International One Health Symposium — Save the Dates: April 21 – 23, 2024

"International Symposium on One Health Research: Improving Food Security and Resilience."

Moody Gardens Resort and Convention Center
One Hope Boulevard, Galveston, Texas
Hosted by UTMB Chief Research Office and UTMB One Health

Email UTMBOneHealth@utmb.edu for registration information.

Symposium Rationale

Complex public health problems such as emerging infectious diseases, occupational health risks faced by agriculture workers, and ongoing concerns with food safety require multidisciplinary and inter-institutional approaches to protect the security, resiliency, and sustainability of the global food supply.

Our international Symposium Planning Committee of 22 diverse experts is designing a program to engage leaders in agricultural industry, public health, veterinary health, food safety, and environmental health institutions. The Symposium will be unique in that food productions experts will be centrally featured with the goal of identifying common ground from which new interdisciplinary research partnerships might arise and lead to better food resilence. We will feature lectures from the beef, dairy, egg & poultry, pork, aquaculture, fresh produce, and processed food industries. Other research topics will include emerging infectious diseases (viral, bacterial, and other), and the evironmentalal, social, and public communication factors that impact Food Security.  We will particularly highlight successful One Health mitigation approaches to Food Security problems. We will also feature a poster competition with monetary awards.

Symposium Objectives

  • To promote a transdisciplinary, 'One Health' research approach focusing on food security in tackling complex problems that plague food production, human (worker and consumer) health, animal health, and environmental health.
  • To share research knowledge regarding complex problems affecting food security and testing potential solutions concerning these complex problems
  • To build community and new collaborations between diverse professionals and their numerous institutions that work in the area of food safety, recognizing that food security cannot be addressed by a single organizational entity.
  • To recognize and promote excellence among junior professionals working in research areas amenable to One Health approaches.

International One Health Symposium Planning Committee Members

Mark R. Ackermann, DVM, PhD, DACVP
Center Director, USDA/ARS-National Animal Disease Center, Ames, Iowa, USA

Dennis A. Bente, DVM, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Microbiology & Immunology, UTMB, Galveston, TX, USA

Mandy A. Carr-Johnson, PhD
Sr. Executive Director, Scientific Affairs, National Cattlemen's Beef Association, Littleton, Colorado, USA

Matthew Dacso, MD, MSc, FACP
Chair ad interim, Department of Global Health and Emerging Diseases, UTMB, Galveston, TX, USA

David I. Douphrate, PhD, MPT, MBA, CPE, CSP
Associate Professor, Depart of Environmental & Occupational Health, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA

Heather Fowler, VMD PhD MPH DACVPM PMP
Director of Producer and Public Health, National Pork Board, Clive, IA, USA

Kathleen F. Gensheimer, MD, MPH, FIDSA
One Health Initiative Advisory Board, College Park, MD, USA

Gregory C. Gray, MD, MPH, FIDSA
Robert E. Shope, MD, Professor in Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Departments of Internal Medicine (Infectious Diseases), Microbiology and Immunology, and Global Health & Emerging Diseases, UTMB, Galveston, TX, USA

Denise L. B. Heard, DVM, MAM, ACPV
Vice President, Research Programs, U.S. Poultry & Egg Association, Tucker, GA,USA

Gustavo Hernandez Vidal, DVM, MSc, PhD
Dean and Professor, Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon, Escobedo, Nuevo Leon, Mexico

Galaxia A. Cortés Hinojosa, MV, MSc, PhD, CertAqVet, DACVM
Assistant Professor, Escuela de Medicina Veterinaria, Pontificia Universidad, Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile

Guy H. Loneragan, BVSc, PhD
Dean and Professor, School of Veterinary Medicine, Texas Tech University, Amarillo, TX, USA

Susan McLellan, MD MPH
Professor, Department of Medicine, UTMB, Galveston, TX, USA

Hung Nguyen-Viet, MSc, DVM
Lead, CGIAR Initiative on One Health, International Livestock Research Institute|ilri.org, Nairobi, Kenya

Juergen A. Richt, DVM, PhD
Regents and University Distinguished Professor, College of Veterinary Medicine, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, USA

Steven C. Ricke, MS. PhD
Director – Meat Science and Animal Biologics Discovery (MSABD) Program Professor, Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences, University of Wisconsin – Madison, Madison, WI, USA

Anabel Rodriguez, PhD, MPH
Assistant Professor, Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Texas, San Antonio, TX, USA

James A. Roth, DVM, PhD
Distinguished Professor, College of Veterinary Medicine, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA

Linda J. Saif, MS, PhD
Distinguished University Professor, Ohio State University, Wooster, Ohio, USA

Teck Hock Toh, MBBS, FRCPCH
Professor, Faculty of Medicine, SEGi University, Sibu, Sarawak, Malaysia

Montse Torremorell, DVM, PhD
Professor and interim chair & Chair College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, USA

Batsukh Zayat, DVM, PhD, ScD
Professor, Institute of Veterinary Medicine, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

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