National Pet Health Survey
You know that your pets make your life happier and healthier. Studies have shown that pets lower blood pressure, decrease your chances of having heart attacks, can enhance your community interactions. But did you know that even your indoor cat and canine companion that only cruises the neighborhood are sentinels for world health?
My guest is Dr. Megan Mehaffey. She is a Research Ecologist with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Research Development. We will discuss how you can become a citizen scientist and help safeguard the health of pets, people, the ecosystem, our economy and the planet.
BIO:
Dr. Megan Mehaffey is a Research Ecologist with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Research Development in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.
Dr. Mehaffey has spent the past 20 years examining how the condition of our surrounding environment influences the water we drink and the air we breathe. In her research she frequently reaches across disciplines to address local, regional and national questions of interest. A few of the questions she has worked on include changes in future municipal water demand, where wetlands can be restored, how we can promote native pollinator habitat, and potential for increasing access and demand for recreational opportunities. Much of her work is incorporated into the EnviroAtlas tool (https://www.epa.gov/enviroatlas) which allows users to explore hundreds of maps on a range of topics. Dr. Mehaffey is currently working with veterinary scientists to implement a citizen science survey to explore the relationships between indoor and outdoor environmental condition on pet health, and by extension their human companions.
Dr. Mehaffey holds a B.S. in Agricultural Sciences from Murray State University, a Masters in Crop Science from North Carolina State University, and received her doctoral degree in Systematics and Ecology from Kansas State University.