a journey in One Health, an approach to study to impact of problems that were at the interface of humans, animals, and the environment we all must share on our planet. I never dreamed the journey would end up with my induction into the National Academy of Medicine, one of only about 20 veterinarians in this prestigious organization.
As I developed as a leader, I had the privileged to support One Health programs at two universities. At OSU, I lead a mixed discipline department called Veterinary Biosciences. Our motto of the diverse group was “Our life’s work is to understand how life works”. The transdisciplinary nature of the programs was often focused on emerging problems in society. This was reenforced for me when I was recruited as dean at the University of California, Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. In my new position in 2011, the faculty were forming the One Health Institute to house an array of programs using the One Health approach to understand problems around the world in settings as diverse as Mountain Gorilla ranges in Rwanda to food safety issues in the Central Valley of California. My experiences have taught me to understand that the One Health approach is needed now more than ever, the Covid pandemic was one more wake up call to the world that life is interconnected, and it is only by understanding the world through multiple lens can we get a clear picture of the future.
While Covid provided unprecedented challenges to our health and planet, the pandemic was predicted years earlier. Across the planet humans were humbled in the face of enormity of a new disease that spread across the planet rapidly killed millions of people. Unfortunately, as humans we have ignored the benefits of biodiversity and have a history of exploiting natural resources setting in motion events to poison our water, disrupt our climate, and pollute our air and food supplies. The Covid pandemic was one more example of how mankind has been impacted by ignoring the warning signs from nature.
“Humans have ignored the benefits of biodiversity and have a history of exploiting natural resources... The Covid pandemic was one more example of how mankind has been impacted by ignoring the warning signs from nature”
Before the advent of medical specialization in the 1800’s, anatomists, scientists, biologists, and physicians recorded similarities in structural features, physiological processes, and pathologies between animals and people. In the 1960’s Calvin Schwabe, a veterinarian and public health scientist who studied zoonotic parasitic diseases coined the term “One Medicine” to emphasize the similarities between human and veterinary medicine and the need for collaboration to effectively cure, prevent, and control illnesses that affect both humans and animals. In 2007, the American Veterinary Medical Association, the American Medical Association, and the American Public Health Association formed a One Health Initiative Task Force to create recommendations to bring together human and animal health in context to the environment to address the problems at the interface of animals, people, and the environment. In March of 2023, the heads of the United Nations Environment Programme, World Health Organization, Food and Agriculture Organization, and World Organization for Animal Health issued a One Health Action Plan. These four international health organizations emphasized the need for collaboration and commitment from all countries and key stakeholders to prioritize and implement One Health policies, plans, and strategies. By promoting transdisciplinary collaboration, strengthening workforces, and investing in One Health, the “Quadripartite” organizations seek to establish a healthier planet and mitigate future health threats. I believe the One Health approach advances new partnerships between our siloed domains of science, medicine, ecosystem, and public health policy. It offers hope, tools, and solutions to the problems we face as a global society.
4. Having authored or co-authored 190 scientific publications, what advice would you give to aspiring veterinary researchers on conducting impactful research and effectively contributing to the scientific community?
My short answer is to stay curious and follow your passions. If you find yourself wondering what caused that disease or how a body system works, you may want to be a veterinary scientist. When you are at a fork in the road in your approach to how to contribute to our world remember your unique skills and knowledge gained in your training that compares medicine across species lines. As our students begin their careers, we want them to appreciate the value of their unique knowledge that has the potential to contribute to the survival of the planet. Veterinarians and scientists trained in agriculture and environmental sciences will be central to finding solutions to raising animals for food and fiber, while being good stewards of the land and water we all depend upon. They must work holistically to address animal welfare in communities widely disparate in resources. Our students will be required to work in transdisciplinary teams and respect cultural differences of those they serve. These differences may influence their attitudes about food and how it was produced.
“Stay curious and follow your passions. If you find yourself wondering what caused that disease or how a body system works, you may want to be a veterinary scientist”
Veterinarians and scientists who work to create a safe and abundant food supply may never meet those they help nourish. Their knowledge, skills, and innovations that create a safe food supply may not be in the consciousness of consumers as they purchase food. How often do we stop to appreciate those that help produce the food we eat? Despite this disconnect, those veterinarians and scientists that take on the challenge of serving society, by helping feed a hungry world, will be inherently rewarded in their soul. They are peacemakers of a different kind.
