(Julia Bettina Montgomery, Patricia L. Farnese/ The Conversation) — The University of Saskatchewan’s aspirations to be “the university the world needs” took on tangible meaning in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. For our colleagues who are health-care professionals or researchers in the areas of infectious diseases and vaccine development, their contributions to the pandemic response were readily apparent. What about a veterinarian and a lawyer?
In March 2020, we — a vet and a lawyer — each faced disruptions to our sabbatical plans. Instead, we found an opportunity to apply our expertise in comparative science, law and One Health research to a local COVID-19 project. We worked collaboratively with One Health Medical Technologies, a Saskatoon-based company that designed and built an emergency-use ventilator (EUV-SK1), now certified by Health Canada. (…)