with the potential for breakthroughs in public health,' she added. 'I am incredibly impressed with the work that is occurring. We have a long way to go before we can say we're prepared. 'The administration's message seems to be, local communities, get prepared to take care of yourselves,' she said. And she had harsh words for the Bush administration's approach to public health. 'There's a lot that we can learn.'Ĭlinton said she was particularly impressed by the interdisciplinary collaboration at Cornell. 'You don't have provosts pushing them to do these things they need each other.'Īt a later press conference, Clinton thanked Rawlings and the participating researchers: 'Vet colleges are moving into the lead in cancer research,' she said. ' are all coming together to do this stuff,' he told Clinton. 'This whole concept that environment influences cancer doesn't apply only to ourselves.'Ĭornell President Hunter Rawlings said such cooperation across disciplines is a valuable trend. 'Our pets live in our environments,' he said. Rodney Page, chair of clinical sciences at the Vet College and director of Cornell's Sprecher Institute for Comparative Cancer Research, said Cornell is one of only two universities to have a vet school working closely with a cancer center. By investigating naturally occurring cancers in such animals as woodchucks, chickens and cats, she learned, researchers are making new discoveries about cancer in humans.

In a second meeting, Clinton heard (via videoconference) how researchers at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute are collaborating with Cornell scientists to study cancers and cancer treatments. 'Cornell is well set up to do wide-reaching, big science,' he said. The more we can find out, the better we'll be prepared. 'Will be the cause of the next pandemic? It's hard to say,' Whittaker said. Gary Whittaker, associate professor of microbiology and immunology and Cornell's primary researcher on avian influenza, discussed the efforts and hurdles involved with creating vaccines and antiviral medications.

'I have a very high regard for the work you do here.'Įdward Dubovi, director of virology at the college's diagnostic lab, began the meeting by summarizing Cornell's research, education and outreach work toward preventing an outbreak of avian influenza. 'I've been trying to get here for a couple of years,' she told her audience in Schurman Hall. But she spent the afternoon at Cornell's Schurman Hall, where she heard from Vet College faculty about the animal-human interface of disease ways to prevent or mitigate a pandemic or other potential public health crisis and leading research on those topics at Cornell.Ĭlinton has visited Cornell several times, but this was her first stop at the Vet College. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) gets startling briefings on the state of woodchuck health.īut when she does - as she did during her Friday, March 3, visit to Cornell's College of Veterinary Medicine - she pays attention.Ĭlinton was at Cornell to attend an evening meeting of the Democratic Rural Conference of New York State in Statler Hall.

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