Deep Dive into Health Monitoring with Dr. Robert Livingston

In this episode, Dr. Robert Livingston shares his journey from being a rural dairy cattle veterinarian to his current role in diagnostics and infectious diseases at IDEXX BioAnalytics. He discusses his career path, which includes working with research monkeys during veterinary school, pursuing a PhD, and his passion for science and diagnostics.

Dr. Livingston explains the importance of animal health monitoring in research, focusing on detecting pathogens that can negatively impact the validity of research data. He highlights the evolution of diagnostic techniques, including the use of PCR testing and environmental health monitoring, which have improved the accuracy of detecting infectious agents without using sentinel animals.

He also discusses the role of veterinarians in both caring for research animals and conducting research themselves. Dr. Livingston emphasizes the significance of mentors in his career and the support he received from his family and community.

The conversation touches on the advancements in animal health monitoring, the impact of AI in diagnostics, and the importance of reducing the use of animals in research while ensuring accurate and reliable data.

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