Barbara Natterson-Horowitz

Barbara Natterson-Horowitz is a cardiologist and professor at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).^[1] She is a New York Times bestselling author of the book Zoobiquity, coauthored with Kathryn Bowers.^[2] Natterson-Horowitz and Kathryn Bowers coined the term "zoobiquity" by combining zo (Greek for animal) and ubiquity (Latin for everywhere) to describe the relationship between animal and human health.^[3]

Career

Natterson-Horowitz has practiced cardiology at UCLA Medical Center for more than twenty years, served as Director of Imaging at the UCLA Cardiac Arrhythmia Center, and taught courses at UCLA.^[4][5] She is also a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Cardiology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, and a Professor in the UCLA Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. She is Co-Director of the Evolutionary Medicine Program at UCLA, and both a cardiovascular consultant and a member of the Medical Advisory Board for the Los Angeles Zoo.^[1]

In 2005, her role as cardiovascular consultant to the Los Angeles Zoo required her consult on an emperor tamarin experiencing heart failure. During her examination of the tamarin, a veterinarian warned her to avoid capture myopathy, an unfamiliar term to Natterson-Horowitz. Upon researching the term, Natterson-Horowitz discovered its likeness to the human condition of Takotsubo cardiomyopathy and set out to discover more parallels between animal and human health.^[5]

Natterson-Horowitz’s research led her to co-author the 2012 New York Times Bestseller Zoobiquity, which advocates for a cross-species approach to healthcare, highlighting the many afflictions that plague both humans and animals. ^[2]

Natterson-Horowitz has signed as a producer on a television drama based on Zoobiquity. Fox Broadcasting Company gave the series a pilot order in January 2016.^[6]

In 2011, Natterson-Horowitz founded the Zoobiquity Conference to bring together leaders from human and animal medicine for discussions about diseases afflicting both populations. The 6th annual Zoobiquity Conference is scheduled for April 2, 2016 in Philadelphia, PA ^[7]

She also started a research initiative partnering UCLA medical students with UC Davis veterinary students for discussions of mutual healthcare interest.^[8]

Other publications

Natterson-Horowitz has published academic research in medical journals such as Emerging Infectious Diseases, Echocardiography, The American Journal of Cardiology, and Circulation. ^[9]

Her other published writing has appeared in media such as Newsweek, The New York Times, The Guardian, Wall Street Journal, Nature, Scientific American, and New Scientist.^{[10][3][2][11]} Her September 2014 TED talk on species-spanning healthcare has received over a million views.^[1]

Education

Natterson-Horowitz earned her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Harvard University.^[12] She earned her medical degree from the University of California, San Francisco.^[12] She went on to complete internal medicine and psychiatry residencies^[13] at the University of California, Los Angeles where she served as chief resident in both departments. Her postgraduate training included a cardiology fellowship in 1995 and a year of advanced training in heart failure and cardiac imaging at the UCLA Division of Cardiology.^[14]

Family

Natterson-Horowitz is married to Zach Horowitz, the former CEO of Universal Music Publishing Group. The couple has two children.^[11][15][16]

References