The goal of this year’s Tufts Environmental Literacy Institute (TELI) workshop is to introduce the concept of One Health to faculty members from Tufts and other universities in the  RESPOND  group, to create a networking opportunity, and to share expertise in the area of One Health.

One Health is the collaborative effort of multiple disciplines – working locally, nationally, and internationally – to attain optimal health for people, animals and our environmental ecosystems by bringing together relevant partnerships such as physicians, veterinarians, and public health officials with ecologists, environmental engineers, and environmental planners. This definition acknowledges that significant, long-standing barriers to collaboration among health professionals and other disciplines have limited our understanding of etiology and likewise constrained the development of balanced, effective solutions to One Health problems.

The workshop’s overarching goal is to promote “One Health Thinking” among participants to actively convey One Health principles through their teaching. Communication of the impacts of environmental issues across communities is also a major component of this year’s TELI.