College of Behavioral, Social and Health Sciences to build curriculum for Clemson’s interdisciplinary One Health initiative

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

“In 2021, we began developing a One Health initiative in CBSHS through multidisciplinary research and outreach. Using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s One Health model that ‘recognizes the interconnection between people, animals, plants and their shared environment,’ we began folding this work into our Building Healthy Communities initiative,” said Leslie Hossfeld, CBSHS dean. “In doing so, we brought together key researchers in CBSHS and partnered with the existing One Health collaborative led by Dr. Jeri Jones in CAFLS. Through strategic investments, we recently hired Dr. Lídia Gonzalez, a tenure-track public health scholar 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 an assistant professor of One Health in the public health sciences department. 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 collborations across the University to optimize human, animal and environmental health outcomes and advance the mission and vision of CBSHS and One Health.

Under the leadership of Jeryl Jones, professor emerita 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 interdisciplinary collaborations in human, animal and environmental health.

Currently, Lior Rennert, director of the Center for Public Health Modeling and Response (CPHMR) and CBSHS associate dean of health sciences, serves as co-lead for the One Health Research Group alongside Mike Neault, state veterinarian and director of Clemson Livestock Poultry Health in CAFLS, and Debora Rodrigues, chair of the Department of Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences in the College of Engineering, Computing and Applied Sciences.

In collaboration with CPHMR, One Health researchers from Colleges across the University are screening wastewater for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), specifically H5N1 strains, in cattle farms throughout South Carolina. Additionally, CBSHS aims to lead large-scale collaborative projects and grant development across the University. Through this interdisciplinary approach – recognizing that the health of humans, domestic and wild animals, plants and the greater environment are interdependent – and a dedicated One Health curriculum for students, Clemson University will advance health research, education and outcomes across 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; nursing; parks, recreation and tourism management; political science; psychology; public health sciences; sociology, anthropology and criminal justice – to further its mission of “building people and communities” in South Carolina and beyond.