OneHealth-Course
OneHealth Course
The Field Experience in OneHealth course went virtual this past summer. Students from three campuses (UTMB, UTRGV, and TAMU) joined to take a virtual course with faculty from three campuses. The nearly 30 students included (MD, DVM, MS, MPH, DrPH, and combined degrees). This four-week course covered topics ranging from zoonotic diseases to properly wearing protective gear to giving a press conference in an outbreak. The UTRGV portion of the course was led by Dr. Christopher Vitek, with Drs. George Yanev and John Thomas also helped deliver material in their area of expertise.
This is an innovative and ground-breaking multi-institutional course, Field Experiences in OneHealth, which was offered again in Summer 2019. There were eleven graduate, medical, and veterinary students from UTMB, UTRGV, TAMU, and one student from North Carolina State University who participated in this three-week course. They visited each campus during a simulated outbreak event throughout the semester. Faculty from all three schools were involved in providing content to the students. This course utilizes hands-on and active-learning techniques as students gain experience in all stages of a potential disease outbreak--from the initial detection and identification of the transmission to developing case definitions and informing the public about the health concern. This course was planned on being offered again in the mini-mester during summer 2020 and would have been available to UTRGV graduate and medical students. The course for summer 2021 is being evaluated.