Skeptics on the Fringe:Mark Holmes-Alt Vet:Do You Get A Placebo Effect In Animal

Speaker

Dr Mark Holmes is a lecturer at Cambridge Vet School. He trained in Cambridge and returned to the academic life after a brief spell in practice (probably his biggest contribution to animal welfare as he was such a poor clinician). He researches on MRSA and mechanisms of antibiotic resistance in Staphylococci but has a strong interest in clinical research and evidence based veterinary medicine. He strongly believes that veterinary medicine should be built on the bedrock of science. “Why bother to believe in the irrational when rational science is so enlightening and demonstrates the wonders of nature?” The first thing you should think about anything he says is “Why should I believe him? He apologises for the photograph clearly taken at least 10 years ago and acknowledges that while he still wears the same sweater he hasn’t worn quite so well himself.

Find out more at http://www.vet.cam.ac.uk/directory/mah1@cam.ac.uk
Follow Mark on Twitter @markaholmes (http://www.twitter.com/markaholmes)

Talk

Come to this talk if you are interested in how science (and sometimes the lack of science) influences how we treat sick animals. Shouldn’t animals be the ideal population to find evidence that alternative medical treatments work as we wouldn’t just be looking a ‘placebo effect’?

Mark will review this idea and share some other random musings, facts and phenomena gleaned by a skeptical vet from 25 years in veterinary research.

http://www.edinburghskeptics.co.uk/events-2/