More than 700 prominent physicians, veterinarians, researchers, as well as communications and social science scholars worldwide have endorsed the action-oriented effort. There is a critical, global need for a One World, One Health concept stemming in part from divisions between human medical and veterinary medicine practitioners, food transport and security systems, and environmental challenges, which have hampered care delivery, educational programs, communication campaigns, and public health systems.
Michigan State University will help lead to bridge these divides. Our aim is knowledge-based, collaborative advocacy for optimal health through an integrated approach that will improve upon current health disparities and inequities.
The One Health global strategy provides a road map for understanding and administering a practical, hands-on One Health approach. It invites participation in multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary collaborations in order to provide a better quality of life worldwide.
An Overview of MSU’s Canadian Studies Center One Health Initiative 2014 - 2020
Background:
The Canadian Studies Center (CSC) developed the One Health Initiative as a model exchange program for creating a global network of early-career problem solvers. The One Health framework invites scholars from multiple disciplines to provide perspective, ask questions, and develop a wide range of possible solutions for health-based issues. Today’s practice of worldwide trade and travel as well as frequent interaction of human, animal and environment requires networks of expertise to prevent and manage disease.
Activity: The CSC noted Canada’s support of One Health research when the One Health World Commission visited International Studies and Programs as a guest speaker. Following the visit, the CSC began hosting a One Health Networking Event in 2014 with the purpose of learning about faculty interest on campus. Hosting this event every other year, the center invited a leading scholar from a Canadian institution and a U.S. practitioner to discuss their perspective of One Health and where resources were being devoted to increase related research and teaching exchanges.
Implemented in 2017, the One HEALtH Challenge was developed as a cross border partnership between three universities with multi-national enrollment. With the help of interested faculty, student recruitment across a wide disciplinary spectrum built a volunteer cohort interested in problem solving, network building, and improving health across the human, environment, and animal sectors. Graduate students with faculty mentors facilitated the work of cross-border, undergraduate teams while they studied a global health case study, such as anti-microbial resistance (2017) and water scarcity (2018).
The OH Networking Event and Challenge have become biannual and have sparked additional OH activity as noted on an enclosed timeline narrative. MSU faculty and students have participated in the OH Leadership Experience at the University of Saskatchewan, a program largely supported by Zoetis, the world’s largest animal health and vaccine corporation. The OH Challenge has been presented as a cross border educational exchange at professional conferences in the U.S. and in Canada.
The Center continues to work with MSU’s Institute for Global Health (IGH) in the College of Osteopathic Medicine and College of Veterinary Medicine to advance a One Health education and training initiative across our campus and in collaboration with domestic and international partners. Aside from existing One Health focused Education Abroad opportunities, a multidisciplinary graduate program and certificate program is being spearheaded by IGH and larger grant funding proposals are in the works to further a One Health agenda. CVM has further integrated One Health into their required curriculum.
The One Health Initiative has maintained a momentum directed at teaching and training activities as well as research relative to the interests of larger funding organizations in both the public and private sectors. Given this growing network, the Canadian Studies Center further recognizes the One Health priority as a significant unifier among educators and practitioners as well as an entry point for research and teaching partnerships.
March 13, 2020 - MSU Experts recently came together to talk about COVID-19 from their perspective. Participating panelists are noted below along with a summary of their remarks and the ZOOM meeting video. The program was hosted by MSU's Canadian Studies Center and Global Health Studies. (Panelist remarks do not reflect the perspective of the university or hosting campus units).
Summary of Panel Discussion (pdf.)
View the recorded ZOOM meeting at these links.
Part 1
Elizabeth Alexander, MD, MS, Emeritus Professor, MSU Department of Family Medicine, College of Human Medicine and Senior Advisor to the Provost
Dalen Agnew, DVM, PhD, DACVP, Associate Professor and chairperson of the MSU’s Dept. of Pathobiology and Diagnostic Investigation in the College of Veterinary Medicine.
Part 2
Amy Keenum, DO, PHARMD, Board-Certified Physician, MSU Family Medicine and Chair, Dept. of Family and Community Medicine, MSU College of Osteopathic Medicine
Peter Gulick, DO, FACP, FIDSA, FACOI, Professor of Medicine at MSU, College of Osteopathic Medicine, Adjunct faculty in Human Medicine and Nursing
Christopher Daniel, MA, Director for International Health and Safety, MSU International Studies and Programs.
Part 3
Krista McCallum Beatty, PhD, Director, MSU Office for International Students and Scholars
Charles Ballard, PhD, Professor of Economics in the College of Social Science at MSU, State of the State Director at Institute for Public Policy and Social Research
Part 4
Jade Mitchell, PhD, Associate Professor of Bio Systems and Agricultural Engineering at MSU
Panel Discussion – Questions and Answers
Coronaviruses can cause illness ranging from a common cold to more severe disease such as acute respiratory syndrome, which can be deadly for persons were are elderly or have chronic health conditions. The World Health Organization (WHO) and its worldwide community partners are closely monitoring the situation and focusing on minimizing further spread and impact of the virus. In the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is implementing its pandemic preparedness and response plans to prepare communities for responding to the local spread of the virus.
