The University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine, in partnership with Emory University and the Clinical Translational Science Alliance (CTSA), will host Zoobiquity ATL September 13, 2019 at the Emory Conference Center in Atlanta. The latest in a long line of conferences celebrating the best-selling book Zoobiquity, the conference will bring together veterinary and human medicine professionals to advance biomedical innovation through collaboration.
The one-day event features speakers from the University of Georgia, Emory University, Harvard University and the Centers for Disease Control on topics spanning the opioid crisis, non-Hodgkins lymphoma in dogs and humans, stem cell research and regenerative medicine, to name a few. The keynote speaker will be Frans de Waal, whose book Mama’s Last Hug: Animal Emotions and What They Tell Us about Ourselves pays homage to Mama, the alpha female of a famous chimpanzee colony on a forested island at the Royal Burgers’ Zoo, the Netherlands.
He will explore the evidence for animal emotions, starting with primate facial expressions. They laugh when tickled, pout when disappointed, and stare with a frown when angry. Charles Darwin concluded long ago that if apes use expressions similar to ours under similar circumstances, the underlying emotions are probably similar, too. We possess not a single organ that is unique to us. Similarly, although we have emotions that go deeper or are more varied than in other species, none of them is entirely new. He’ll discuss empathy and disgust as examples.
Registration for the event will begin at 7:30 a.m. with speakers beginning at 8 a.m. and concluding at 4:30 p.m. The closing reception will take place at Zoo Atlanta from 5:30 to 8:30, where guests will have the opportunity to talk with speakers and visit the exhibits throughout the park.
Early bird registration runs through August 15, 2019 at a rate of $200. After that the fee will be $250. The rate for students and residents (DVM, MD, DDS, RN, PharmD, Graduate) is $125. For registration and more information visit https://vet.uga.edu/event/zoobiquity-conference/.
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About Zoobiquity
A New York Times bestseller, Zoobiquity was named Discover magazine’s Best Book of the Year, a Smithsonian Top Book of 2012, and was a finalist for the American Association for the Advancement in Science (AAAS)/Subaru SB&F Prize for Excellence in Science Books award.
