https://www.utmb.edu/one-health/events/international-one-health-symposium/welcome-symposium

Symposium Rationale

Complex public health problems such as emerging infectious diseases, occupational health risks faced by agriculture workers, and ongoing concerns with food safety require multidisciplinary and inter-institutional approaches to protect the security, resiliency, and sustainability of the global food supply.

Our international Symposium Planning Committee of 22 diverse experts is designing a program to engage leaders in agricultural industry, public health, veterinary health, food safety, and environmental health institutions. The Symposium will be unique in that food productions experts will be centrally featured with the goal of identifying common ground from which new interdisciplinary research partnerships might arise and lead to better food resilience. We will feature lectures from the beef, dairy, egg & poultry, pork, aquaculture, fresh produce, and processed food industries. Other research topics will include emerging infectious diseases (viral, bacterial, and other), and the environmental, social, and public communication factors that impact Food Security.  We will particularly highlight successful One Health mitigation approaches to Food Security problems. We will also feature a poster competition with monetary awards.

Symposium Objectives

• To promote a transdisciplinary, 'One Health' research approach focusing on food security in tackling complex problems that plague food production, human (worker and consumer) health, animal health, and environmental health.

• To share research knowledge regarding complex problems affecting food security and testing potential solutions concerning these complex problems

• To build community and new collaborations between diverse professionals and their numerous institutions that work in the area of food safety, recognizing that food security cannot be addressed by a single organizational entity.

• To recognize and promote excellence among junior professionals working in research areas amenable to One Health approaches.