Meet our keynote speakers, discussion panelists, and moderators for the One Health and Development for a World Under Pressure Symposium. Bringing rich and diverse knowledge and experience to the symposium, their collective expertise will allow for lively and engaging discussions around One Health and the future of our planet.
Take some time to familiarize yourself with the people who are shaping this year's event, and feel free to browse our upcoming panel sessions below:
For a more detailed breakdown of each day of the symposium, see our schedule-at-a-glance below:
| Monday, May 9, 2022 | Virtual | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Tuesday, May 10, 2022 | Virtual | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Wednesday, May 11, 2022 | Hybrid | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Keith Sumption | Chief Veterinary Officer of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (CVO-FAO), Leader of the Animal Health Programme (NSAH), Chief of the Joint Centre for Zoonoses and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) (CJWZ)
Keith Sumption has worked on disease ecology at the interaction of wildlife, domestic and the environment for more than 30 years, from initial studies on how disease can affect ecosystem balances (for his first degree in Ecology), through PhD studies on African Swine Fever in wild and domestic hosts in southern Africa, and more than 17 years of management of epizootic diseases (Foot-and-mouth disease, FMD) in the wildlife-domestic interface as Secretary for the European Commission for the Control of Foot-and-Mouth Disease (EuFMD) Commission based in FAO.
Since June 2020 he has been CVO for FAO and the Chief of FAO’s Centre for Zoonoses and AMR (CJWZ), and leader of FAO’s animal health service, and is the global lead for the One Health priority programme in FAO, one of FAO's twenty priority programmes within its new Strategic Framework.
John H. Amuasi | Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST)
Dr. Amuasi is a senior lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), where he is head of the Global Health Department of the School of Public Health.
Dr. Amuasi is also Group Leader of the Global Health and Infectious Diseases Research Group at the Kumasi Center for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine (KCCR), which hosts the Secretariat of the African Research Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases (ARNTD) which he spearheads.
He trained as a physician at KNUST and later graduated from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, USA, with post-graduate degrees terminating in a PhD in Health Research and Policy. He also served as head of the R&D Unit at the 1,200-bed Komfo Anokye teaching Hospital in Kumasi, Ghana for three years from 2007-2010.
Dr. Amuasi has consulted for several international organizations and is passionate about research that focuses on improving health systems, services and outcomes, including policy analyses using both primary and secondary data in low and middle-income countries.
His research currently involves field epidemiologic studies on malaria, snakebite and other neglected tropical diseases. Dr. Amuasi serves as an Executive Committee member of the African Coalition for Epidemic Research, Response and Training (ALERRT). Through ALERRT at KCCR, Dr. Amuasi is coordinating research on the clinical characterization of COVID-19 in Africa and is the PI for a number of studies on COVID-19 in Ghana, including some phase III clinical trials.
Dr. Amuasi serves and a technical advisor to a number of academic institutions, governments and global health bodies, including the WHO, Africa CDC, IPBES and the World Bank on a wide range of global health subjects. Dr. Amuasi also co-chairs the Lancet One Health Commission and is at the forefront of global efforts towards addressing emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases using a One Health approach.
Helena Chapman | NASA Headquarters | Washington, DC, United States
Helena Chapman serves as associate program manager for Health and air quality applications in the Applied Sciences Program of the NASA Earth Science Division. In her position, Helena helps manage a portfolio of health and air quality projects focused on public health applications. Her team aims to bridge connections between the Earth and health science communities.
Prior to NASA, Helena served as the AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow in the NASA Applied Sciences Program, focusing on diverse environmental health issues. As the One Health lead, she promoted the One Health concept, emphasizing the value of transdisciplinary health collaborations to investigate and mitigate health risks of humans, animals, and ecosystems.
Helena received her doctoral degree in Public Health (One Health) and master’s degree in Public Health (Epidemiology) from the University of Florida. She holds a medical degree from the Iberoamerican University in the Dominican Republic.
Website: Nasa Earth Science Applied Sciences - Helena Chapman
Thomas Gillespie | Emory University | Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Thomas Gillespie is a disease ecologist and conservation biologist recognized for his integrative approach to the conservation of biodiversity and mitigation of emerging infectious diseases. Gillespie was among the first to demonstrate that human impact on the environment can alter the dynamics of natural pathogens in wildlife and create opportunities for pathogens to jump between species. His efforts serve as demonstration projects of the One Health Approach and have guided international efforts to protect endangered species from human diseases and prevent future pandemics.
Gillespie is a Professor of Environmental Sciences and Environmental Health at Emory University. He co-directs the Gombe Ecosystem Health Project in Tanzania in collaboration with the Jane Goodall Institute and serves as Director of Infectious Disease Research at Centre Valbio in Madagascar. He is an external expert to the UN High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, a member of the IUCN/SSC, and a National Geographic Explorer.
Website: Emory University - Thomas Gillespie | Twitter: @BiodiversHealth | Instagram: Dr. Thomas Gillespie
Phaedra Henley | University of Global Health Equity (UGHE) | Rwanda
Dr. Phaedra Henley (PhD, M.Sc.) is an assistant professor and the chair of the Center for One Health at the University of Global Health Equity (UGHE) in Rwanda. Here, she oversees the development of its One Health research program, curriculum, and community engagement.
