Prof John Munday - world first RAS research to treat cancer in cats and dogs - pt 1 - ep 103

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Professor John Munday is a Massey University graduate. 

After graduating, he worked for 2 years in a mixed animal practice in Whangarei. 

He then returned to Massey and completed a PhD.  

After completing his doctorate John then did a 2-year residency in veterinary pathology at Michigan State University before working as an assistant professor at the University of Georgia for 4 years.  

It was at this time he decided to return home and joined the veterinary pathology department at Massey University.   

In addition to teaching the veterinary students, Prof Munday also developed a research interest in cancer in animals. 

This includes investigating the causes of cancer in animals as well as developing ways to better predict how cancers will behave in animals.  

More recently, he started investigating ways that cancers in animals can be treated… although he’s quick to remind people he’s not a veterinary oncologist so that his main interest is in investigating completely novel new ways to treat cancer in animals. 

Professor Munday is a Diplomate of the ACVP – the American College of Veterinary Pathologists – so he’s a boarded veterinary pathologist.  

This means he has a better than good knowledge of the pathogenesis and diagnosis of a wide variety of endemic and exotic animal diseases. 

He has approximately 20 years' experience as a diagnostic pathologist in both New Zealand and in the US.  

Using his pathology background, Prof Munday has collaborated with studies examining tissues from a variety of animal species including mice, rats, rabbits, sheep, fish, and horses.  

Currently, his main research interests are the diagnosis and prognostic markers for neoplasia in companion animals and the role of  infectious agents in the development of cancer in domestic species.  

He recently wrote a chapter in the premier textbook in veterinary cancer pathology and has a broad knowledge of the diagnostic techniques and prognostic markers available both in veterinary medicine as well as for some cancers of people. 

His interest in infectious diseases has resulted in him establishing an association between papillomavirus infection and skin cancer in cats and much of his current research is further validating that relationship and developing clinical applications for this knowledge.  

Prof Munday has also developed skills in molecular biology and was the first to fully sequence and classify two papillomaviruses from domestic cats.  

He was also the first to prove that the papillomavirus that causes feline sarcoids has a bovine definitive host. Overall, he’s authored 170 peer-reviewed manuscripts and currently has a group of 3 PhD students for which he’s the chief supervisor.

I hope you enjoy listening to his current world-first research taking place downunder in Godzone Aotearoa New Zealand.   We join the conversation where I ask him how this world first cat and dog cancer research started.

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