Academic, health care, industry, wildlife, agriculture, veterinary, environmental health, public health, community organizations and government representatives from across the Commonwealth recently took part in the second annual meeting of the Pennsylvania One Health Consortium (PAOHC), a coalition of experts focused on improving health and well-being for all Pennsylvanians.
Convened by the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health, consortium coordinating institution, the meeting was held June 21-23 in Pittsburgh.
“One Health links people, animals, plants and ecosystems,” said Maureen Lichtveld, MD, MPH, dean of the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health, the consortium’s coordinating institution since 2024. “That linkage is central to our mission and to the mission of our consortium and its partners.”
The PAOHC builds off the One Health Task Force that was first launched in 2018 by Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture. In addition to the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health, PAOHC partner educational institutions include the University of Pennsylvania and Penn State, Delaware Valley, Temple, Carnegie Mellon and Villanova Universities.
PAOHC’s mission is to advance One Health in Pennsylvania by building cross-sector partnerships that support research, education, and community engagement. These efforts strengthen science, practice, and policy to improve health for people, animals, plants, and ecosystems.
The Consortium efforts are focused on three pillars: Research, Education, and Community engagement. Each of these pillars inform policy in an integrated fashion.
Aligned with the theme of the second annual meeting, "One Health in Action: From Data to Decisions," speakers and over 200 meeting attendees agreed that information sharing and collaboration among academic, government, nonprofit and academic sectors—the kind exemplified by the PAOHC—is key to facing threats to human, animal and ecosystem health.
“Collaboration can be clumsy, but it is necessary if we are to be ready to solve problems and face the next pandemic,” epidemiologist Harris Pastides, PhD, MPH, president emeritus of the University of South Carolina, said in his keynote address. “But I say ‘Bravo’ to Pennsylvania and this consortium, for you are in the vanguard.”
PAOHC leadership includes
- Maureen Lichtveld, MD, MPH, executive director
- Suresh Kuchipudi, PhD, MVSc, MBA, scientific director
- James Holt, VMD, director of operations
- Firoz Abdoel Wahid, MD, PhD, MPH. associate director
Standing Committees
- Suresh Kuchipudi, PhD, MVSc, MBA, professor and chair, Pitt Public Health Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, and Val Beasley, DVM, PhD, Penn State emeritus professor of veterinary, wildlife and ecological toxicology, research.
- Jennifer Punt, VMD, PhD, associate dean for One Health, University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, and Justin Brown, DVM, PhD, associate teaching professor, Penn State Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, spearheading the education.
- Sarah States, PhD, director of research and science education at Pittsburgh’s Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, and Danielle Tufts, PhD, Pitt Public Health assistant professor of infectious diseases and microbiology, leading the community engagement.
2026 Meeting Recap: Key Themes
- Partnership & Trust: Foundational to all progress; must include mutual respect, engagement and empowerment of communities
- Urgency & Action: Now is the time to move, scale and connect the pieces
- Leadership at Every Level: From institutional champions to students to community members; everyone has a role
- One Health Infrastructure: Transdisciplinary, cross-sector collaboration connecting humans, animals and ecosystems
- Building in Resilience: Establish relationships and systems before a crisis
- Science Driving Policy: Political prowess matters; progress requires bringing data and innovation to legislators and the public
A packed agenda featured 33 speakers from government, academia, public health, food safety advocacy organizations and agribusiness who presented at the 2026 meeting, an increase of more than 50% over 2025. Consortium growth overall is shown in the graphic below.
Conference panels
- Predictive Modeling and Artificial Intelligence
- Human Health
- Animal Health
- Recall Case Study
- Plant and Ecosystem Health
- Antimicrobial Resistance
- Education and Community Engagement
Looking to the Future
PAOHC will be funding transdisciplinary seed projects with a goal of publishing request-for-proposals by the close of 2026.
All proposals must demonstrate meaningful collaboration. Eligible structures include:
- Cross-school collaborations within a single institution (e.g., School of Medicine + School of Public Health + College of Veterinary Medicine)
- Multi-institutional partnerships spanning two or more consortium member institutions
- Inclusion of community organizations as formal partners (required for Community Engagement & Policy focus area)
“I want to sincerely thank the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health and all of our partners for the vital role you play—and will continue to play—in protecting public health, the environment, animal health, and the food supply,” Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding, MS, said. He was awarded the Consortium’s “One health champion” award.
Helen Farnham, MPH candidate in the Department of Epidemiology, left, received a $500 as first prize in the student poster session
(L-R) Russell Redding, MS, Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary; Joan Gabel, JD, University of Pittsburgh Chancellor; Patricia Moore-Pastides, MPH; Harris Pastides, PhD, MPH, MPhil, keynote speaker; Maureen Lichtveld, MD, MPH, Pitt Public Health Dean
The conference was sponsored by the Cherey One Health Foundation, Labcorp, One Health Global Alliance, Novogene, Qiagen, Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture and SR Scientific Reference Laboratories.
Conference sponsors and participants (L-R) Alex Zingher, Wondwossen Gebreyes, Tequam Worku, Michelle Grundahl, William Johnson, Maureen Lichtveld, Bi Linton, James McGee, Suresh Kuchipudi, Danielle Kobi and Ravi Reddy.
-Michele Dula Baum