In the fight against human health threats, veterinarians play a vital role.
From disease surveillance to food safety, UMN alumni and students are building a healthier world.
- Issue:Tags:Published:Photo(s) by:Kristen Clark, Jessi Coryell, Megin Nichols, and Zach Bisconti
The health of humans and animals has been intertwined for thousands of years. We share space, we share food and water, and we share disease. In fact, animal diseases are known to be the origin of many human diseases, such as measles and influenza.
The impact of that connection is the foundation for the field of veterinary public health, which focuses on protecting and improving human health by applying contributions from veterinary science. It’s a field that often blends into the background of our daily routines but is at the forefront of many policies and systems that safeguard our health.
“Public health is everywhere,” says Jeff Bender, a University of Minnesota (UMN) professor in the School of Public Health and adjunct professor for the College of Veterinary Medicine. “It drives and shapes translational medicine, food safety, vaccine development, mental health treatments, infectious disease responses, animal welfare practices and much more.”
Public health embodies the concept of One Health—an approach that recognizes people, animals, and the environment are interconnected—and encourages practitioners to see a bigger picture.
“At its core, public health is about preparing clinicians to think more about the population level rather than an individual level,” Bender says. “That means looking at systems involving people, animals, and environments.”
The impact of veterinary public health reaches further into everyday life than many may expect. For example, it guides how people safely interact with animals, such as tending to backyard chicken flocks, visiting petting zoos or participating in animal therapy programs.
Public health veterinarians are also on the front lines of disease outbreaks, such as New World screwworm, a deadly parasite that has been detected in the U.S. for the first time since it was considered eradicated in the 1960s. Or the recent outbreak of hantavirus—which is typically transmitted by inhaling particles from the feces, urine or saliva of infected rodents—tied to a cruise ship that put health authorities on alert across the globe.
They weigh in on trends such as people with drug-seeking behavior pursuing medications used in veterinary care, such as sedatives like ketamine and medetomidine. They respond to mental health situations involving animal hoarding. They develop emergency preparedness plans for disasters such as floods and fires that account for the presence and needs of animals.
Public health veterinarians are solving complex problems at a systems level to build a healthier future for animals, people, and the planet.
Meet UMN alumni and students who are choosing to make an impact in this field:
Supporting research to create a healthier future
Jessi Coryell’s work keeping laboratory animals healthy is helping advance the development of medical devices that improve—and save—human lives
While you won’t find her in a typical clinic setting, the work that veterinarian Jessi Coryell does every day has an impact not only on the health of the animals she cares for but also helps create a brighter future for people who rely on medical devices.
For the past four years, Coryell, ’21 DVM, ’24 MPH, has worked at Medtronic in preclinical medical device research within its physiological research laboratories, which test the performance and safety of devices before their use in humans, often using animal models.
As an attending veterinarian for its animal care program, she oversees the laboratory animals—primarily pigs and sheep— and ensures compliance with federal and other regulatory standards governing their care.
“It's a big responsibility, but one that I'm super proud of as a veterinarian,” she says. “It’s an honor to be able to give these animals the best life that we can while they're serving such a tremendous purpose.”
While a lifelong love of animals helped fuel Coryell’s pursuit of a veterinary degree, an undergraduate job caring for animals in a University of Minnesota laboratory planted the seed for a career that bridges human and animal medicine.
Operating at the intersection of human and animal health
While pursuing her Master of Public Health after earning a veterinary degree, Kristen Clark’s capstone project created her first of several One Health jobs that have since made an impact across multiple Midwest states.
In the summer of 2013, Kristen Clark, ’12 MPH, was a couple of months into a new role with the Iowa Department of Public Health when people across the state were suddenly developing chronic gastrointestinal symptoms. The people didn’t live in one particular area and the ailments spanned all age groups.
“We were totally stumped trying to figure out what was making people sick. Some of these people had been very sick for months,” Clark says.
On a whim, one of the laboratory technicians tested a sample for a parasite called cyclospora, which can infect the small intestine. The discovery unveiled a multistate outbreak tied to two chain restaurants. Clark and her colleagues jumped into action, working with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and multiple state health departments to prevent more people from ingesting the parasite.
“We were able to get people the medication they needed to get better. Then, in collaboration with our partners, we were able to do the traceback investigation to get the food off the tables. That cemented that I wanted to work in public health,” Clark says.
From DVM to the CDC
A conversation about a livestock virus led Megin Nichols to pursue veterinary medicine and public health. Now she helps track some of the nation's most significant disease threats at the CDC.
On a hot spring day in Albuquerque in 2004, Megin Nichols, ’08 MPH, was shearing sheep. It was an experience she didn’t expect to change the trajectory of her career.
Nichols was in her final year of earning a bachelor’s degree in animal science at New Mexico State University when shearing gave way to a discussion about the orf virus, which causes blisters to form around sheeps’ mouths. In people, who can contract the virus from animals, orf looks very similar to smallpox or Mpox.
Nichols knew she wanted to become a veterinarian, but she also wanted to expand her work beyond individual animals and their owners.
“These diseases that spread between animals and humans can impact the security of our food supply and even cause reemergences of previously eradicated viruses. I thought maybe this is how I expand my career,” she says.
The many sides of veterinary public health
From wildlife conservation to military service, a dual degree in veterinary medicine and public health opens doors for two Cornell students.
Veterinarians do far more than treat pets. They track disease outbreaks, inspect food systems, respond to natural disasters and work on the front lines of the connection between human and animal health.
For a growing number of them, the credential that opens those doors is a dual degree: Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and Master of Public Health. Cornell DVM students Zachary Bisconti and Jake Sarno are earning their MPH through the University of Minnesota’s School of Public Health while still in veterinary school.
“Doing an MPH alongside the DVM program was a good way to be able to work with multiple species through veterinary medicine, study many different aspects of biology, and at the same time see how it fits into the broader context of public health,” says Sarno, who wants to pursue biomedical research across both human and animal populations.
Bisconti, from the Boston area, had long wanted to work with free-ranging wildlife, and prospective state wildlife veterinarians kept telling him that an MPH in Veterinary Public Health was essential. The two roommates discovered the MPH program through a recommendation from a fellow Cornell student.
Change the world with a career in veterinary public health
Training in veterinary public health opens up career paths beyond traditional clinical practice, with opportunities to work in industry, government and nonprofit positions.
Interested in becoming a public health veterinarian? Join more than 150 students from the University of Minnesota (UMN) College of Veterinary Medicine and other qualifying veterinary schools pursuing an MPH through the UMN School of Public Health.
The program is tailored to students who want to work at the interface of human wellness and animal health, spanning agriculture, food systems, emerging infectious diseases, ecosystem health, and global health implications. It is also designed so that both degrees can be earned in four years. Students have five years from the start of their first MPH course to complete their degree.
“With the number and scope of grand challenges we face, we need more One Health-focused individuals,” Bender says. “The addition of public health training helps build that multi- and trans-disciplinary thinking. The future is full of opportunities for those seeking careers in the veterinary public health field.”
Take the next step and join thousands of veterinary professionals in forging a healthier future for people, animals, and the world they share. Visit the MPH/DVM webpage for more information.