Previously, Dr. Henley worked as an assistant professor at Western University, Canada where she contributed to establishing, implementing, and teaching two new graduate programs in global health. Dr. Henley has a PhD in pathology, a master's in environment and sustainability, and a bachelor of medical sciences.
Her research experiences include conducting interdisciplinary, community-based participatory projects in Kenya, Rwanda and two First Nations in Canada.
Overview
Climate change will have dramatic yet differential impacts on humans, animals, and the environment. What are the inextricably linked animal, plant, and environmental outcomes of the impacts of climate change? How do these impacts vary globally and how can we leverage One Health to address these entanglements?
Travis Steffens | Moderator
Travis Steffens is an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Guelph.
He works to understand the risk factors associated with zoonotic/anthroponotic transmission among humans and their domestic animals, wildlife and their shared environment.
Panelists:
Alicia Davis | University of Glasgow | Glasgow, United Kingdom
Alicia Davis is a cultural anthropologist and lecturer in Global Health at the Institute of Health and Wellbeing (IHW) and Sociology in the School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Glasgow.
Alicia specializes in issues related to health and disease, environment, conservation, gender, livelihoods, and community-based impact-driven methods in East Africa.
Colleen Duncan | Colorado State University | Fort Collins, Colorado, United States
Colleen Duncan is an associate professor of Pathology in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology at Colorado State University.
Colleen is passionate about how the environment, particularly climate change, influences animal health.
She uses epidemiology and pathology to investigate disease in a wide range of domestic and wild animals.
Merritt Turetsky | University of Colorado | Boulder, Colorado, United States
Merritt Turetsky is the director of the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR) at the Universiy of Colorado Boulder. Dr. Turetsky has more than 20 years of experience working in boreal and arctic ecosystems. Her work contributes to theoretical predictions of ecosystem structure and function, but it also applies to regulation of carbon in a global change world.
Dr. Turetsky has provided leadership to the Permafrost Carbon Network, NASA's ABoVE campaign, and the recently formed Canadian Permafrost Network. She sits on the executive committees of several international research networks and was selected last year as a AAAS Leshner Science Engagement Fellow. She currently sits on the National Academies' Polar Research Board.
She is passionate about northern ecosystems and the people who depend on them. Through her research and teaching, she hopes to train the next generation of scientists in the interdisciplinary skills required to tackle ongoing challenges in the north related to food and water security, energy sustainability, carbon and greenhouse gas emissions, and landscape change.
Overview
We are living in an age of unprecedented anthropogenic global environmental change and seemingly omnipresent public and animal health challenges. These challenges are grand in scale and scope and addressing them at an individual level is not possible. Although action may seem overwhelming, there are many examples of successful One Health and Development initiatives around the globe.
Our panelists will present their stories of how they initiated positive change utilizing a One Health approach and the important lessons they have learned.
Katie Clow | Moderator
Katie Clow is an assistant professor in One Health in the Department of Population Medicine at the Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph and graduate program coordinator for the Collaborative Specialization in One Health.
Katie's research focuses on the ecology and epidemiology of vectors and vector-borne zoonoses, with a specific emphasis on the blacklegged tick and Lyme disease.
Panelists:
Sally Humphries | University of Guelph | Guelph, Ontario, Canada
Sally Humphries is professor emerita in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Guelph.
Dr. Humphries co-founded the Foundation for Participatory Research with Honduran Farmers (FIPAH).
Heather Murphy | University of Guelph | Guelph, Ontario, Canada
Heather Murphy is an associate professor, Tier II Canada Research Chair in One Health at the University of Guelph.
Dr. Murphy combines microbiology, engineering, risk assessment and epidemiology to better understand enteric pathogens and their transmission pathways in the environment. Murphy and her research team are working to quantify the burden of disease associated with enteric pathogens and to identify, evaluate and propose interventions to reduce disease.
Francisco Olea-Popelka | Western University | London, Ontario, Canada
Francisco Olea-Popelka is the Beryl Ivey Endowed Chair in One Health and associate professor at the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University.
Dr. Olea-Popelka’s research program focuses on evaluating factors impacting health at the intersection of humans, wildlife, and domestic species in different environments, globally. His main area of interest is mycobacterial infections and tuberculosis (TB) at the intersection of livestock, wildlife species, and humans (zoonotic TB).
Dominique Charron | International Development Research Centre (IDRC) | Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Dominique Charron is vice-president, programs and partnerships for the International Development Research Centre (IDRC).
Prior to this role, Dominique was the director of IDRC’s Agriculture and Environment program. She supervised research focused on increasing agricultural productivity and food security, reducing vulnerability to climate change, and protecting the public against infectious diseases and non-communicable diseases.
Dominique joined the Centre in 2006 as head of the Ecosystems and Human Health program. Previously, she managed research programs at the Public Health Agency of Canada. She holds a PhD in epidemiology and a doctor of veterinary medicine from the University of Guelph.
