Wellness in the Public Interest

Using a Wellness Lens to Address the Planet’s Wicked Problems

September 26, 2024
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In this video, Jonna Mazet, DVM, MPVM, PhD, discusses how UC Davis is tackling some of the world’s most complex issues—referred to as “wicked problems”—through a wellness lens. Focusing on the interconnectedness of health, environment, and community, she explains the One Health approach, which seeks collaborative, multidisciplinary solutions to challenges like emerging health threats, zoonotic diseases, climate change, and sustainable food systems. Dr. Mazet emphasizes that these issues require both global and grassroots approaches, as well as a fundamental shift in how universities, governments, and communities work together to create holistic solutions.

Quick insights

  • UC Davis’s collaborative approach to global challenges: UC Davis is mobilizing its campus community, leveraging the expertise of over 7,500 researchers, and promoting interdisciplinary collaboration across scientific and humanistic disciplines to tackle significant societal, planetary, and individual wellness issues.
  • The One Health approach: Dr. Mazet emphasized a One Health strategy that connects environmental, human, and animal health. This approach encourages collaboration across sectors to understand and address global health threats, especially those emerging from interactions between humans, animals, and their environments.
  • Emerging health threats and pandemic preparedness: UC Davis is pioneering pandemic preparedness by studying zoonotic diseases and spillover events. Dr. Mazet discussed the importance of understanding these threats at their source, aiming to contain and control potential outbreaks before they escalate.
  • Interconnectedness of climate change and health: Dr. Mazet highlighted how deforestation and land use contribute both to climate change and the risk of emerging infectious diseases, particularly in biodiversity hotspots like the Amazon. Efforts to address climate impacts and emerging health threats are closely linked.
  • Commitment to social and environmental justice: UC Davis is focusing on equity, environmental justice, and collaboration with indigenous groups, aiming to learn from traditional knowledge and foster trust. The university is re-imagining its land grant role to contribute meaningfully to public wellness and sustainability.

Featured expert: Jonna Mazet, DVM, MPVM, PhD

Jonna Mazet, DVM, MPVM, PhD, is the Vice Provost – Grand Challenges at the University of California, Davis. She is Chancellor’s Leadership Professor of Epidemiology and Disease Ecology and founded the One Health Institute in the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, where she focused on global health problem solving, especially for emerging infectious disease and conservation challenges. Dr. Mazet is active in international One Health education, service, and research programs, most notably in relation to disease transmission among wildlife, domestic animals, and people and the ecological drivers of novel disease dynamics.

Over the past decade, she was the Global Director of a greater than $200 million viral emergence early warning project, named PREDICT, that was developed with the US Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Emerging Pandemic Threats Program. She was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2013 in recognition of her successful and innovative approach to emerging environmental and global health threats and serves on the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine’s Forum on Microbial Threats and the Academies’ One Health Action Collaborative. She was appointed to the National Academies Standing Committee on Emerging Infectious Diseases and 21st Century Health Threats, which was created to assist the federal government with critical science and policy issues related to the COVID-19 crisis and other emerging health threats.

UC Davis One Health Institute | Grand Challenges at UC Davis | Global Virome Project | Google Scholar Profile

Video highlights

00:00 – Introduction
Dr. Mazet introduces herself as Vice Provost of Grand Challenges at UC Davis and explains her mission to use a wellness lens to address some of the planet’s most wicked problems. She highlights the innovation and collaboration at UC Davis, where 7,500 researchers work across disciplines to tackle issues related to individual wellness, societal well-being, and planetary health.

01:00 – Harnessing the power of collaboration
Dr. Mazet explains how UC Davis fosters collaboration and interdisciplinary work, promoting the use of scientific and humanistic disciplines to address global problems. The goal is to go beyond the limitations of working in individual labs by using a collective approach to solve complex challenges.

03:00 – Addressing global challenges with a holistic approach
Dr. Mazet discusses the One Health approach, a multi-sectoral, transdisciplinary method of addressing health issues by considering the intersection between the environment, animals, plants, and humans. This collaborative model aims to find solutions to problems like zoonotic diseases, climate change, and environmental degradation.

04:40 – Zoonotic disease emergence
Dr. Mazet focuses on zoonotic disease emergence, the transmission of pathogens between different animal species. She explains how human activities, such as going into remote areas for resources, can lead to the spread of new pathogens from wildlife to humans, potentially resulting in pandemics.

06:30 – Drivers of global challenges
Dr. Mazet outlines the key drivers of global challenges, including land use, climate change, globalization, and economic development. She emphasizes how all these factors are interconnected and contribute to health threats like zoonotic disease transmission and emerging infectious diseases.

09:44 – UC Davis’s four Grand Challenges
Dr. Mazet introduces UC Davis’s four grand challenges: emerging health threats, climate solutions, sustainable food systems, and reimagining the land grant university. She dives into the first challenge—emerging health threats—and how UC Davis researchers are working to stop new diseases from becoming epidemics by identifying their sources early.

15:20 – Working with communities at risk
Dr. Mazet discusses UC Davis’s work with communities at risk, such as those living with bats carrying zoonotic diseases, and how they collaborate to come up with solutions. This approach includes working with organizations like CEPI to improve vaccine distribution and developing tools, such as the Spillover app, to track emerging viruses.

18:45 – Climate crisis and health threats
Dr. Mazet emphasizes the connection between the climate crisis and emerging health threats. She shares research on how deforestation in the Amazon basin is contributing to both environmental degradation and the emergence of new viruses. Innovative solutions, such as using robots and drones, are being developed to explore high-risk areas safely.

23:00 – Innovation in virus detection and environmental protection
UC Davis researchers are developing new technologies, like biomimicry-based robots, to monitor wildlife and track viruses without harming the environment. This approach protects both human health and the planet, illustrating the interconnectedness of climate change and emerging health threats.

28:30 – Conclusion
Dr. Mazet concludes by highlighting the importance of using a wellness lens to address these interconnected global challenges. She stresses the need for collaboration, creativity, and community engagement to find sustainable solutions to the planet’s most complex problems.

Resources

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References