Texas Tech Doctorate in One Health Sciences receives approval

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The Texas Tech University School of Veterinary Medicine in Amarillo ( Texas Tech) announced it received final approval to offer a doctoral degree in One Health Sciences. The new innovative degree will help graduate students create solutions for future societal challenges.

“When we collaborate across disciplines and professions, profound discoveries are made,” said Guy Loneragan, BVSc, PhD, dean of the School of Veterinary Medicine, in an organizational release.¹ “The innovative aspect of this PhD program is that it offers broad foundational understanding of how animal, human, and ecosystem health are interconnected, and also deep knowledge within a discipline. This sets our graduate students up with the tools to provide important discoveries – say in a new vaccine technology – that might be able to benefit both animals and people.”

According to the organizational release,¹ the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board approved the new program in May 2022. The program then received final approval from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges in December 2022. Texas Tech hopes the new program and its student will be able to address the demand for interdisciplinary and interprofessional collaboration between animals, humans, and ecosystem health.

Students in the program will work alongside experts and recruit talented professionals from all over the world. The 5 areas of research excellence students will be exposed to are¹:

• Andragogical Scholarship
• Disease Ecology
• Molecular Mechanisms of Disease
• One Health Epidemiology
• Prevention and Management
• Sustainability of Animal Agriculture

“I am impressed with the passion with which our first cohort of students have pursued the application of the One Health approach in working with stakeholders, developing research projects, collaborating with faculty and other students, and communicating their science with the public,” expressed Ryan Williams, PhD, assistant dean and associate professor of economics and public policy.

“It is clear that a program with this design was desired in the United States, and that the Texas Tech University School of Veterinary Medicine is a great place for it to have been established,” he concluded.¹

Interested students can learn more about the program on the Texas Tech website and can apply for the program before the priority deadline on January 15, 2023.

Reference

Texas Tech's Innovative Doctorate in One Health Sciences Gets Final Approval. News release. The Texas Tech University School of Veterinary Medicine in Amarillo. December 19, 2022. Accessed December 21, 2022. https://today.ttu.edu/posts/2022/12/Stories/Texas-Tech-Innovative-Doctorate-in-One-Health-Sciences-Gets-Final-Approval#:~:text=The%20program%20was%20approved%20by,(SACSCOC)%20in%20December%202022.