iCOMOS 2018
iCOMOS 2018: Science and Policy at the Interface of Environment, Agriculture, and Medicine
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities | April 29−May 2
Explore new ways to solve pressing health issues, facilitate interdisciplinary collaborations, and promote science's role in influencing public policy at the interface of humans, animals, and the environment.
iCOMOS Sunday, April 29, 2018
Conference Welcome and Introductions
Srirama Rao, Chair, iCOMOS Organizing Committee, University of Minnesota
Laureate Panel Discussion: Science and Policy at the Interface of Environment, Agriculture, and Medicine—Global Challenges and Opportunities
Moderator: Kerri Miller, Minnesota Public Radio
Session Panelists: Peter Agre, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, United States; Hualan Chen, L’Oreal-UNESCO Women-in-Science Laureate, China; Peter Doherty, Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine, Australia; Robert Mwanga, World Food Prize Laureate, Uganda
iCOMOS Monday, April 30
University Welcome
Eric Kaler, President, University of Minnesota
Nobel Keynote: Opening Doors Worldwide through Medical Science
Nobel Laureate Peter Agre, University Professor & Director, Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute, Johns Hopkins University, United States
Session I: Social and Economic Impact on Health
Moderators: Laura Bloomberg, Beth Virnig, University of Minnesota
Session summary: The structural determinants and conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age. These social determinants of health include factors like socioeconomic status, education, the physical environment, employment, and social support networks, as well as access to health care. Within this conference we will focus specifically on migration, age, poverty/well-being and the challenges of antimicrobial resistance, and how these topics influence health and policy.
Migration and Health
Eric Schwartz, President, Refugees International, and Professor of Public Affairs (on leave), Humphrey School, University of Minnesota, United States
Familial Early Onset Alzheimer’s Disease in Colombia: An Opportunity for Prevention
Francisco Lopera, Universidad de Antioquia, Colombia
Social and Behavioral Drivers of Antimicrobial Resistance
Ramanan Laxminarayan, The Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy, Princeton University, United States
Addressing Societal Norms That Affect Well-being Through Transectoral Collaboration: Examples from the Field
Lynne Gaffikin, Stanford University, United States
Session II: Infectious Disease and Environmental Disturbance
Moderators: Srinand Sreevatsan, Michigan State University; Nick Phelps, University of Minnesota
Session summary: Speakers will present science issues surrounding infectious diseases as they pertain to emerging zoonotic and other infectious diseases. The session will end with a panel discussion of issues. A major outcome of this session is expected to be a monograph on problems and expert suggestions of mitigation strategies.
Keynote: Pandemic Avian Influenza: The Chinese Experience
Hualan Chen, UNESCO Women-in-Science Laureate, Harbin Veterinary Research Institute, China
Predicting and Preventing Emerging Infectious Diseases
Woutrina Smith, University of California, Davis, United States
Viral Biocontrol of Invasive Vertebrates: An Australian Perspective
Ken McColl, CSIRO, Australia
Nobel Keynote Presentation: The Killer Defense
Nobel Laureate Peter Doherty, University of Melbourne, Australia
Introduction: Karen Hanson, Executive Vice President and Provost, University of Minnesota
iCOMOS Tuesday, May 1
Day Two Welcome
Al Levine, Vice President for Research, University of Minnesota
Session III: Agriculture Advancing Health
The future of global health is inextricably linked to agriculture, the key source of human and animal nutrition and energy. The session highlights the central role of agriculture in improving health, along with economic and policy issues that intersect with science. Speakers in this session will explore engineering and genetic selection of plants for the production of medicines and vaccine delivery in food, growing healthy food in stressed environments, and enhancement of food qualities that limit waste and increase nutrition and economic return.
