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This week (24 Jan) the second half of the One Health Exchange session focused in on patterns of tropical forest regeneration and their impacts on coastal gradients, and species interaction.  A discussion lead by Dr. Erin Stewart Lindquist PhD (Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences and Coordinator of Environmental Sustainability at Meredith College) centered mainly on her research at the Cabo Blanco Absolute Natural Reserve, located on the Pacific side of Costa Rica on the southern tip of the Nicoya Peninsula. Historically, much of Costa Rica’s forests were either over harvested or cleared for raising cattle and only 15% of the nation’s forests still remain.  The Cabo Blanco Absolute Natural Reserve was first instated in 1963 and thus serves as an excellent opportunity to study forest regeneration.  In a major publication co-authored by Gini Knight, Common Trees of Cabo Blanco Absolute Nature Reserve / Arboles Comunes de la Reserva Natural Absoluta Cabo Blanco...

One of the speakers this week was Dr. Peter Radtke, PhD and CEO of JustNeem . JustNeem is a corporation based in the Triangle that produces skin care products made from neem that is sourced from Mauritania, where they support neem planting and reforestation. The presentation explained the medical and environmental uses of neem, and the economic and social benefits of neem plantations. neem can survive temperatures up to 40 ° c and salinity up to a third of sea water, giving it the ability to grow in Sub Saharan Africa, and even desert countries like Saudi Arabia. This unique ability to survive in hostile environments makes it an ideal candidate for reforestation and dune stabilization, thus providing a source of livelihood in underdeveloped desert countries. The medicinal properties of neem come from its remarkable array of bioactive compounds. Dr. Radtke explained his realization of how this came to be – that all living things are in a constant fight for survival, and the defe...

This week we were privileged to hear from Cheryl Stroud, DVM, PhD, and Rear Admiral William Stokes, DVM, DACLAM, on their personal journeys to an awareness of One Health and on the history of One Health itself. Dr. Cheryl Stroud opened with a quote from Robert Virchow: “between animal and human medicine there are no dividing lines – nor should there be.” She went on to describe her experience of growing up on a hobby farm and becoming a veterinarian, but only realizing the importance of One Health as various members of her family dealt with undiagnosed zoonoses. She noted that the veterinarian’s oath includes “promotion of public health,” a commitment that leads directly to a One Health view. While specialization is important and has led to many advances in all areas of health, it is also crucial to maintain enough of a generalist view to be able to deal with or appropriately refer issues that would be outside a practitioner’s usual scope. Dr. Stroud also gave a bri...

The One Health Intellectual Exchange course is off and running! The first meeting of the semester, taking place on January 10, featured a panel of North Carolina One Health Collaborative Steering Committee Members and provided students with an overview of the One Health movement. After an introduction to the concept, course, and consortium by One Health Chair Dr. Cheryl Stroud, Dr. Chris Woods, Associate Professor in the Departments of Medicine and Pathology at Duke University, discussed what led him to work with One Health as well as his perspective on what One Health means. To paraphrase, One Health is a holistic approach to solving the world’s public health problems. Dr. Suzanne Kennedy-Stoskopf, Research Professor of Wildlife Infectious Disease in the Department of Clinical Sciences at the North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine, presented three photos of animals that weren’t quite normal and challenged us to identify what was going on. One that sti...