Referred to as COVID-19, the current viral spread has followed a One Health scenario – beginning in a seafood and animal market – and soon transmitted from person-to-person. Given our global mobility and supply chain, COVID-19 has quickly become a pandemic.
MSU has convened an expert panel of faculty and administrators to provide information and insight, from their perspectives, on the new virus, its broader impact, and potential precautions by the individual, institution, and community.
Elizabeth Alexander, MD, MS is an Emeritus Professor in the Department of Family Medicine in the College of Human Medicine at MSU. Dr. Alexander is also the chairperson of the Risk and Security Assessment Committee. The committee is comprised of senior university officials who work with the Office of International Health and Safety to minimize the impact of risks affecting security, safety, and health of Michigan State University students and employees traveling internationally. Dr. Alexander is the former University Physician at MSU.
Dalen Agnew, DVM, PhD, DACVP is an Associate Professor and the chairperson of the department of Pathobiology and Diagnostic Investigation in the College of Veterinary Medicine at MSU. Dr. Agnew’s research focuses on understanding the reproductive pathology of free-ranging and captive wildlife as well as developing pathology tools and protocols that are used throughout the world.
Amy Keenum, DO, PHARMD is a board-certified family medicine physician who provides care to the public at Michigan State University Family Medicine in East Lansing. Dr. Keenum is also the chairperson of the Department of Family and Community Medicine in the College of Osteopathic Medicine at MSU. Over the course of her 30-year career as a physician, she practiced as a rural primary care physician in Clinton, Tennessee, worked at the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville, Tennessee and the Keweenaw Memorial Medical Center, in Laurium, Michigan.
Peter Gulick, DO, FACP, FIDSA, FACOI is a Professor of Medicine at MSU, College of Osteopathic Medicine, and serves as adjunct faculty in the College of Human Medicine and the College of Nursing. Dr. Gulick is also the director of the MSU HIV/Hepatitis Clinic, where his primary area of interest is HIV therapy, as well as hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and co-infection therapy. On the local level, he serves on the Infection Control Committees in the hospitals and on the advisory boards for the school system. He is an educational advisor to a number of pharmaceutical companies as well as a medical advisor in the legal system.
Christopher Daniel, MA is the Director for International Health and Safety at MSU. In this role, he oversees international preparedness and response, working with a broad range of university partners and stakeholders to help keep MSU travelers abroad safe and healthy. Over the past 20 years, Chris has worked globally coordinating with NGOs, governments and multi-lateral organizations designing and leading public service and humanitarian programs. During the Ebola outbreak, Chris conducted safety and security assessments and training for humanitarian responders in Central African Republic, Chad and Mali and assisted with Ebola Virus Disease response strategy and preparedness programs for US based nonprofit organizations working in West Africa.
Krista McCallum Beatty, PhD is the Director for the Office for International Students and Scholars at MSU. Dr. Beatty has worked in international student and scholar services for over twenty years, previously serving as a director at Ohio University and Iowa State University. In her role, Krista provides leadership for one of the nation’s largest and most prominent offices serving international students, scholars and their families.
Jade Mitchell, PhD is an Associate Professor of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering at MSU. Her research focuses on human health risk analysis to address risks associated with chemical and microbial stressors in multimedia environments. Dr. Mitchell is also the collaborating principal investigator in the Center for Advancing Microbial Risk Assessment (CAMRA), where her work includes characterizing the risks associated with human exposures to pathogenic agents in environmental media (i.e. air, water and soil). Using quantitative microbial risk assessment, her work informs policy and risk management decisions about the appropriate level of concern for public health and public safety related to bio-defense, food safety and water quality.
Charles Ballard, PhD is a Professor of Economics in the College of Social Science at MSU. Dr. Ballard is also the State of the State Director at Institute for Public Policy and Social Research, where his research focus is income inequality and distribution, tax policy, and public economics.
Global Health Studies, Institute for Global Health (IGH) and Canadian Studies Center (CSC), International Studies and Programs
• Global Health Studies has recently enrolled its first class within the online Graduate Certificate and will soon begin the Master of Science in Global Health. Both programs are built upon a One-Health framework and engage faculty and students from across the campus and the globe in both online class instruction and optional education abroad. For more information, please visit globalhealth.msu.edu.
Lead: Rebecca Malouin, PhD, MPH, MS, Director of Research and Global Health Studies, Institute for Global Health, College of Osteopathic Medicine, Michigan State University
• The Canadian Studies Center has prioritized One Health as a research and teaching platform for the broader MSU community over the last several years. Links between MSU and Canadian universities have led to interdisciplinary research, teaching, and treatment of a broad range of problems related to human, animal and environmental health.
Lead: AnnMarie Schneider, M.S., Director, Canadian Studies Center, International Studies and Programs and Director for Program Planning and Development for the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research, College of Social Science
For up-to-date information: The World Health Organization (WHO), Center for Disease Control (CDC), Michigan State University’s Information Page (MSU) and keepworking.msu.edu.
Special thanks to Canadian Studies Center Staff for the support of, and attention to making this important discussion happen: Cecilia Flores, Administrative Assistant to the Center; Charifa Hejase, College of Engineering Ph.D. Candidate 2020, Vince Nguyen, Economics 2020, and; Jordan Marcero, College of Communication Arts and Sciences 2020.
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