Brantford native Ben Snetsinger wasn’t the only student to cross the stage at a University of Guelph convocation in June, but his achievement was singular.
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The 24-year-old became the first-ever Bachelor of One Health graduate in Canada and, possibly, North America. Because he transferred from another U of G program and was successful in advanced One Health courses, he propelled ahead of the first cohort of students who will graduate in 2026.
“As the most senior student I was the first one to graduate,” said Snetsinger. “It was weird and cool at the same time.”
Conferring his degree was the culmination of more than three decades of work to integrate One Health into the University of Guelph’s programming. This includes the establishment of the One Health Institute in 2018 by Dr. Cate Dewey and program manager Katherine Heyland, which has become the home base for community members engaged in One Health research, academic programming and public promotion. While some schools have One Health courses, Guelph is the only Canadian university offering a full degree.
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One Health is defined by the World Health Organization as an “integrated, unifying approach to balance and optimize the health of people, animals and the environment. It is particularly important to prevent, predict, detect, and respond to global health threats such as the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The approach mobilizes multiple sectors, disciplines and communities at varying levels of society to work together. This way, new and better ideas are developed that address root causes and create long-term, sustainable solutions.
Snetsinger uses the COVID-19 pandemic to help explain the One Health concept to others. The virus traveled from animals to humans amidst cultural and environmental factors.
“Vaccines are great and can directly affect your health, but they can’t prevent disease from popping up again,” he said.
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Tackling issues at their root involves financial, spiritual, social, and cultural, among other considerations. In the One Health program Snetsinger broadened his knowledge by taking classes outside his main field of study – sociology, geography and chemistry among them.
“With One Health you try to leave nothing out, nothing undone,” said Snetsinger. “It’s not always easy to collaborate with people but it’s necessary. It brings about those holistic solutions that really get to the root of the issues you’re trying to solve.”
Although the One Health approach isn’t new – there are many Indigenous communities around the world that have long incorporated it as part of their views of health – it is relatively new to Western science.
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“It seems like a very intuitive approach,” said Snetsinger. “People need to be more open to thinking about issues that are not their own.”
When Snetsinger was a student at Brantford Collegiate Institute, he wasn’t sure what he’d pursue post-secondary. A high school biology course on disease sparked his interest and he became a microbiology major at Guelph. But a co-op at a large sausage manufacturer in his second year of study made him realize lab work wasn’t for him. Taking an epidemiology course at the Ontario Veterinary College led to a fascination with how diseases move and change the world and how modelling them could be used to predict outcomes and save lives.
As a passionate advocate for One Health, Snetsinger, who returned to the University of Guelph in the fall to work toward his master of public health, took part in several roundtables with politicians, including Guelph MP Lloyd Longfield, Milton MP Adam van Koeverden and Dr. Harpreet Kochhar, Deputy Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, to discuss how it can be implemented in the future.
Snetsinger said he would love to be part of the process.
“We only have everything to gain by using it.”
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