Retired Brigadier General takes command of KSU's master of public health program

Manhattan, Kan.

-- The one health initiative has a new champion as retired Brig. Gen. Michael B. Cates prepares to join Kansas State University as the director of its master of public health program.

The former commander of the U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine and chief of the U.S. Army Veterinary Corps says he is a longtime advocate of multidisciplinary, proactive approaches to health.

KSU's master of public health program, housed in the College of Veterinary Medicine, is an interdepartmental program consisting of 42 semester hours. The program, for those currently employed or anticipating a career in public health, allows students to address public health concerns including obesity/exercise, human nutrition, food safety, infectious/zoonotic diseases and toxicology.

It involves courses and faculty from the colleges of Agriculture, Arts and Sciences, Human Ecology and Veterinary Medicine.

"My aim is to build on the program's early successes, earning accreditation, broadening collaboration and partnerships among the many aspects of animal and public health, developing even more public health trained professionals for the workplace, and making significant contributions toward improved global health," Cates said.

Cates, who also will serve as a professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine, graduated from Texas A&M University's College of Veterinary Medicine in 1980. He has a master of public health from the University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, and is a distinguished diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Preventive Medicine.

Cates recently retired from the military after serving for more than 28 years.