Purdue board endorses One Health initiative
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The Purdue University Board of Trustees on Friday gave its endorsement of the university’s One Health initiative. The university said that One Health will “bolster the deep connections and research opportunities offered through Purdue University in Indianapolis.”
The initiative is designed to advance the university’s strengths in human, animal, plant, environmental health, as well as partnership opportunities in West Lafayette, Indianapolis and Lebanon, Purdue said.
“Our vital One Health initiative will accelerate, amplify and elevate life and health sciences at Purdue, positioning this great university for excellence at scale in these consequential areas and supporting many students and faculty across many departments in at least six colleges,” Purdue President Mung Chiang said in a news release. “One Health represents both a foundational contribution to society and a unique strength at this land-grant institution.”
The move by the board comes less than a month after Purdue announced a partnership with Greenfield-based Elanco Animal Health to develop a shared-use facility near Elanco’s new headquarters in downtown Indianapolis.
The facility is part of the newly established One Health Innovation District, which is one of four key pillars of the initiative. Purdue said the district will be modeled after the Discovery Park District in West Lafayette.
The other pillars include the formation of the Health Academic Affairs unit, designed to align the university’s health and life science undergraduate, graduate and professional programs.
The university plans to conduct studies on additional facility support for faculty and students, including a health and life sciences research facility and a separate facility for four departments in chemistry-related fields.
Purdue said it also plans to continue its collaboration with Eli Lilly and Co. as its official education and training partner at the LEAP Research and Innovation District in Lebanon.
“We will grow our incredible institutional strengths by combining our established, globally engaged and highly ranked programs in critical areas such as health, human sciences and nursing to pharmacy, animal and plant health, medicine and wellness—all with the collective goal to meet the rapidly changing landscape of delivering quality care and medicine to humans and animals alike,” said Provost Patrick Wolf.
Purdue said the One Health initiative has been recognized by scientific institutions such as the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.