Thirty years at UCSF might seem like a long time. But Joe Spinelli, retiring director of the Animal Care Facility, says his life really began here 70 years ago--not because he was born at UCSF or treated here for a severe malady as a child, but because his parents met here.

“I exist because of UCSF,” said Spinelli, whose last day of work was Friday. “My father was a student in the College of Pharmacy and worked in a drug store in the neighborhood and my mom was a customer. They were married for 62 years.” Spinelli became “wedded” to UCSF in 1967, when he became acting director of animal care. A lot has changed since then and will continue to change, he said.

“Animal care was in the process of evolving when I came in and it’s in the process of evolving as I leave,” he said. “I think we do a much better job than we did 30 years ago. The quality care we give the animals is a testament to the 100 people who work in animal care, who are among the unsung heroes at UCSF. The people work hard here, in difficult facilities, to support the academic program.”

Specific examples of how animal care has improved, according to Spinelli: it’s more humane, more sanitary, and much better today at pain relief following surgical procedures. “One of the challenges we have is that the use of analgesics can change research results, so the challenge of the veterinarians on my staff and the researchers is to find a combination that allows pain relief but also produces results for investigators,” Spinelli explained.

Spinelli explained. “It takes a partnership between veterinarians and investigators -- that’s one of the creative things in laboratory animal medicine.”

Spinelli credits UCSF not only with initiating his life but also with enriching it, both professionally and personally. He feels privileged to have known “some of the greatest names in health sciences.” But perhaps the greatest benefit of working at UCSF, he says, has been the opportunity to work in a diverse environment, “seeing this very diverse culture that comes to work every day and works hard and does so well.

“It’s one of the greatest academic institutions in the world. A lot of people in the United States and throughout the world don’t believe you can have diverse populations living in peace and I believe UCSF demonstrates that you can--it gives hope.”

Spinelli believes UCSF’s diverse community will continue to thrive in the future. “There’s going to be cultural diversity here no matter what the Regents do,” he said. “We ought to be able to follow their rules and still figure out how to foster cultural diversity. This place hasn’t always been committed to cultural diversity. However, starting in the ‘60s, the chancellors have been major activists in cultural diversity and we should be proud of it.”

Ironically, Spinelli says, as animal care became more humane, human care at UCSF deteriorated. “We’ve got to be a lot more humane in how we treat humans,” he said. “We are overcrowded. The ventilation is better in the mice facilities than in offices. I really applauded Chancellor Debas’ State of the Campus speech because he said something I’ve been waiting 30 years to hear--we have to pay attention to the environment of our staff.” Projects to improve the facilities are in the works. The Long Range Development Plan for UCSF calls for the construction of a new animal care facility, as do the plans for the new campus at Mission Bay.

Although animal research is controversial and was especially so in the 1980s, Spinelli says he is proud of his profession. “A lot of the advances in the past 30 years have been the improvement of diagnostic services and a lot of that was through animal research,” he said. “The archetypal example of animal research improving medical care is Respiratory Distress Syndrome, which killed President Kennedy’s infant son Patrick. Today we would have assigned the case to a junior resident--this advance was as a result of research on dogs. Heart transplants seemed silly at one point. I have a friend who had one 10 years ago and he ain’t done yet. I can look at any individual like that and smile because I have known some of the animals who made it possible.”

Spinelli says he respects the views of animal rights activists, even those who have verbally attacked him over the years, but does not believe it is morally wrong to conduct research on animals. “We use lab animals at UCSF and we should never be ashamed of it,” he said. “I respect people’s right to disagree but I also respect our ability to use lab animals. I believe it’s a privilege and not a right and we should never cause animals to suffer. We should take excellent care of these animals. Medical progress doesn’t come without animals being used and we have an obligation to treat these animals well and we ought to be able to talk about it.”

Spinelli says the controversy has benefited both the animals and his profession. “I’m a little embarrassed to admit it but I think some of the activities of the animal rights people improved animal care,” he said. “We probably do a little bit better than we would be doing without them. We’re a university and I’m happy we have places people can express their views in a non-violent way.”

Spinelli entered the field of laboratory animal medicine after an unfulfilling career in private practice. “I entered this phase of veterinary medicine because I thought I could make a difference and I think I have,” he said. “I liked animals and I wanted to be an equine practitioner and was for four years. I felt I couldn’t do as much for animals as I wanted and was frustrated by seeing a lot of abuse of animals by pet owners. I was very discouraged by how people took care of pets. Lab animals get better care than that given by the average pet owner.”

Another motivation for Spinelli to become involved in laboratory animal medicine was born out of his personal life. “I had a profoundly disabled son. I couldn’t do anything to help him medically or to help prevent this kind of problem or help people with this problem,” Spinelli explained. “When I became aware of laboratory animal medicine I realized there was something I could do.” Still, Spinelli never allows the medical goals of animal research to eclipse the health of the animals in his care.

“When we take animals into captivity we have an enormous obligation to properly provide for the welfare of those animals,” he said. “If you’re going to have a pet, quality veterinary care is a necessary aspect, same with laboratory animals. The beauty of working in this profession is the better the care of animals the better the science.”

The Animal Care Facility currently houses 108,00 animals, 97 percent of which are mice and rats. Under Spinelli’s direction, it has done some unique things in the last three decades. In addition to starting an adoption program for the animals 20 years ago, the facility was one of the first to enrich the environment in which the animals live and, to this day, welcomes animal welfare officials to check up on them at any time. “We allow our local humane society to come in here and examine our place at any time, seven days a week, 24 hours a day,” Spinelli said. “We think it’s a good thing to do. I hope it continues after I leave.

“We were one of the first animal care facilities to provide environmental enrichment for animals,” he said. Environmental enrichment includes talking to the animals, hand-feeding them, exercising them, and other activities, depending on the animal, that improve the quality of their life. “We were one of the first places to do that,” Spinelli said. “It eventually became an issue in Congress and now it’s part of federal law for non-human primates and dogs to enrich their environment. We did that before Congress ever discussed it and I’m proud of it.”

In addition to overseeing the Animal Care Facility, Spinelli was the director of the Cell Culture Facility, which was founded by UCSF medical geneticist Charles Epstein, Spinelli says: “Not many health science schools have it. It’s not a mandated service. I appreciate the good work the staff has done there and I was honored to be asked to run it.”

Now that these professional duties have come to a close, what will Spinelli do? “My wife and I are very involved with our seven-year-old grandson and I plan on being available for him from 2 p.m. on.,” he said. “I’m going from Vice Chancellor Bainton to a seven-year-old second grader as boss.” The first task his grandson has assigned is well-suited to Spinelli’s experience. “I’m going to buy pet goats for my grandson and myself,” he said. “He has some big plans for me.”

By Paula Murphy

1st appeared 11/03/97

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