Graduate Certificate in One Health

Learning Objectives

  1. Identify major zoonotic infectious disease issues 
  2. Identify non-infectious hazards shared by humans, other animals, and broader ecosystems 
  3. Define sentinel events in both humans and other animals and formulate methods on how to use these events to detect and prevent hazardous exposures
  4. Describe an integrated assessment of a health issue that considers humans, other animals, and the broader ecosystem and/or their shared environment 
  5. Describe the implementation of an integrated intervention that considers and monitors the impact on humans, animals, and ecosystems 
  6. Recognize the roles of different members of a One Health team and present how to assemble and manage such interdisciplinary team interactions 

Courses

To complete the Certificate Program, students must take at least 15 credits comprised of eleven credits of required courses and a capstone and four credits of elective courses (from a list of options). 

Required Courses (11 credits)

All required courses must be taken for a grade, and a minimal grade of 3.0 is mandatory for all required classes taken in fulfillment of the Graduate Certificate. 

  1. ENV H 539/G H 548   One Health: Human and Animal Health in a Changing Environment (3) 
  1. ENV H 586 Current Issues in Occupational Health at the Human-Animal Interface (2) 
  1. G H 552 Understanding Pandemics: When People, Pathogens, and a Changing Planet Collide (3) 
  1. Independent Credits for the Capstone (3)  

Electives (4 credits)

The remaining four credits must be taken from the following list of Graduate Courses, though alternative courses may be suggested and accepted as satisfying the certificate requirements on a case-by-case basis (courses already taken cannot retroactively be used as an alternate elective course). Students may select only one course from each elective area. Students are strongly recommended to take elective courses outside of their degree field. Elective courses can be taken for a grade or pass/not pass (if option is available). A “Pass” grade or a minimal grade of 3.0 will be required in all elective classes taken in fulfillment of the Graduate Certificate. 

Emerging Infectious Disease 

  • *ENV H 442 Zoonotic Diseases and Their Control (3) 
  • ENV H 551 Ecology of Environmentally Transmitted Microbial Hazards (3) 
  • ENV H 542 Detection and Control of Environmentally Transmitted Microbial Hazards (3) 
  • EPI 529/HSERV 536 Emerging Infections of International Public Health Importance (3) 
  • GH 566 Biochemistry and Genetics of Pathogens and Their Hosts (4) 

Ecology 

  • BIOL 561 Topics in Ecology (1-3) 
  • BIOL 560 Seminar in Ecology (1-3) 
  • *FISH 406 Parasite Ecology 
  • QERM 597 Seminar in Quantitative Ecology (2) 
  • SEFS 501 Forest Ecology (5) 

Environment 

  • ENV H 509 Microbiome and Environmental Health (3) 
  • ENV H 544 Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria/Genes Impact on the Environment and Public Health (4) 
  • ENV H 547 Environmental Change and Infectious Disease (3) 
  • ENV H 565 Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in Public Health (3) 
  • ENV H 579/G H 520 Climate Change and Public Health Practice (3) 
  • GEOG 544 Climate and Environmental Migration (5) 
  • GEOG 554 Research Seminar: Nature-Society Relations (5) 
  • GEOG 580/HSERV 586 Medical Geography (3) 

Human Health 

  • BIOL 570 Seminar in Conservation Biology (1-3, max. 15) 
  • G H 518 Understanding and Managing the Health Risks of Climate Change (3) 
  • G H 520/ENV H 579 Climate Change and Public Health Practice (3)   
  • GH/MED 561 Tropical Medicine (1) 
  • SOC 535 Foundations of Population Health and Health Disparities (5) 
  • NUTR 514 Sustainable Food Systems for Population Health (3) 

Animal Health 

  • CMed 540 Animal models (1) 
  • CMed 514 Comparative pathology (1) 
  • BIOL 568 Ecology of Animal Movement (4) 

Social Sciences 

  • ANTH 524 Current Issues in Medical Anthropology and Global Health (2) 
  • ANTH 570 Environmental Anthropology (5) 
  • ANTH 573 Current Issues in Environmental Anthropology (2) 
  • BIO A 590 Biological Anthropology Seminar (2) 

Epidemiology 

  • EPI 520 Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases (3) 
  • EPI 529 / HSERV 536 Emerging Infections of International Public Health Importance (3) 

Policy and Implementation 

  • ENV H 584 Policy and Politics (3) 
  • GH 541 Fundamentals of Implementation Science in Global Health (4-5) 
  • GH 523 Policy Development and Advocacy for Global Health (3) 

*On occasion, a 400-level course can be approved as an elective. You must get approval by the Certificate administrator.  

Capstone Experience (3 credits)

All participants must complete a culminating capstone project and students are expected to find their own capstone project. All students completing the certificate are required to present their oral capstone projects (usually in Spring quarter). Students each develop and present an oral presentation during a special capstone presentation session. Students will register for an independent study, 3-credit course. 

Students will identify a topic, project or practice site, and submit a brief proposal to the certificate coordinator, Vickie Ramirez (ramirezv@uw.edu). Ms. Ramirez will help support students in choosing their topics and gaining access to sites, though students will be expected to be self-driven, will be responsible for choosing their own courses, choosing their own capstone project, and work with the site to allow them to do their capstone with them. 

The capstone for the certificate is separate from a master's thesis or doctoral dissertation and the student may not use any portion of their thesis or dissertation as their capstone project. However, if there are aspects of their projects that have not been used in their thesis or dissertation, they may use these components for their capstone. The capstone project must directly relate to issues relevant to One Health. (For example, work with a population of animal workers such as dairy farmworkers or veterinarians, or work on a specific emerging zoonotic disease or the human animal bond either in the US or internationally could be an appropriate capstone project.) 

Capstone projects will be evaluated during the oral presentations by Center faculty and associate faculty working in the One Health paradigm following a rubric based on the learning objectives above. 

Admissions and Mentoring

We expect 3-5 students per year advancing towards the One Health Certificate, and we will cap enrollment at 10 students completing the certificate per year (up to 20 students at any given time). We will take Master’s and PhD students from all departments at UW. The admission’s process requires an application to enter the Certificate program and a meeting to assess the applicant’s interest level and ability to complete the program in a timely manner. Certificate coordinator, Vickie Ramirez, will monitor admissions, track student progress and submit the request to GEMS for granting the certificate. Ms. Ramirez will be available for office hours weekly for students to visit. 

Periodic meetings (1x per quarter) will be held with students working toward the certificate to promote a sense of cohort. Students will also be invited to COHR lab meetings to interact with those students who are working in the Center towards a degree with in One Health at the Human-Animal Interface (OHHAI). They will utilize this time to bounce research/analysis questions off COHR students, faculty and staff. The pathway to receiving a certificate will have oversight by the Director and Associate Directors of the Center for One Health Research (COHR), as well as faculty affiliated with the chosen certificate focus (climate focus, public health, global health, etc). 

Contact Information

Vickie Ramirez, Center Manager, Certificate Coordinator, ramirezv@uw.edu