Coming in the fall of 2024 is the first set of incoming freshmen to join a new major introduced by the College of Veterinary Medicine, Public and One Health. Although multiple universities incorporate a One Health model into public health programs, Auburn University is the first institution to create a public and One Health major.
Professors Andrea Perkins, doctor in veterinary science, and Kelley Steury, doctor of veterinary medicine, began creating the major by brainstorming ideas in 2021. The professors, who each hold a master's in public health, contacted professors in multiple disciplines across the university to see how they could incorporate multiple aspects into the major.
After working with faculty members, they took it to the University Curriculum Committee, where it was approved and moved to the Auburn University Board of Trustees. In February, the board approved the new undergraduate program, which received final approval in June from the Alabama Commission of Higher Education. The latter move allowed current undergraduate students to join the major in the fall semester.
The major combines public health education with the One Health model, a comprehensive outlook on how animal, human and environmental health intertwine with one another. One Health acts as a collaborative framework and allows public health workers to work regionally, nationally and globally on projects and research that better the living of humans, animals and the environment.
Steury works in the Department of Pathobiology and teaches four of the required courses in the PAOH major, including courses like Observing Needs of Public Health and Zoonoses and Infectious Diseases. Observing Needs of Public Health is a service-based course with class discussions throughout the semester led by Steury. Zoonoses and Infectious Diseases offers a comparative approach to diseases that affect humans and animals, focusing on zoonoses – diseases shared between animals and humans.
Perkins, from the Department of Clinical Sciences, oversees the development of PAOH with Steury and teaches the One Health seminar, a required course filled with guest seminars, student presentations and small group discussions focusing on relevant public health topics regarding humans, animals and the environment.
Perkins explained that the goal of the major is to train future doctors, nurses, veterinarians and policymakers to bring public health to the forefront of decision-making and give public health a voice on policy.
PAOH’s curriculum includes introductions to public health and epidemiology, fundamentals of health planning and promotion and comparative classes on global health systems. Courses involve different educational methods like seminars, lectures, on-the-field training and classroom learning.
For Mikailie Caulder, a senior set to graduate in spring 2025, Auburn’s introduction to the PAOH major means that instead of going to graduate school for public health, she can now graduate with a public health degree as an undergraduate.
Caulder is taking a concurrent degree program in pre-veterinarian genetics and PAOH and wants to do infection prevention control in a hospital or clinical setting after graduating. She enjoys that the new major also allows her to work in veterinary medicine without being a veterinarian.
According to the description on the CVM website, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Auburn’s PAOH major gives students multiple entry-level job opportunities in careers like disease intervention, health education, clinical or laboratory research and environmental health. Steury and Perkins explained that a degree in PAOH helps connect students to graduate school programs in human and veterinary medicine, pharmacy, law, biomedical science and public health.
After learning that the faculty was developing the PAOH major, Caulder explained she was interested in learning more. Caulder said she grew close to Steury after taking classes under the professor for two consecutive semesters, and Steury advised her on what courses to take to follow the major's curriculum.
Caulder explained that since she is in the last two years of her degree program, she is starting to take more major-focused classes like environmental health. Environmental health is an introductory course in how chemical, physical and biological factors in an environment affect the health of communities, ecosystems and individuals. Next semester, she looks forward to taking Zoonoses and Infectious Diseases.
To Caulder, the PAOH major is important because the 2020 pandemic led public health officials to use the One Health model to examine COVID-19 cases. According to the World Health Organization, the COVID-19 pandemic placed a heavier need for research and data on how animals and the environment affected human health.
“I like the idea that Auburn has been so welcoming of the major,” Caulder said. “I think degree programs take a little while for them to get approved, but [PAOH] only took a year to get approved [by officials]."
According to Caulder, PAOH is the only undergraduate degree program from the veterinary school. She said the program teaches students how to contribute to public health by implementing policies, plans or mandates that protect everyone's health.
Steury and Perkins said classes occur on the main campus in buildings like the Academic Classroom and Laboratory Complex, Mell Classroom Building and Lowder Hall. Although classes don't occur in CVM buildings like those for graduate students, Perkins assured PAOH students are still integral to CVM.
For students needing academic support or resources, Steury recommended reaching out to their professors since the major is still in its beginning phase. The two professors said they hope to see a peer tutoring program similar to the College of Human Sciences or the Honors College develop once the first set of freshmen start in fall 2024.
Caulder advised interested students to talk to PAOH professors for guidance and to go onto CVM’s website for additional information regarding PAOH’s purpose, course details and future career prospects.
Perkins explained how excited she feels when she meets with students interested in the program or who are a part of it. She hoped that with the program, the university can further help improve state and regional public health while educating future public health experts. Steury told unsure students that if they like health, science and serving others, the PAOH major is right for them.
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