News

Seattle, WA — February 2026 — The University of Washington (UW) Center for One Health Research (COHR) announces a leadership transition marking a new chapter in the Center’s continued growth and impact. Effective February 16, 2026, Dr. Julianne Meisner has assumed the role of Director of COHR.

Peter Rabinowitz MD, MPH

Founding Director Dr. Peter Rabinowitz will transition to Deputy Director and Director of Human Health, while Dr. Erica Fuhrmeister will continue as Director of Environmental Health.

Dr. Meisner, a veterinarian and epidemiologist, previously served as Deputy Director and Director of Animal Health for COHR. Her research focuses on zoonotic disease transmission, environmental health impacts of livestock, and occupational health risks for animal workers. She has conducted influential field studies in regions including Mongolia and the Middle East and is internationally recognized as a leader in One Health research and education. At UW, she leads key courses including Introduction to One Health and the Understanding Pandemics: When People, Pathogens, and a Changing Planet Collide, and contributes clinically through volunteer service at the Seattle One Health Clinic.

Dr. Rabinowitz, who was the co-author (with the late Lisa Conti DVM, MPH) of the [extraordinary] One Health textbook Human Animal Medicine, founded COHR in 2014 in the UW Departments of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences and Global Health. COHR was among the first academic centers in the United States to bring the One Health framework—integrating human, animal, and environmental health—into a major health sciences complex. Over the past decade, the Center has become a national and international leader in advancing interdisciplinary approaches to emerging health challenges.

Major accomplishments of the UW Center for One Health Research include:

• Training hundreds of students and professionals in One Health principles across UW and global partner institutions
• Leading pioneering studies on microbiome sharing among humans, animals, and environments
• Conducting foundational research on occupational health of animal workers, including zoonotic infection,  injury, and compassion fatigue risks.
• Developing the Washington Integrated Surveillance for Antimicrobial Resistance (WISAR) database, which now includes more than one million bacterial isolates from human, animal, and environmental sources
• Advancing the concept of animals as sentinels for human environmental health risks and creating the “Canary Database” of sentinel events
• Establishing the Seattle One Health Clinic, an innovative program providing integrated care to youth experiencing homelessness and their animals while serving as a training hub for multidisciplinary health sciences students
• Creating one of the first One Health clinical rotations for medical students, including training experiences at zoological and aquatic institutions and the COHR-supported zoonotic and vectorborne disease clinic at the UW medical center.
• Launching the Occupational Health at the Human–Animal Interface (OHHAI) training program, the first research training initiative focused on occupational risks faced by animal workers
• Contributing to global research networks such as the NIH-funded Centers for Research in Emerging Infectious Disease (CREID) and CDC-supported surveillance initiatives
• Co-developing the Checklist for One Health Epidemiological Reporting of Evidence (COHERE), a widely recognized framework for reporting One Health research

In addition to its research achievements, COHR has played a key role in integrating One Health across the UW Health Sciences community, including the Departments of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences and Global Health, the School of Medicine, and national and international One Health networks.

“Dr. Meisner brings extraordinary leadership, scientific rigor, and commitment to interdisciplinary collaboration,” said Dr. Rabinowitz. “Her vision will build on the Center’s strong foundation and expand its global impact in addressing complex health challenges at the human–animal–environment interface.”

Under Dr. Meisner’s leadership, COHR will continue to advance innovative research, education, and partnerships that strengthen disease prevention, environmental health protection, and global health security.