The director of Tufts One Health, junior John Ramatowski, explains what this interdisciplinary organization is all about:
What does the word “health” mean to you? How has your intended career path shaped this definition? It seems that we teach the interdisciplinary out of students as we progress through our educational system. Well, Tufts One Health is trying to change that. All of it.
One Health is the belief that human, animal, and environmental health are inextricably linked. We should no longer research and learn about these fields in a siloed manner. As our world becomes ever more connected, solving emerging health crises will require a holistic approach that crosses academic and international boundaries. One Health examples are all around us. In our community, Lyme disease, vermin control, and air pollution are three health concerns that require integrated solutions to produce effective and lasting change.
The field of One Health extends far beyond the realm of doctors, veterinarians, and ecologists. Public health professionals, lawmakers, engineers, sociologists, and business leaders all have an impact on our day to day lives, from the water we drink to the air we breathe. One Health looks beyond the immediate problem to identify the precipitating factor and determine the chain of events that led to the current issue. From there, we work backwards with these stakeholders to rectify the issue and prevent it from occurring again.
While this sounds logical and relatively straight forward, we do not practice this approach in most fields of medicine. We have learned to identify and solve problems within our field, often failing to recognize and remediate the source of said issue. Doctors help Lyme disease patients by prescribing three weeks of antibiotics and providing information about how to prevent future infections. This may provide a short term solution, but ultimately fails to reconcile the larger issue at hand.
Tufts One Health seeks to change this mentality. Founded in the fall of 2013, a dedicated group of students has been working to promote the concept of One Health at Tufts. Educating the undergraduate and graduate student populations and changing the nature of health learning have been hallmarks of the initiative. Our university is uniquely positioned to become the leader in the field of One Health. With a school of veterinary medicine, clinical medicine, dentistry, public health, nutrition, biomedical engineering, and law and diplomacy; collectively Tufts represents One Health.
To allow students to take full advantage of these resources, the One Health student team has proposed numerous changes to the institutional structure and curriculum. Primarily, we believe students should have the ability to enroll in classes outside of their affiliated school. Students should not be deprived of interdisciplinary learning merely because their school does not offer a course that exists elsewhere in the University.
A second goal of the student group concerns the establishment of a secondary One Health major on the undergraduate campus. In September, we submitted a proposal to the Clinical and Translational Science Institute at Tufts outlining the development and establishment of a secondary One Health major. This major would include courses in the field of Biology, Ecology, Public Health, Epidemiology, and Zoonotic Disease.
We are happy to report the University has been extremely responsive to the proposed changes and is actively working with the student team to meet these goals. One Health truly represents the future of all medical professions. If you are interested in learning more about One Health, please consider the newly developed “Introduction to One Health” course offered by the Community Health Department. To become involved with the One Health student team, please e-mail john.ramatowski@tufts.edu for more information.
John Ramatowski, ’16
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