UCD One Health Centre Launch

UCD One Health Centre Launch

Professor Gerald Barry - Deputy Director of UCD's One Health Centre, Professor Helen Roche - VPRII UCD, Adjunct Professor Tony Holohan - Director of UCD's One Health Centre, Professor Orla Feely - UCD President, and Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge - WHO Regional Director for Europe, Professor Lorraine Brennan - CHAS VPRII, Professor Cecily Kelleher - CHAS College Principal, Credit: Fennell Photography

What is One Health?

The WHO uses the following explanation:

“'One Health' is an integrated, unifying approach to balance and optimize the health of people, animals and the environment.  It is particularly important to prevent, predict, detect, and respond to global health threats such as the COVID-19 pandemic”.

UCD One Health Centre

The new UCD One Health Centre was launched at UCD on Thursday 22nd February with Dr Tony Holohan and Prof Gerald Barry at the helm.  The centre will act as a hub for One Health-related research, policy development, collaboration, education and training across the CHAS Schools.

Adjunct Professor Tony Holohan, Director of UCD's One Health Centre, with Professor Orla Feely, UCD President, and Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe. Credit: Fennell Photography

The aims of the Centre for One Health align well with UCDs strategy 2020 - 2024, Rising to the future which has four strategic themes, Creating a Sustainable Global Society; Transforming through Digital Technology; Building a Healthy World; and Empowering Humanity. It hopes to collaborate with other academic institutions on the Island. 

Through such a partnership approach, the aim is to build a stronger All-Island One Health impact and influence at the practice and policy level in Ireland and to seek to influence and support the rollout of a One Health approach in Europe and beyond. 

Speakers on the day included:

• Professor Breda Smyth - Chief Medical Officer
• Professor Lorraine Brennan - CHAS VPRII
• Professor Gerardine Doyle - UCD School of Business
• Dr Éamonn O’Moore - Director of National Health Service Protection of Ireland
• Professor Barry McMahon - Associate Professor of Wildlife Conservation & Zoonotic Epidemiology UCD
• Professor Dearbhaile Morris - Professor of Antimicrobial Resistance and One Health at University of Galway
• Professor Mary Codd - Associate Professor of Epidemiology & Biostatistics at the School of Public Health, Physiotherapy & Sports Science UCD

Link to One Health Research at UCD - https://www.ucd.ie/onehealth/staff/