UAF hosting One Health meeting

March 21, 2019

Marmian Grimes

Nearly 200 scientists, community leaders and policymakers will gather at the University of Alaska Fairbanks this weekend for two days of discussions about human, animal and environmental health.

The meeting—One Health, One Future—will kick off at 1 p.m. Friday, March 22, in the Wood Center ballroom on the Fairbanks campus.

Tom Hennessy, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s field station for infectious diseases in Anchorage, will give an opening keynote address starting at 1:30 p.m. Hennessy will speak about the results of a recent workshop to develop a priority list for addressing zoonotic diseases in Alaska. Zoonotic diseases are diseases that can be passed from animals to humans, including things like rabies, Lyme disease and avian influenza.

Other presentations throughout the day will focus on broad One Health themes, such as food safety and security, climate change and One Health, and work to promote well-being among youths in Alaska Native communities.

Participants will reconvene at 9 a.m. Saturday, March 23, in the Wood Center ballroom for a recap of Friday’s presentations, followed by breakout sessions to define next steps for One Health in Alaska.

One Health is a research and policy perspective that recognizes that human, environmental and animal health are interconnected. The primary goal of the One Health, One Future meeting is to develop teams to pursue long-term funding for One Health research, education and outreach programs.

A full agenda for the meeting, as well as additional information on the speakers, is available at http://bit.ly/uafonehealth2019. The conference will also be available via webcast at http://media.uaf.edu.

ADDITIONAL CONTACTS:
Carla Browning, 907-474-7778, cjbrowning@alaska.edu. Arleigh Reynolds, 907-474-1928, ajreynolds@alaska.edu.