Moderators: Greg Cuomo and Dan Voytas, University of Minnesota
Keynote: Plant Modification to Reduce Hunger and Improve Health
Robert Mwanga, World Food Prize Laureate, Uganda
Public Sector Constraints to Plant Biotechnology for Human Health: The Golden Rice Experience
Adrian Dubock, Golden Rice Project, Switzerland
Plants Engineered to Improve Health
Dan Voytas, University of Minnesota, United States
The Science and Politics of Livestock Production in the Era of Gene Editing
Alison Van Eenennaam, University of California, Davis, United States
Unravelling the Food–Health Nexus
Cecilia Rocha, Director and Professor, Ryerson University, Canada
Panel Discussion: International Aspects of Food Enhancement and Nourishment
"Space, Environment, and Health"
Pamela Melroy, United States Air Force, Retired
Session IV: New Paradigms at the Environment-Health Interface
All health problems have an environmental component at some level, yet recognizing and focusing solutions on environmental linkages remains a challenge. Speakers in this session will highlight emerging scientific paradigms—new methods, approaches, or policies that offer new ways of exploring connections between human, animal, and environmental health—and the potential for fostering discovery and novel solutions to complex one-health problems. Speakers and panel discussants will present emerging approaches directed toward long-term, multidisciplinary, intersectoral health research and policy making.
Moderators: Bruce Alexander, University of Minnesota; Kimberly Thigpen Tart,National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, NIH
Keynote: Environmental Health Without and Within: From Ecosystems to Communities to the Microbiome
Linda Birnbaum, Director, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, US Department of Health and Human Services, United States
Environmental Health through the Lens of Global Urbanization
Maria Neira, Director, Department of Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health, World Health Organization, Switzerland
Climate Change and Health
Kristie Ebi, Director of the Center for Health and the Global Environment, University of Washington, Seattle, United States
Planetary Health: Protecting Global Health on a Rapidly Changing Planet
Samuel Myers, Director, Planetary Health Alliance, United States
Panel Discussion: New Education and Policy Paradigms at the Interface of Environment and Health
Moderators: Jessica Hellmann and Dominic Travis, University of Minnesota
Overview of iCOMOS-2019 and iCOMOS-2020
Chiang Mai University, Thailand (iCOMOS 2019)
Universidad Andres Bello, Chile (iCOMOS 2020)
Outlook for the Future and Overview of the Concurrent Interactive Sessions
Michael Murtaugh, Co-Chair, iCOMOS 2018, University of Minnesota
iCOMOS Networking Event: Urban Growler Brewing Company
iCOMOS Wednesday, May 2
Welcome
Trevor Ames, Dean, College of Veterinary Medicine
Keynote: Getting Ahead of the Curve: Using Earth Observations to Predict Health Risks
Juli Trtanj Climate and Health Lead, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, USA
1: One Medicine One Science Approaches to Health at Two NIH Institutes
Coordinators: Hortencia Hornbeak, Peter Jackson, Kimberly Thigpen Tart, Heather Henry, National Institutes of Health (NIAID, and NIEHS – Joint)
This session will explore One Medicine One Science (OMOS) approaches applied by two NIH institutes to complex human health issues requiring coordinated, multidisciplinary research programs and teams. Senior institute staff and funded investigators of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) will lead discussions of Zika as a case study of an emerging disease and pandemic threat, and studies of chronic disease resulting from the interactions of living systems with environmental threats such as chemicals and other contaminants that affect human health. Presentations will feature diverse NIH-supported, OMOS-related research studies, as well as methods and resources for integrating OMOS approaches into aspects of infectious disease and environmental health research including surveillance, epidemiology, prevention and intervention, data collection and analysis, partnership building, and training and capacity building.
Welcome
Jakub Tolar, Interim Vice President for Health Sciences, University of Minnesota
Introduction: One Medicine, One Science at Two Institutes of the NIH
Hortencia Hornbeak, NIAID, NIH; Linda Birnbaum, Director, NIEHS, NIH
OMOS at NIAID: Zika Case Study
Moderator: Hortencia Hornbeak, NIAID, NIH
Zika Epidemiology/Control/Pathology
Esper Kallas, University Medical School of Sao Paolo, Brazil
Zika and Other Zoonotic Diseases: Lessons Learned in Puerto Rico
José Cordero, University of Georgia, United States
Pan-Viral Analyses of a Novel Antiviral Strategy
Louis Mansky, University of Minnesota, United States
Vaccine Preparedness for Viral Pandemics
Barney Graham, NIAID, NIH Vaccine Research Center, United States
OMOS in Environmental Health Research
Moderator: Heather Henry, NIEHS
The Use of Sentinel Species in Health Disparities Research
Frank Von Hippel, Northern Arizona University, United States.
Chronic Kidney Disease, Pollution, and Sentinel Species in Sri Lanka
Nishad Jayasundara, University of Maine, United States.
