One Health@Penn
A growing recognition of the intimate connection between humans, animals, and the environment has underscored that an interdisciplinary, multisectoral strategy is crucial to address complex health challenges. This has come to be known as the One Health approach. Building on the strengths of Penn’s School of Veterinary Medicine, in collaboration with Penn’s Master of Public Health (MPH) Program, this research community engages an even broader partnership to tackle daunting global health issues– extending One Health@PennVet to One Health@Penn.
Co-led by Jenni Punt, Associate Dean for One Health and Professor of Immunology at Penn Vet, Julie C. Ellis, Co-Director of the Wildlife Futures Program at Penn Vet, Hillary Nelson, Director of the MPH Program, and Brittany Watson, Professor of Clinical Studies and Advanced Medicine at Penn Vet, the OneHealth@Penn research community focuses on the challenges raised by the rapidly changing climate. The interdisciplinary problem-solving framework of One Health@Penn addresses global concerns like agricultural sustainability, food security, emerging zoonoses, natural and anthropogenic disasters, biodiversity loss, and antimicrobial resistance. One Health@Penn convenes faculty, staff, and students across campus in collaborative opportunities in education and research, such as journal clubs, seminar series, and course plans.
Dr. Brittany Watson (far right) helps Penn Vet students vaccinate a dog at Pets For Life on World Veterinary Day. (Photo: John Donges/Penn Vet)
Building a home for One Health at Penn
“One Health and climate and the environment are just intertwined,” says Jenni Punt, associate dean for One Health at the School of Veterinary Medicine and one of the leaders of the Environmental Innovations Initiative’s One Health @ Penn research community. the group has developed several initiatives and a monthly seminar series to spark connections and interdisciplinary collaboration to address “wicked,” or highly complex problems related to health.
Cultivating the One Health Research Community
A growing group of Penn educators, investigators, and clinicians dedicated to actualizing the promise of One Health principles established a virtual seminar series featuring short talks by sixteen colleagues across Penn Schools. The schedule for the 2024-25 series, with a theme of One Health: Problem Solving Perspectives, will focus on efforts to address challenges to human and animal health posed by environmental disruption.
Everyone is welcome, and can join via Zoom.
Recordings from the 2023-24 One Health@Penn Research Community seminar series, which featured members of the Penn community actively engaged in addressing climate challenges, are linked:
- AIR POLLUTION AND HEALTH IN NAIROBI, KENYA by Susanna Berkouwer & COMMUNITY HEALTH SECURITY; CASE STUDY OF WATER AND HEALTH by Julian Fisher. Video
- DESIGN OF GEOMETRIC MATERIALS FOR A BETTER WORLD by Shu Yang & DESIGN MATTERS by David Gouverneur. Video
- CORAL REEF SURVIVAL IN THE CLIMATE CRISIS by Katie Barrot & CAMPUS-COMMUNITY COLLABORATIONS FOR CLIMATE LITERACY by Bethany Wiggin. Video
- CLIMATE EMOTIONS IN THE CLASSROOM by Beth Z. Mark & QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE MEASUREMENT OF ECO-ANXIETY by Jennifer Pinto-Martin. Video
- CREATING A CLIMATE CURRICULUM FOR FUTURE PHYSICIANS by Farah Hussain & SETTING THE STAGE FOR COLLABORATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING by Zachary Herrmann. Video
- EARLY LIFE INTERVENTIONS: OPPORTUNITIES TO CURB METHANE EMISSIONS IN DAIRY CATTLE by Dipti Pitta & CLIMATE DERISKING: LESSONS FROM THE U.S. FAILED NUCLEAR RENAISSANCE by Shelley Welton. Video
- GLACIER IMPACTS ON ECOSYSTEM HEALTH by Jon Hawkings & UNDERSTANDING BEHAVIOR CHANGES TOWARDS DISASTER PREPAREDNESS, AND APPLICATION OF THE INTEGRATED THEORIES AND MODELS by Chenyi Ma. Video
Collaborators
"… a new generation of students with tools to address the ‘wicked problems’ arising from the complex relationship among human, animal, and environmental health - a relationship that is increasingly disrupted by climate change."
– Jenni Punt, Penn Vet
