Managing medicine and species: biotherapy and the ecological vision of health and wellbeing

Dr Kirk's project is producing the first rigorous account of the multiple contributions that nonhuman forms of life make to human health and wellbeing in medicine and society. It explores how, why, and to what consequence nonhuman life contributes to human clinical medicine, health and wellbeing outside the biomedical laboratory. Studies within this project include: whether training animals improves human mental and physical health (animal assisted therapy), and if the use of leeches aids healing.