Bookpleasures.com is excited to have as our guest Dr. Barbara Natterson-Horowitz.

Barbara develops bio-inspired strategies for understanding and addressing human health challenges. Her work focuses on the natural world and evolutionary biology as sources of insight for health and development.

A Professor with faculty appointments in the UCLA Division of Cardiology, Harvard Medical School and Harvard University’s Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, she co-directs the UCLA Evolutionary Medicine Program and its graduate degree program (M.S. Biology).

Studying a diverse range of animals in natural settings she has uncovered evolved adaptations with relevance to heart failure, sudden cardiac death, seizures, dementia, movement disorders, infertility and psychiatric conditions including anxiety, compulsive and eating disorders.

In 2018, she first offered, Coming of Age on Planet Earth a course which uses a comparative and evolutionary frame to better understand the transition from adolescent to adult life across species.

Barbara studied evolutionary biology as an undergraduate and graduate student, receiving bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Harvard. She attended UC San Francisco for medical school followed by post-graduate training at UCLA including internal medicine residency and chief residency, and cardiology fellowship with advanced training in heart failure and cardiac imaging.

She has been a member of the UCLA Division of Cardiology since 1993 and served as Director of Imaging for the UCLA Cardiac Arrhythmia Group.

In 2012, she published the NY Times bestselling book, Zoobiquity, which makes the case for a species-spanning approach to health.

Zoobiquity was a Finalist in the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)’s Excellence in Science Books Award, Smithsonian Top Book of 2012, Discover Magazine Best Book of 2012, and the China Times Best Book of 2012. It has been translated into seven languages and has been the common read at universities across the country.

In September 2019, Dr. B. N. Horowitz keynoted the Nobel Assembly’s Nobel Conference in Stockholm, Sweden. The theme of the 2019 conference was the identification and application of scientific insights from the natural world to human health.

Dr. B. N. Horowitz is the President of the International Society for Evolution, Medicine and Public Health.

 Barbara recently published with Kathryn Bowers of Wildhood: The Astounding Connections between Human and Animal Adolescents, a comparative and phylogenetic exploration of the developmental transition from puberty to mature adulthood

 Norm: Good day Barbara and thanks for participating in our interview.

What do you consider to be your greatest success (or successes) so far in your career? 

Barbara:  I was twenty years into my career as a cardiology professor when I had the ‘aha’ moment. As I explored the natural world for insights into human health, I was able to uncover many connections between humans and the rest of the animal kingdom that my single-species focus as a physician would have missed. 

Norm: What has been your greatest challenge (professionally) that you’ve overcome in getting to where you’re at today? 

Barbara: It depends how you define rejection. My animal “role models” for sticking with something you really want despite not succeeding most of the time: jaguars. Over 6/10 times jaguars set out to kill, prey escape, and they don’t get what they want. Is that ‘bad’ odd? Or is it just the normal reality that many things in life require multiple attempts?

Norm: If you could relive a moment in your life, which moment would you choose and why?

Barbara: As a physician, it was a huge privilege to participate in the care of gorillas, tapir, mandrills and many other non-human animals. The moment I put a transesophageal probe (photo attached) in a lion and saw a beating heart that resembled the human heart so profoundly, that is a moment I would gladly relive. It is with me all the time. 

Barbara: It’s hard not to given some tough realities: We humans are newcomers to Earth—a mere 200,000 years—and in that time we have had a catastrophic impact on so many other species and the planet. We have to get our act together not just for the sake of our own species! We ‘baptized’ ourselves Homo sapiens (wise apes). I hope we have sufficient wisdom to make the right choices for a healthy future and Earth.

Norm: How did you become interested in studying a diverse range of animals in natural settings? Why do you believe this to be important?

Barbara: I was a cardiologist at UCLA invited to help care for gorillas, lions, bears and other residents at the Los Angeles Zoo. It transformed my perspective on medicine and my perspective of myself as a human. That was the spark and almost 15 years later, I am even more captivated by the natural world and the power of biodiversity to solve problems and answer questions. 

Norm: You recently published with Kathryn Bowers Wildhood: The Astounding Connections between Human and Animal Adolescents. Please tell our audience a little about the book.  What were your goals and intentions in this book, and how well do you feel you achieved them?

Barbara:  Kathryn and I set out to understand human adolescence by studying adolescence across the animal kingdom. I wish we had written this book before I had teenagers. Among the insights: In order to be safe as an adult, you need to encounter (or learn about) danger as an adolescent. 

In many species, adolescent animals practice courtship for years before having sex. It is remarkable how similar the challenges of adolescence are across species and how much we can learn from how other animals deal with this phase of life!

Norm: Are there vocabulary words or concepts in your book that may be new to readers? Define some of those. 

Barbara Predator Inspection: Safety behavior in which prey (individually or in groups) approach and observe predators to gain knowledge about them. Also used to signal to a predator that it has been detected and therefore lost the element of surprise.

Silver Spoon Effect: Individuals born in good conditions and had abundant resources early in life enjoy lifelong advantages (increased fitness).

Winner Effect: The tendency for an animal who wins one contest to be more likely to win a subsequent one. This is facilitated by specific brain changes associated with whinning that increases competitive ability.

Norm: Where can our readers find out more about you and Wildhood: The Astounding Connections between Human and Animal Adolescents?

MY WEBSITE

 WILDHOOD

ZOOBIQUITY

Wildhood website has some videos and content readers may find interesting and (hopefully) inspiring.

Zoobiquity website also has content for those interested somatic and behavioral disorders that affect both non-human animals and people.

Norm: As this interview comes to an end, if you could invite three scientists, dead or alive into your living room, who would they be and why?

Barbara:  Niko Tinbergen: Tinbergen won the Nobel Prize along with two other animal behaviorists in 1973. He recognized the importance of asking why a behavior (or other phenomenon) exists from an adaptive perspective. I use this framework every day in my work.

Daniel Lehrman: Lehrman was an ethologist (like Tinbergen). Tinbergen studied gulls (and other animals) whereas Lehrman studied doves. As a young man, Lehrman stood up to the most powerful leaders in the field pointing out the errors in their work. It was brave and helped to save the field.

JBS Haldane: Another biologist and what a brilliant thinker and character! He conceptualized cloning, IVF and so much more! As a young man, he used himself as a guinea pig in his experiments. 

Norm: Thanks once again and good luck with all of your future endeavors