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Think “One Health in Action”...when you, a friend or a loved one needs an intracoronary artery (or bypass vein graft) stent(s) to survive! Reminder...   “ONE HEALTH in Action” - First Flexible Coil Balloon Expandable Intracoronary Stent Development for Humans – Posted One Health Initiative website Tuesday, February 09, 2010 https://goo.gl/2dTWV2. “ONE HEALTH in Action” - First Flexible Coil Balloon Expandable Intracoronary Stent Development for Humans   The One Health initiative website has been advised by Peter G. Anderson, DVM, PhD, Professor & Director of Pathology Undergraduate Education and Pre-Clerkship Curriculum Coordinator at the Department of Pathology, University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Medicine, that the “One Health Initiative” web link has been added to the front page of PEIR (http://peir.net).   Moreover, it should be noted that Dr. Peter G. Anderson, a veterinarian, represents a prime and significant historic example of “ONE HEALTH in Action”.  Dr. Anderson was part of the team that developed the first flexible coil balloon expandable intracoronary stent approved by the FDA for human use. This monumental development occurred in the early 1990’s and now – almost 100% of patients who undergo the balloon angioplasty procedure also get a stent. These stents can be coated with drugs to help the blood vessel heal after the balloon procedure to prevent scar tissue from forming leading to restenosis.  Today the drug coated stents that Dr. Anderson helped develop and holds a patent for are being used extensively to decrease morbidity and mortality in patients worldwide.   Gary Roubin, BVSc (equiv. DVM), MB (equiv. MD), PhD, an internationally renowned interventional cardiologist (currently at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, where he has been the Chairman of the Department of Interventional Cardiology and Director of the Cardiovascular Interventional Suites since 2004), worked to develop the first “balloon expandable intracoronary stent” used in the USA. Dr. Roubin came to the University of Alabama in 1989 where Dr. Anderson was the pathologist who participated in the animal studies using pigs. This animal data was sent to the FDA and eventually the stent was approved for human use.  Dr. Anderson says, “While we [i.e., Drs. Roubin and Anderson] were waiting for approval for the FDA – we did get a “provisional” approval to use the stents in people if it was a life threatening situation.  So, here at UAB we deployed many of the stents before they were formally approved by the FDA.” “And, I did the autopsies on the people who died after stent implantation”, said Dr. Anderson. “So, with Gary Roubin as corresponding author, we published the first paper describing the pathology of these balloon expandable flexible coil stents in people.”   Dr. Anderson went on to say, “Gary is the cardiologist who was the innovator in developing the stents [Gianturco-Roubin Flex Stent] and has continued to be an internationally recognized leader in interventional cardiology.  An interesting side note – Gary Roubin was originally from Australia. He started out as a veterinarian – then he went back to school to be a physician, received a PhD degree in physiology, trained in cardiology and then he came to the U.S.  So, Gary Roubin started out as a veterinarian and then went on to be an internationally renowned interventional cardiologist.”