Disease emergence in our modern world

One Health is rooted in understanding that the health and well being of people, domestic and wild animals, and plants are interconnected within our shared environments. Growing populations, changes in climate and land use, and increased international travel and trade are making it easier for disease to pass between animals and people.

Join UCalgary microbiogists and epidemiologists to explore antimicrobial resistance and zoonotic (from animals) disease outbreaks like the Zika virus and COVID-19. The panelists will delve into One Health — a transdisciplinary approach to complex challenges such as disease emergence, which is working to solve the health challenges arising from the intersection between people, animals and the environment.

Webinar | Tuesday, October 13, 1:30 p.m. MT

Dr. Joe Harrison, PhD 

Associate Professor (Microbiology), UCalgary and Canada Research Chair in Biofilm Microbiology and Genomics

Dr. Harrison is passionate about microbiology, genetics and biochemistry, and seeks to better understand chronic infectious diseases and to devise new ways to defeat them. He is also interested in understanding how antimicrobial resistance spreads in the environment, but especially in water. Harrison holds a CIHR Tier II Canada Research Chair in Biofilm Microbiology and Genomics. He is a member of the Snyder Institute for Chronic Diseases and is the chair of the Biofilm Research Group at UCalgary. He is a co-lead for Integrated Microbiome Platforms for Advancing Causation Testing and Translation (IMPACTT), which is the CIHR Canadian Microbiome Core.

Dr. Michele Anholt, PhD 

Manager, One Health at UCalgary

As a veterinary epidemiologist Dr. Anholt has provided services to a range of organizations and projects, including leading an assessment of financial sustainability of an eye care program in Madagascar, with the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative, developing a new healthy salmon framework and creating a wildlife health intelligence platform for avian influenza, and membership on the Mycobacterium bovis outbreak response team in Alberta and Mycoplasma bovis outbreak response in New Zealand.

Dr. Herman Barkema, PhD

Professor (Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases), and UCalgary NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Infectious Diseases of Dairy Cattle

Dr. Barkema’s research program focuses on prevention and control of diseases in cattle herds, including antimicrobial resistance. He has published more than 325 scientific manuscripts and has lectured all over the world. He leads One Health at UCalgary, the Antimicrobial Resistance – One Health Consortium, the Environment research theme in the Canadian Bovine Mastitis Research Network, the Alberta Johne’s Disease Initiative, and the UCalgary Biostatistics Centre.

Deborah Yedlin  

Community leader and Calgary journalist Deborah Yedlin was elected the 14th chancellor of the University of Calgary, effective July 1, 2018. She has been observing, commenting and writing about business and politics for more than two decades, as a journalist for the Financial Post, Globe and Mail and Calgary Herald. In addition to her writing, she has been a regular commentator for CBC Radio and Television, and CTV since 1996.