A nose for disease – dogs at the forefront of early disease detection and diagnosis

While many people know that dogs have a great sense of smell, few realise just how amazing their noses can be. But Dr Claire Guest understood the true power of a dog’s sense of smell and how it could be harnessed in a way never before considered – to detect cancer in its early stages.  This started an amazing journey and the creation of world-leading, innovative charity, Medical Detection Dogs.
 
Medical Detection Dogs work to detect not just cancer, but also the early stages of diseases like Parkinson’s, malaria and drug resistant bacterial infections. The charity also trains Medical Alert Assistance Dogs, which change the lives of people with conditions like diabetes, narcolepsy, Addison’s and severe allergies by warning them when they are about to suffer a potentially life-threatening episode.
 
Last year Medical Detection Dogs celebrated its tenth year as a registered charity and Royal Canin is proud to have supported them during every step of their journey.  Royal Canin are delighted to host this webinar, the first in a series showcasing the amazing work of their Pro Partners.
 
Register for the free webinar
 
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/4981868895638121484

About Claire Guest
 
Dr Claire Guest BSc (Hons) MSc HonDSc. DHP BCAh
 
Dr Claire Guest obtained a BSc in Psychology in 1986, followed by an MSc in Psychology by research. She is a member of the Association of Pet Behaviour Counsellors, became Chair for three years and was Director of Operations & Research at Hearing Dogs for Deaf People. Claire directed one of the first programmes in the world to train dogs to identify cancer by odour and published the first robust proof of principle study in the BMJ in September 2004. Claire became Co-Founder of Medical Detection Dogs (MDD) in 2008 and is now the Chief Executive and Chief Scientific Officer.

In 2011 Claire was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science in recognition of an outstanding contribution to the development of new approaches for the detection of life-threatening diseases. In January 2015 she was awarded a British Citizen Award for health and in 2016 received the CBI National First Women award for Science and Technology. Claire is also a frequent peer reviewed author in scientific journals and has co-authored numerous publications on the detection of diseases by canines.

In 2016 she wrote “Daisy’s Gift”, published by Virgin books, about the formation of the charity and her remarkable dog ‘Daisy’, who indicated her own breast cancer. Claire regularly presents at conferences around the world, and frequently appears on national television and radio to discuss and promote the pioneering work and research of MDD