MSU offers new One Health graduate programs
STARKVILLE — Mississippi State University will offer two new graduate programs in One Health beginning this fall, the College of Veterinary Medicine said. The college is launching a Master of Science with two tracks and a four-course certificate aimed at professionals, in collaboration with the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the College of Forest Resources.
One Health is an interdisciplinary approach that recognizes connections among animal, human and environmental health and promotes collaboration across medicine, veterinary science, environmental science and related fields to detect, prevent and respond to health threats, the university said.
“One Health is a viewpoint. It’s a lens that we are trying to help our students see through so they can be better leaders for the future,” said Dr. Nicole Ashpole, director of One Health and an associate professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine. Ashpole, an expert in neuroscience and toxicology who joined MSU last year, helped lead an interdisciplinary team to build the new curricula.
The master’s program includes a non-thesis track designed for completion in one year with courses in data science and epidemiology, disease management, systems thinking, policy and leadership. A thesis track will be available for students pursuing larger research projects under One Health faculty, and the short certificate will be offered through MSU’s Center for Distance Education.
The programs build on MSU’s existing Tropical Veterinary and One Health summer collaboration with Makerere University in Uganda, founded by longtime College of Veterinary Medicine professor Dr. Margaret Khaitsa and now led in the field by Dr. Stephen Reichley. “We bring not only veterinary students. We also bring students from other disciplines,” Khaitsa said of the program.
Khaitsa was named to the One Health High-Level Expert Panel in 2021. Grounded in MSU’s land-grant mission, the Division of Agriculture, Forestry, and Veterinary Medicine said it aims to improve health and resilience for people, animals and the environment. For more information, visit www.vetmed.msstate.edu/onehealth.
