The Power of One Health: Evan Griffith ’15

Currently pursuing a PhD in infectious disease and global health at Tufts University, Evan Griffith ’15 first realized his love for research as a biology major at Grinnell College. During his undergraduate years, Griffith worked in different biology labs, studying antimicrobial resistance in hog confinements with Professor Shannon Hinsa-Leasure and fungal biology with Professor Kathy Jacobson. During summers in college, he went beyond Grinnell to conduct more research investigations abroad and at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory. Griffith sees Grinnell as the catalyst for the rest of his career: “Grinnell really opened my eyes to all of these different interest areas in biology and the way they can intersect.” He continued his multidisciplinary investigations at Tufts, pursuing a master’s degree in conservation medicine and a DVM-MPH (Doctor of Veterinary Medicine-Master of Public Health) dual degree. After a short stint in veterinary private practice, Griffith decided to pursue a Ph.D. in infectious disease and global health. Now a Ph.D. candidate at Tufts, he’s currently developing the Community One Health Index (COHI) in Turkana County, Kenya.

What is One Health? Griffith describes it as “recognizing the interconnected relationships between human, animal, and environmental health and working together across those disciplines and sectors.” Griffith’s project aims to “develop, pilot, and validate COHI, a tool that measures pastoralist communities' health and well-being” in Turkana. In order to develop COHI, Griffith first used “fuzzy cognitive mapping” during focus groups and key informant interviews with community members, government and NGO officials to visualize the One Health system. Placing Turkana pastoralists at the center of this process highlighted how the environment (e.g., water availability, pasture access, seasonality, and drought), livestock and human disease, and access to veterinary and health services, among other components, are all critically intertwined in the way they affect health and wellbeing. Next steps in his project include selecting human, animal, and environmental health indicators for COHI and piloting the tool in Turkana in collaboration with the county government and NGOs.  Just like he studied the intersection of public health and disease ecology in his research at Grinnell College, Griffith’s One Health project acknowledges how the interaction of multiple systems impacts the health of a community. 

Through his work, Griffith emphasizes the value of having a global and international mindset. While his immediate goal for the tool is to help Turkana County assess conditions and inform policy changes, such as livestock vaccination and food relief, he wants to expand its applicability to any pastoral community around the world and eventually generalize the index to apply to different livelihood systems. As a Grinnellian, Griffith began developing a global perspective while studying abroad in South Africa. There, he studied bird hemoparasites at Kruger National Park. These days, Griffith continues to cultivate international and local connections through his One Health work and finds these relationships and interactions to be professionally and personally rewarding. He’s rarely bored: “everything is a learning opportunity,” he believes.

Although Griffith realized his passion for biology research relatively early in his academic career, he’s grateful that he did not prescribe himself to a rigid path and instead sought out opportunities he found interesting and meaningful. Now, he wants to “follow in the footsteps of his [grad] advisor” and teach at Tufts after he completes his Ph.D.. His Ph.D. advisor, Dr. Hellen Amuguni, inspired him to take a bottom-up approach placing communities at the center of his research and, along with Grinnell professors, Jackie Brown, Kathy Jacobson, and Shannon Hinsa-Leasure, inspired him to teach. Griffith hopes he can have the same impact on his future students.