College of Behavioral, Social and Health Sciences to Develop Curriculum for Clemson’s Interdisciplinary One Health Initiative

January 22, 2025January 22, 2025

The College of Behavioral, Social, and Health Sciences (CBSHS) will lead curriculum development for Clemson University’s collaborative One Health initiative, starting with a new strategic hire within the Department of Science of public health.

“In 2021, we began developing a One Health initiative at CBSHS through multidisciplinary research and outreach activities. Using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s One Health model that “recognizes the interconnectedness between people, animals, plants, and their shared environment,” we began to integrate this work into our Building Healthy Communities initiative. said CBSHS Dean Leslie Hossfeld. “In doing so, we brought together key researchers from CBSHS and partnered with the existing One Health collective led by Dr. Jeri Jones of CAFLS. Through strategic investments, we recently hired Dr. Lídia Gonzalez, a tenure-track public health researcher dedicated to One Health. She will begin working closely with the Harvey S. Peeler Jr. College of Veterinary Medicine and CBSHS centers and institutes, particularly the Center for Public Health Modeling and Response, in August of this year.

Lídia Gonzalez will join CBSHS as a One Health assistant professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences. In her role, Gonzalez will develop and teach interdisciplinary undergraduate and graduate courses on the interconnections between humans, animals, plants and ecosystems. Her work will enhance collaborations across the University to optimize human, animal and environmental health outcomes and advance the mission and vision of CBSHS and One Health.

Led by Jeryl Jones, professor emeritus in the Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences in the College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences (CAFLS), the One Health Research Group began in 2020 to facilitate and promote collaborations interdisciplinary in the human, animal and environmental health fields.

Currently, Lior Rennert, director of the Center for Public Health Modeling and Response (CPHMR) and associate dean of health sciences at CBSHS, is co-lead of the One Health research group alongside Mike Neault, state veterinarian and director from Clemson Livestock Poultry Health. in CAFLS, and Debora Rodrigues, chair of the Department of Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences in the College of Engineering, Computer Science and Applied Sciences.

In collaboration with CPHMR, One Health researchers at the university’s colleges are screening wastewater for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), particularly H5N1 strains, on cattle farms throughout South Carolina. Additionally, CBSHS aims to lead large-scale collaborative projects and develop grants across the University. Through this interdisciplinary approach – recognizing that the health of humans, domestic and wild animals, plants and the environment as a whole are interdependent – ​​and a One Health program dedicated to students, Clemson University will advance the research, education and health outcomes in South Carolina and beyond.

THE College of Behavioral, Social, and Health Sciences (CBSHS) was established in July 2016. CBSHS is a 21st century land-grant college that combines work in nine disciplines: communication; breastfeeding; parks, recreation and tourism management; political science; psychology; public health sciences; sociology, anthropology, and criminal justice – to further its mission to “build people and communities” in South Carolina and beyond.