How do we know that our prescribing of medicines for OA is appropriate?

The VOA Podcast, featuring Dr Christine Pye, delves deep into this confusing subject.

Guest: Dr Christine Pye BVSc PgCert(SAS) MRCVS, in conversation with Russell Chandler, VOA Podcast host.

In this two-part podcast it was my pleasure to speak with veterinary surgeon and research scientist Dr Christine Pye.

Christine graduated from Bristol vet school in 2011, having also completed an intercalated degree in Veterinary Conservation Medicine at the University of Liverpool.

After graduating, she worked for the RSPCA Greater Manchester Animal Hospital for 4 years, before spending some time travelling and getting involved in veterinary volunteer work abroad.

She then joined the Animal Trust and undertook her Postgraduate Certificate in Small Animal Surgery there, going on to focus on orthopaedic surgeries.

In 2011, Christine joined the University of Liverpool to undertake an MPhil in musculoskeletal biology and ageing science, researching biomarkers of meniscal injuries in dogs with cranial cruciate ligament disease.

She is now a PhD student at Liverpool, studying biomarkers of ageing in cats. Her main interests are in evidence based veterinary medicine, musculoskeletal biology, biomarker research and improving the communication of research to vets and pet owners.

We talked about Christine’s career to date, and how she became involved with the area of osteoarthritis. We also discussed her previous research into the quest for useful clinical lipid biomarkers in the synovial fluid of dogs with and without meniscal damage.

Christine’s most recent co-authored publication reviewed the scientific literature on medications for canine osteoarthritis. We dissected the findings of this paper, exploring what is known and what has yet to be clarified.

Finally, Christine answered the ‘desert island pharmacy’ question (If you had to choose only one medicine to take with you to a desert island where pet osteoarthritis needs managing, what would you choose?)

Enormous thanks to Christine for her input from all of us at VOA.