One Health Approach to the Impacts of The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
Maureen Lichtveld, Tulane University, United States.
Programs, resources, and tools for integrating One Medicine, One Science approaches to health
Moderator: Kimberly Thigpen Tart, NIEHS
One Science, Many Needs: Global Training and Capacity Building at NIEHS
John Balbus, NIEHS, NIH, United States
Building Clinical Research Capacity
Gray Handley, NIAID, United States
Global Perspectives on Access to Bio-Samples and Data Sharing
Yaffa Rubinstein, U.S. National Library of Medicine, United States
NIAID Mechanisms and Initiatives Supportive of OMOS Research
Susana Mendez and Amir Zeituni, NIAID, NIH
NIEHS Programs and Funding Mechanisms Used to Support Research in an OMOS Framework
Heather Henry, NIEHS, NIH
Panel Discussion, Q&A, and Wrap-Up
Moderators: Heather Henry, NIEHS, NIH and Hortencia Hornbeak,NIAID, NIH
Small Group Meetings with NIH Administrators and Other Federal Staff
2: Effective Policy when Consumer Preferences Do Not Match Actions
Coordinator: Shaun Kennedy, The Food System Institute and the University of Minnesota; Wantanee Kalpravidh, Emergency Center for Transboundary Animal Diseases, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific
The public in general or a significant subset often drive specific food and health policies as governments and the private sector attempt to meet their expressed desires. The challenge for effective policy implementation, however, is that consumers do not always choose health behaviors or foods that are consistent with their priorities. This is especially challenging when consumers make choices based on one priority that appears to conflict with other expressed priorities. While not a new concept in philosophy or what is sometimes called moral mathematics, it is not generally applied when developing and implementing health and food policies. This is easy to understand when it is an economic priority, cost, overriding a personal priority, enhanced food safety, with simple choices such as not purchasing irradiated ground beef for food safety due to the cost of irradiation. It becomes far more complicated to implement effective policy when it is more nuanced such as consumers making health or food choices that are demonstrably less favorable to their own family’s health or the environment than alternatives. This workshop will look at how to consider health or food policies in the face of competitive, unexpressed or conflicting priorities and the extent to which the policies can achieve their objectives. It will draw beyond policy experts to include experts in consumer behavior, individual to group dynamics, game theory and economics from the academic, public and private sectors to consider policy differently.
Anticipated Outcomes from the Session and group discussion include at least two papers: (1) On the similarities between outwardly very different policy areas (obesity, food safety, food security and autism; (2) Proposed new strategies to address these important policy areas.
Case Studies in Priorities and Choices Conflicts
Welcome and Overview
The Efficacy of Avian Influenza Control Policies in Light of Conflicting Stakeholders’ Preferences
Damian Tago Pacheco, Emergency Center for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD) of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
How Consumers Really Make Food Purchasing Decisions, Not How They Say They Do
Darren Seifer, Industry Analyst - Food Consumption, The NPD Group
The Politics Surrounding Autism
Dana Baker, Associate Professor, Political Science, California State University, Channel Islands
Markets, Educational Programs and Other Non-regulatory Policy Approaches to Advancing Food Security: Examples from Brazil
Cecilia Rocha, Director and Professor, School of Nutrition, Ryerson University, Canada
Voting Procedures to Choose Leaders and Policies That Produce Consensus (Rather Than Division)
Steven Brams, Department of Politics, New York University
Small Group Discussion – Exploring the Gaps Between Policy and Behavior
Small Group Discussion – New Strategies for Regulatory and Non-Regulatory Policy
3: Breaking Silos and Building Bridges Within and Across Geographies for One Medicine, One Science: Workforce development needs and implementation programs
Coordinators: Andres Perez and Katey Pelican University of Minnesota; Aziz Arda Sancak, Ankara University, Turkey
Despite an increasingly popular One Health rhetoric, authentic examples of multiple disciplinary efforts to transcend the traditional silos of public, animal, and environmental health are still rare. The ultimate goal of COMOS is to contribute to securing food and protecting health of human, animals, and the environment through a network of equal partners. Prerequisite for accomplishing that goal is the development of the required workforce to identify problems and provide solutions to recurrent and emerging grand challenges regionally and globally. In this workshop, we will provide an overview of needs assessment and implementation programs in the areas of food animal trade and one health. Capacity building programs, including issues related with needs assessment, implementation, and evaluation, for veterinary and public health will be presented. Multisectoral approaches to identify and address emerging needs and issues will be introduced. Regional perspectives on gaps and challenges will be discussed. Finally, a debate focused on particular opportunities identified during the session for workforce development at regional and global scales will be promoted.
