Global One Health initiative (GOHi) leaders Wondwossen Gebreyes, executive director, Amy Mihalakas, assistant director, and Shu-Hua Wang, director of applied research and implementation, met with key federal sponsors and stakeholders in Washington, D.C. in February.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Fogarty International Center organized a roundtable discussion engaging diverse NIH institutes to discuss GOHi and Ohio State’s efforts in research and training capacity building.

The team met with The World Bank, which leads the Pandemic Preparedness and Response efforts worldwide, and discussed how GOHi and other university units can play a role.

GOHi leaders also met with the National Science Foundation to discuss opportunities in workforce development, mainly focused on underserved communities within the United States, and provide access to global efforts through Global One Health. The U.S. Agency for International Development Emerging Pandemic Threats leadership team hosted the meeting to discuss Global Health Security funding. The team also met with the Department of State, International Health and Biodefense team.

The three-day meeting culminated at Capitol Hill through meetings with senior staffers representing the two Ohio senators and three House of Representatives members.

Together, they discussed the critical role Ohio State plays in implementing One Health at local to global levels and the crucial importance of building students’ capacity to be best prepared to tackle future challenges, including neglected tropical diseases and zoonotic epidemics and pandemics, among other topics.