This week I attended the annual celebration of the University of Washington’s Dare 2 Care: Compassion in Science program. The Dare 2 Care website notes that:
One of the great challenges for laboratory animal professionals is acceptance and management of the demanding emotional effects from working with animals within the research field. The term that has been coined to describe this emotional toll is Compassion Fatigue (CF).
As Compassion Fatigue is a normal consequence of caring, this project of building the Dare 2 Care (D2C) Compassion in Science Program at the University of Washington has been designed to assist all members of the research team in understanding and coping with this common concern by managing the emotional challenges resulting from the care and use of laboratory animals.
There were two guest speakers at this week’s celebration. Dr. Cindy Buckmaster and Mr. Scott Imbrie.
I have spoken with, worked with, and presented with Dr. Buckmaster several times during my prior role as the Executive Director of the Northwest Association for Biomedical Research. Dr. Buckmaster is a passionate and eloquent advocate for the importance of Lab Animal Research and the importance of all involved in this field being able to talk openly about their work and the advances that have been made possible, for both animals and humans because of this work. Dr. Buckmaster also hosts the GetReal podcast which is dedicated to open discussions about animal research.
Mr. Scott Imbrie was the keynote speaker at the event. Mr. Imbrie was pronounced quadriplegic after breaking his neck in a car accident at age 22. He now spends 3 days a week at the University of Chicago participating in the Brain Computer Interface (BCII) study. With brain implants, he can control a robotic arm and hand with sensory feedback using only the thoughts in his brain.
He shared his perception of sensations, motor functions and movement after his life-changing surgery and his thoughts and unique experiences as a participant of BCI studies. His inspiring story exemplified why animal research, and their researchers, are important. He noted that so far only 9 humans have received the trial Brain Computer Interface, and that this technology, which is only possible because of prior work on monkeys, opens the possibility of improved quality of life for millions with spinal injuries, amputations, and for all of their care givers.