Audience Scientists, intergovernmental organizations, students, industry partners, and stakeholders engaged or interested in workforce development and education on ecosystems health, agribusiness, food production, economics and policy regionally and globally.
Outcomes
- A “perspective” paper outlining the vision for workforce development in the context of COMOS
- Proposals for workforce development and capacity building of veterinary services and One Health, promoting regional and global alliances
- Outline plans for the organization of iCOMOS in the Ibero-American region in 2020
Session 1: Unfolding the OMOS paradigm shift through capacity building programs
Moderator: Andres Perez, University of Minnesota
Presentation, Introduction, and Expectations
Andres Perez, University of Minnesota, United States
The Agrovet Project
Brigitte von Rechenberg, Vetsuisse Faculty ZH, University of Zurich, Switzerland
Implementing Programs for Capacity Building of Veterinary Services at a Global Scale
Francois Caya, OIE, France
The ProgRESSVet Capacity Building Program for Latin American Veterinary Services
Emilio León, CEBASEV, OIE Collaborating Center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Mary Katherine O’Brien, CAHFS, OIE Collaborating Center in Minnesota
Capacity Building Program for Sustainable Implementation of OIE Standards - A Training for the Improvement of Veterinary Services Perform
Agnes Leblond and Vincent Brioudes, ENSV, OIE Collaborating Center, Lyon, France
Emerging Needs and Opportunities for Capacity Building in Southern Asia
Tongkorn Meeyam, Chiang Mai University, Thailand
Emerging Needs and Opportunities for Capacity Building in Western Africa
Yalace Kaboret, Ecole Inter Etats des Sciences et Medecine Veterinaires, Dakar, Senegal
Roundtable Discussion: Emerging Needs and Opportunities for Capacity Building of Veterinary Services
Caya, Leon, O’Brien, LeBlond, Brioudes, Meeyam and Kaboret
Roundtable Presentation and Discussion: Emerging Needs and Opportunities for Capacity Building in Aquaculture
Fernando Mardones, Universidad Andres Bello, Chile and Rolando Ibarra, Salmon Technological Institute (INTESAL), Chile
Conclusions and Introduction to Session 2
Andres Perez, University of Minnesota
Session 2: Diagnosing Regional Gaps and Emerging Challenges to Prioritize Multi-Sectoral Opportunities
Moderator: Katey Pelican University of Minnesota, United States
Challenges and Opportunities of Building a Global One Health Workforce
Katey Pelican, University of Minnesota
Field Epidemiology Training Program (FETP) and Field Epidemiology Training Program for Veterinarians (FETPV): Expanding the Global Public Health Workforce Across Human and Animal Health
Stephanie Salyer, CDC, United States
Emerging Issues in Latin America and Emerging Needs for Workforce Development
Enrique Perez, PAHO, United States
Opportunities and Needs for Workforce Development in Food Safety With a Focus in Chile and Other Latin American Countries
Juan Carlos Hormazabal, Department of Infectious Diseases, Institute of Public Health, Government of Chile
Improving Multisectoral Health Responsibility in Turkey: Opportunities and Challenges for Health
Aziz Arda Sancak, Ankara University, Turkey
Roundtable Discussion: Outcomes and Lessons Learned from 8 Years of One Health Workforce Development in Africa and Southeast Asia
Pham Duc Phuc, Coordinator of the Vietnam One Health University Network (VOHUN), Hanoi, Vietnam
Yalace Kaboret, Ecole Inter Etats des Sciences et Medecine Veterinaires, Dakar, Senegal
Irene Naigaga, Regional Program Manager, OHCEA
Roundtable Synthesis and Reflections / Final Remarks
4: Precision Medicine and Genome Editing: Science and Ethics
Coordinators: Cliff Steer and Pamala Jacobson, University of Minnesota; Kavita Berger, Gryphon Scientific
According to the NIH, precision medicine is "an emerging approach for disease treatment and prevention that takes into account individual variability in genes, environment, and lifestyle for each person." It refers to the tailoring of medical treatment to the individual characteristics of each patient and the ability to classify individuals into subpopulations that differ in the biology, susceptibility and response to treatment for a particular disease. In January 2015, the US President launched the Precision Medicine Initiative (PMI), a bold new research effort to revolutionize how we improve health and treat disease, empowering health care providers to tailor treatment and prevention strategies to individuals’ unique characteristics. Gene editing uses engineered nucleases or so-called “molecular scissors” to make changes to specific DNA sequences in the genome of a living organism. They include meganucleases, zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs), transcription activator-like effector-based nucleases (TALENs), and the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-Cas system. Genome editing is being developed to treat not only genetic diseases but also infectious diseases and those that have both a genetic and an environmental component. It is now widely used in biomedical research, including creation of disease models with desired genetic mutations, screening in a high-throughput manner for drug resistance genes, and making appropriate editions to genes in vivo for disease treatment. All of these applications have been facilitating the development of precision medicine research.
Welcome
Clifford Steer, University of Minnesota
Rewriting the Genome
Speakers will discuss the state-of-the-science for precision medicine and genome editing, highlighting the key advances and limitations of each. Speakers will discuss new applications enabled by precision medicine and/or genome editing.
Moderator: Clifford Steer, University of Minnesota
Gene Editing Enters the Food Supply
Dan Voytas, University of Minnesota, United States
Precision Swine Models of Human Disease by Gene Editing
Dan Carlson, Recombinetics, Inc., United States
Targeted Nucleases for Finding Cancer Drivers and Vulnerabilities
David Largaespada, University of Minnesota, United States
Precision public health? The evolving paradigm in health and medicine
Speakers will discuss the implications of precision medicine on public health, describing specific examples where precision medicine limit or enhance public health. Speakers will highlight specific challenges and describe approaches for addressing those challenges.
Moderator: Pamala Jacobson, University of Minnesota
Personalized Medicine Versus Public Health: Contradictory or Complementary?
Nancy Cox, Vanderbilt University, United States
Integrating Pharmacogenomic Information Into Practice
Richard Weinshilboum, Mayo Clinic, United States
Million Veterans Program: Improving Care Through Large Scale Genomics
Ronald Przygodzki, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, United States
Societal Considerations of Ethics, Safety, and Security Speakers will discuss the ethical, safety, and security concerns associated with precision medicine and/or genome editing.
Moderator: Kavita Berger, Gryphon Scientific
Can We Ethically Modify our Genomes?
Debra Mathews, Johns Hopkins University, United States
Safeguarding the Bioeconomy
Edward You, U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, United States
Ensuring the Safety of Human Genome Editing at Home and Abroad
Gary Marchant, Arizona State University, United States
Panel Discussion: Pros and cons: applications of Precision Medicine and Genome Editing
The moderator will prompt discussants to consider and describe the pros and cons of precision medicine, genome editing, and the integration of both fields towards human health.
Moderator: Stephanie Huang, University of Minnesota
5: Science Communication and Strategic Engagement of Policy Makers
Coordinators: Emily Cloyd, American Association of Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Join your colleagues for an American Association for the Advancement of Science Communicating Science workshop specifically designed to help you plan and participate in a wide variety of public engagement activities. During this workshop, you will develop your public engagement and science communication skills through discussion, self-reflection, small-group work and practice sessions. The workshop focuses on the importance of effective, two-way communication and is designed to enable you to engage in meaningful, reciprocal dialogue with diverse audiences. When the session is complete, you will be able to clearly identify a public engagement goal, define a relevant audience, and craft and rehearse messages tailored to that audience.
Science Communication and Public Engagement Fundamentals
Emily Cloyd, American Association for the Advancement of Science, United States
The flagship Science Communication and Public Engagement Fundamentals module focuses on the core components of successful public engagement. Participants are introduced to the AAAS public engagement framework, a guide they can apply to all kinds of interactions. Participants learn how to identify a public engagement goal, determine the relevant audience, craft tailored messages to achieve their goal and rehearse their engagement scenario.
Engaging Policymakers
Emily Cloyd, American Association for the Advancement of Science, United States
The Engaging Policymakers module provides an overview of the science policy landscape and the role of science and scientists in the policy process. This workshop introduces basic best practices for engaging in dialogue with this target audience at a local, state or national level. Participants identify individual communication goals and develop short messages that will resonate with policy audiences.