Purdue University researchers will use a $1.3-million grant to help further students' understanding of the role animals play in keeping people healthy.

Timothy Ratliff, MS, PhD, and Sandra Amass, DVM, MS, PhD, Dipl. ABVP, of the School of Veterinary Medicine received the five-year grant to create a new health science curriculum for students in the third, sixth, and ninth grades; start a faculty mentor program in Indiana schools; create fitness programs centered around animals; and develop a museum exhibit focused on the links between animal and human health. The initiative, called Fat Dogs and Coughing Horses: Animal Contributions Towards a Healthier Citizenry, is being funded through a Science Education Partnership Award from the National Center for Research Resources, a component of the National Institutes of Health.

"Animals play a large role in keeping people healthy," said Amass, a professor of food animal production medicine and associate dean for engagement in the veterinary school. "A lot of conditions that affect humans affect animals. For example, horses get heaves, which is just like asthma in kids, and dogs get the same cancers that people do."

The School of Veterinary Medicine is working with several other Purdue departments and organizations to create a broad program