Dr. Walid Alali, a veterinarian and associate professor of epidemiology at East Tennessee State University, has published a comprehensive review in Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease that maps Tennessee’s One Health landscape—its achievements, challenges, and priorities.
The paper argues that the state’s mix of sweeping forests, productive farms, and fast‑growing cities makes it an ideal ground for the One Health framework, which links human, animal, and environmental health. Alali worked with authors from state agencies overseeing public health, agriculture, environment and conservation, and wildlife, as well as academic partners and the volunteer‑run Tennessee One Health Committee. This is the first published statewide One Health review in the United States.
The review documents active cross‑sector collaborations in zoonotic‑disease surveillance, outbreak response, monitoring of emerging contaminants, public education (K‑12 through university), and interdisciplinary research. Successes, such as coordinated responses to avian‑influenza and rabies outbreaks show the power of a unified approach. Still, the authors note persistent gaps: scarce dedicated funding, unclear workforce roles, and informal, often ad‑hoc data‑sharing. They recommend expanding sustained funding, formalizing One Health jobs, modernizing shared data systems, and investing in biodiversity and climate‑resilience initiatives so Tennessee can solidify its place as a national leader in collaborative, cross‑disciplinary public‑health action.