Veterinarians have major roles from bench to cage side to investigate the causes of disease and intercept future pandemics through their comparative research training. In an opinion feature in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Dr. Jonna Mazet and colleagues discussed approaches in comparative genomics that are needed to discover the diversity of infectious agents capable of zoonotic transmission, as well as resources and surveillance systems needed to develop early diagnostic tests and vaccines. The COVID-19 pandemic provides a clear example of why a One Health approach is critical to protecting the well-being of people, animals, and their shared environment. A great example is launching of the “One Health Workforce — Next Generation” consortium, which promotes global health security through networks in Africa and Southeast Asia to build the human resources and bolster the workforce for more effective disease surveillance and control. Veterinarians have a responsibility to lead through innovations and discoveries in response to threats to animal and human health. By contributing in this manner veterinarians demonstrate how we meet societal needs and contribute to the future of our planet. As a profession, our knowledge, hard work, and skills bring light into the darkness and offer hope for a brighter future for all of us.
5. Throughout your tenure as Dean, you oversaw significant strategic planning and growth at UC Davis' School of Veterinary Medicine. Can you discuss a challenge you faced during this process and how you navigated it to maintain the school's leading status? What are your thoughts on the future of veterinary academia?
I will start by stating one of my favorite quotes, “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” —Steve Jobs.
My decade of leadership as dean of the University of California, Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine brings to me reflections on the past and hope for the future. Organizations that continue to provide an environment of innovation and embrace change are often those that lead us toward the future. As we have done since our inception, the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine’s faculty, staff, and students have continued to create the future of veterinary medicine through the generation of novel ideas, unique discoveries, and creativity in teaching and service. During the decade, our people pushed boundaries to produce new treatments, pioneer approaches to solve complex programs, and serve their communities in caring and compassionate ways to address societal needs. Through our innovations, we have helped make veterinary medicine even more vital not just to the treatment of animals, but to human and planetary health. A review video is available here:
Our primary strategic goal has remained to train the next generation of leaders: veterinarians, specialists, and scientists. We created a dynamic atmosphere of learning for our students by expanding opportunities through basic, clinical, and field research projects within our campus and across the world. These programs offered our students unique experiences across the world, including underserved areas of California. Our students conducted research in infectious diseases, cancer, genetics, food safety, conservation, and more. Through the creation of new mental health and wellness programs, we strived to support our students along their journey. Our efforts at stabilizing tuition costs and enhancing scholarship support have paid off, allowing our students to graduate with lower debt, and knowledge and skills in personal and professional financial management. The decade brought new technologies that improved the lives of our animal patients and increased our understanding of disease processes. New surgical techniques from minimally invasive surgery to the use of 3D models expanded our ability to save animals’ lives. Our faculty and staff participated in transdisciplinary teams to bring new treatments such as stem cell therapy into the clinic to reverse perplexing disease processes and cure diseases once thought to be intractable. Our clinician-scientists, working with our engineering and medical colleagues, created unique advances in imaging and incorporated them into routine diagnostic procedures in our hospital and beyond. Our impact went global as our scientists working with international teams discovered new niches and novel strains of deadly viruses including Ebola. We created new centers to support clinical trials to advance the development of new drugs and devices for animals and people. Our geneticists provided clues to understand diseases in animals and people and developed new tests to control deadly traits in animals from propagating through breeding. Communities in California and around the globe benefitted from our outreach programs. Our California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory served to detect and eradicate diseases that threaten our food supply and damage our economy. We extended our knowledge through our service and extension programs to assist livestock in producing a sustainable and safe food supply for our nation. Our conservation efforts have enhanced knowledge of threatened species, helped save species in their natural habitat, and educated the public on the value of native species in ecosystem health. Our compassion and ingenuity were on full display as we responded to natural disasters with caring outreach and organized training programs to help animals and their owners heal following devastating fires in Northern California. Our global leadership position was demonstrated by our accomplishments, but also by our collective efforts to address current societal needs. I am proud how the school’s people and programs influenced the future of animal, human and planetary health through our dedication to work together and envision what is possible.
We face daunting challenges for the future in veterinary medicine, and across multiple disciplines dedicated to human, animal, and planetary health. Major factors such as climate change, a safe food supply to feed a hungry world, and an ever-changing landscape of political and environmental change all threaten the health of animals and people. We must continue to adapt and evolve our training, research, and outreach to meet these challenges. The increased use of technology from artificial intelligence to whole genome sequencing must be embraced to evolve novel approaches to health challenges we all face in our interconnected world. Veterinarians will play a vital role in this future as leaders in the human-animal bond, one health practitioners, diagnosticians, researchers, and leaders in public health.
BONUS: What are three things you would recommend to the audience? These can be books, newsletters, podcasts, TV/movies, etc.
Recommended book: The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics a non-fiction novel written by Daniel James Brown and published on June 4, 2013.
Recommended podcast: The Hidden Brain explores the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior and questions that lie at the heart of our complex and changing world.
Recommended movie: Killers of the Flower Moon is a 2023 American epic Western crime drama film directed and co-produced by Martin Scorsese, who also co-wrote the script alongside Eric Roth, based on the 2017 non-fiction book by David Grann Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI.