Pulse - January 2025 - 14

UC DAVIS UPDATE
Pandemic Preparedness:
How the University of California Is a Critical
State Partner in Health Security
UC Health News and Rob Warren, SVM Communications
D
airy cows in California have
a new requirement meeting
them: a negative test for H5N1 or
" bird flu. "
These tests are handled by the California
Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory
System (CAHFS) - the backbone of California's
warning system that helps to protect the
health of California's livestock and, thereby, the
lives of Californians.
Through a partnership between the UC
Davis School of Veterinary Medicine (SVM)
and the California Department of Food and
Agriculture, the CAHFS program is a safeguard
for public health. With locations in
Davis, Turlock, Tulare, and San Bernardino-
each strategically located to meet
the
agriculture industry needs of the surrounding
area-the program provides quality services,
like H5N1 testing, intended to protect animal
health and performance, public health and
California's food supply.
Veterinarians as state partners and first-line
responders in pandemic response
Bird flu is not the first zoonotic disease
to significantly alter the public health landscape,
nor will it be the last. Salmonella,
Zika, COVID-19 - these recent and ongoing
pandemics emphasize that zoonotic disease
threats are ever-present and carry a growing
risk not just to animal health, but to global
public health.
That's why the UC Davis One Health
approach guides the work of the nation's #1
veterinary school.
" Veterinary professionals and researchers
are at the forefront of addressing and studying
zoonotic diseases, " said Dr. Mark Stetter,
dean of the SVM. " By adopting a transdisciplinary
One Health approach, we understand
the interconnectedness of animal, human, and
environmental health. As global health challenges
grow, UC Davis will
remain a vital
partner-partnering with California agencies,
local farmers, and more-to promote the well14
UC
Davis School of Veterinary Medicine researchers are at the forefront of pandemic preparedness research.
being of animals, people, and our shared planet. "
UC is a partner in local, state, national and
global pandemic preparedness research
Predicting and preparing for the next public
health emergency started during the last one
and has been made possible through regular
collaborative, collective action.
In 2020, in coordination with the city of
San Francisco and the state of California,
UCSF launched the Center for Pandemic Preparedness
and Response (CPPR) to address
pandemics at both local and global scales,
focusing on enhancing readiness, response,
and resilience against significant health threats.
Currently, while continuing its pandemic
response initiatives, CPPR has broadened its
scope to adopt a One Health approach, emphasizing
the importance of collaboration across
various sectors to mitigate disease threats.
Fast-forward to 2022, and teams of researchers
from UC Davis, UCLA and UC San Diego
received U.S. National Science Foundation
(NSF) grants as part of a new NSF Predictive
Intelligence for Pandemic Prevention (PIPP)
program, designed to support the development
of centers that work to predict the emergence
and spread of the next pandemic.
JANUARY 2025
PULSE
In August 2024, NSF announced the awards
for the next phase in the PIPP program, which
established the Center for Pandemic Insights
(CPI), led by UC Davis and in partnership
with ten other institutions, including UCLA
and UC San Diego. CPI's goal is to leverage
emerging technologies and enhance detection
methods to identify, study, and ultimately
inform pandemic prevention efforts worldwide.
" CPI is a moonshot for being able to
transform how we do investigations into the
pre-emergence phase for pandemics, " said center
lead Dr. Christine Johnson, a professor of epidemiology
and ecosystem health at the SVM and
director of the EpiCenter for Disease Dynamics
in the school's One Health Institute. " We'll be
able to optimize cutting-edge technology that's
already being applied in areas of human health,
engineering, and agriculture and bring them
into this important space to help with wildlife
and pandemic threats. " P

Pulse - January 2025

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pulse - January 2025