One Health

Dr. Martin Gilbert, the Cornell K. Lisa Yang Center for Wildlife Health’s Wild Carnivore Health Specialist, is a wildlife veterinarian and epidemiologist who has worked for decades in the non-governmental sector and in academia on international conservation projects in settings as diverse as Greenland, Papua New Guinea, and Madagascar. Through his work with The Peregrine Fund in Pakistan, Dr. Gilbert coordinated the field investigation into the catastrophic declines that devastated vulture populations across the Indian subcontinent. This work ultimately led to the finding that veterinary use of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac was responsible for the vulture declines, leading to strategies that are beginning to promote the recovery of the species involved. 

At the Wildlife Conservation Society, Dr. Gilbert oversaw the development of a regional wildlife health program in Southeast and Central Asia focused on threats to species conservation and emerging infectious disease. Through Ph.D. research at the University of Glasgow, he focused on understanding the impact of canine distemper virus (CDV) on the survival of Amur tigers in the Russian Far East. This work synthesized the findings of field-based disease ecology research with computer modeling and laboratory techniques to design management strategies to mitigate the threat posed by CDV to wild tigers, a challenge Dr. Gilbert is still working hard to address.

Laura Bernert is a first-year DVM candidate at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine. Ms. Bernert was an intern during the summer of 2023, working with Dr. Gilbert and Cornell Ph.D. student Shashank Poudel in Chitwan National Park, Nepal. While abroad, she performed PCR and medullary hair analyses on suspected leopard scat in order to try to identify leopard prey species for the Living with Leopards Project and completed a baseline free-roaming dog census of the Chitwan buffer zone. In tandem with Dr. Gilbert’s work on canine distemper virus in Nepal’s big cats, Ms. Bernert’s project provided foundational data on the size of Chitwan’s free-roaming domestic dog population, a largely unmonitored potential source of canine distemper spread between domestic dog and wild carnivore populations.

Helen Lee ’03, MBA ’20, is Conservation & Livelihoods Advisor for the Cornell K. Lisa Yang Center for Wildlife Health and an Assistant Director of Wildlife Health & Health Policy at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine. Ms. Lee works via an interdisciplinary One Health lens, focusing on wildlife conservation, ecosystem health, environmental sustainability, and economic development. Her fieldwork involves identifying solutions that benefit both the livelihoods of local communities and the sustainable management of the surrounding wildlife and environment. Prior to joining Cornell, Ms. Lee was an assistant director at the Wildlife Conservation Society, helping to oversee wildlife health field activities and operations across Asia, Africa, and Latin America. She has a B.S. in Applied Economics and Management as well as an MBA from Cornell University.

Dr. Steve Osofsky is the Jay Hyman Professor of Wildlife Health & Health Policy at Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine as well as Director of the Cornell K. Lisa Yang Center for Wildlife Health (wildlife.cornell.edu). Dr. Osofsky has worn many hats, including wildlife veterinarian in Africa; zoo veterinarian; Biodiversity Program Advisor at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID); overseer of rhino, elephant, and tiger conservation programs at the World Wildlife Fund (WWF); and Executive Director of the Wildlife Conservation Society’s wildlife health programs around the world. As one of the intellectual catalysts of the One Health and Planetary Health concepts, his focus is on the relationships among wildlife health, domestic animal health, and human health and well-being, all as underpinned by environmental stewardship. Dr. Osofsky (Cornell DVM ’89) sees his move into academia as an exciting and urgent opportunity to help train the next generation of One Health professionals.