PHYSIOLOGISTS COMMENT ON THE EDUCATIONAL MERITS OF LIVE ANIMAL LABORATORY
"Although we had several live-animal laboratory exercises at Washington University when I was a medical student, we do not do anything of the sort here at Yale. I personally think that the Yale students are missing something. If the faculty members at the Medical College of Wisconsin are willing to invest the tremendous effort associated with live-animal laboratories for the medical students, then I applaud their effort. I certainly see substantial merit in live-animal physiology course work. It will provide a valuable hands-on experience that the students will never forget."
Walter Boron, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor of Cellular and Molecular Physiology
Yale University School of Medicine
"I certainly share your opinion that there is considerable educational merit for live animal physiology course work. In fact, we have such a course for our graduate students at Mayo, although there is no such course in the Mayo Medical School. Animal research has been and continues to be an important means by which we obtain valuable new information relevant to normal physiology and the pathophysiology of disease. I strongly believe that a course in animal physiology is essential to properly prepare students for a career in medical research."
Gary C. Sieck, Ph.D.
Professor & Chair, Department of Physiology & Biomedical Engineering,
Associate Dean for Research,
Mayo Clinic Deputy Director for Research, Mayo Clinic Rochester
"I believe that the use of live animals in Physiology coursework can be very beneficial to both medical and graduate students. It is the ultimate physiology in action. I know this is a controversial issue and agree that use of animals needs to be well thought out and presented in an appropriate manner. However, I think the decision on their use should be made by those charged with providing education to the students based on the educational value."
John A. Williams, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor and Chair
Molecular & Integrative Physiology
University of Michigan Medical School
"I can say with some assurance that the direct experience, insight, and learning achievable from an animal-based lab has not yet been replaced entirely by other teaching modalities. We, and others are working to improve the simulators, and think of other approaches for the future. Until then, I am sure that students are missing something important and valuable for their education."
Harel Weinstein, Ph.D.
Maxwell M. Upson Professor of Physiology and Biophysics
Chairman, Department of Physiology and Biophysics
Weill Medical College of Cornell University
"Live animal laboratories have provided medical students with an opportunity to directly observe the physiology, anatomy and response of both internal and external environmental stimuli on a live organism that responds in an identical or very similar fashion to the human. This is an invaluable educational opportunity that too many medical schools (including ours) have abandoned because of perceived external pressures. I am pleased to see that the Medical College of Wisconsin is not going to give in and perhaps help reverse the current trend. "
James E. Smith, Ph.D.
Professor and Chairman
Physiology and Pharmacology
Wake Forest University School of Medicine
"I polled the students participating in (a recent national physiology) workshop, and to a person, they all wished they could have animal laboratories as part of their program. This same sentiment has been expressed to me again and again by my medical students at my own institution. When I was at Harvard, I led those laboratories for several years, and I must say it was impressive just how much the students understood and retained compared to those who chose not to participate in those laboratories (they had the option). Thus, there is no question that I see enormous educational merit and benefit in live animal laboratory experiences. I wish we had the resources and facilities to reinstitute animal laboratories here at the University of Alabama at Birmingham."
Dale Benos, Ph.D.
Professor and Chairman
Department of Physiology and Biophysics
University of Alabama School of Medicine
"My own belief based on years of experience is that animal experiments provide students with insights and perspectives that are simply not available through simulations or reading. I believe live animal demonstrations are pedagogically superior to any alternative teaching modality."
Richard L. Moss, Ph.D.
Professor & Chair of Physiology
University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health
"I believe the laboratory teaching of animal experiments is very valuable for the education of physicians and surgeons, who can gain precious experience on live subjects (under proper care and treatment including anesthesia, etc.) that will contribute importantly to their medical practice to benefit human health. The laboratory training also provides the foundation to generate new knowledge that can improve the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of diseases in humans, as well as animals."
Shu Chien, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor of Bioengineering and Medicine (Physiology)
University of California, San Diego School of Medicine
"I am writing to give my support for using live animals for educational purposes in teaching physiology. It makes for a more interactive and integrated approach that is most difficult to do with computers and lectures alone."
James T. Stull, Ph.D.
Chairman and Bashour
Distinguished Professor
Department of Physiology
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
"I completely agree that there is educational merit in physiology laboratory exercises involving live, anesthetized, animals. About a dozen years ago we were forced to discontinue our "Control of Blood Pressure in the Dog" laboratory for medical students for reasons related to finances, rather than animal rights groups. I believe that since then our students have missed a unique and meaningful learning experience. Since discontinuing that lab, we have an interactive discussion session with the students which includes showing a video we made of the lab, but this is hardly equivalent. Nothing has come to our attention that would be an adequate replacement for the hands-on experience of the live animal lab. Our cardiovascular faculty agrees with me that if we had the resources and personnel, we would include this lab in our physiology course for medical students."
O. Douglas Wangensteen, Ph.D.
Professor of Physiology, Pediatrics and Medicine
Interim Head of Physiology
University of Minnesota Medical School
"The use of live animals has considerable merit in the teaching of medical students and other health professionals. While I cannot speak for the Michigan State University as a whole, as a department head responsible for the teaching of physiology to medical, osteopathic, veterinary, nursing, graduate and undergraduate students, I support the irreplaceable value of animals for the training of these professionals."
William Spielman, Ph.D.
Professor and Chairman
Department of Physiology
Michigan State University
"I am writing in support of your efforts to include live animal experiments in the training of medical students. Up until a few years ago, we had a traditional dog lab, which was well received and quite valuable. As the budget in the State of Illionis and support for education tanked, we no longer had the funds to support these labs for a class size of 220-230."
"This is an unfortunate situation for our students, particularly in their training regarding cardiovascular and renal physiology. Most physiologists that I know agree that there is no computer model that can fully substitute for the live action in these laboratories."
R. John Solaro, PhD
Distinguished University Professor and Head, Department of Physiology and Biophysics
Director of the University of Illinois Chicago Center for Cardiovascular Research
University of Illinois School of Medicine