VMA-NYC In-Person CE Event: The Private Practitioner as a Public Health Veterinarian

Joseph F. Annelli DVM, MS

The Private Practitioner as a Public Health Veterinarian

Joseph Annelli is a former USDA, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Veterinary Services Senior Advisor for Agriculture and Health System (One Health Coordinator) and Director of the One Health Coordination Center. He retired this past January after a 32-year career covering a broad range of policy and program development to start his own consulting company “Practical One Health Solutions”.

A native of New York, Dr. Annelli received a BS in Biology in 1976 from St. Francis College in Brooklyn, NY, and a MS in Zoology with an emphasis on Oceanography and Wildlife Management from the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University. He received his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine at Del La Salle Araneta University in Quezon City, Philippines in 1983 after completing his senior year of clinical practice at the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine.

Throughout his 32 year federal career he was (and still is) an innovative thinker and one who pushed the needle forward with things like eradicating avian influenza from the live bird market system in NYC, eradicating pseudorabies from the US domestic swine herds, introducing the Incident Command System to Veterinary Services, building the APHIS EOC, building emergency programs activities from being a second thought to a world class response organization. He managed USDA’s engagement in the White House’s Avian and Pandemic Influenza Preparedness implementation plan while on detail to the USDA Secretary’s Office, leading the USDA International Avian and Pandemic Influenza Response Team, developing a Crisis Management Center at the Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome, leading USDA on Global Health Security at the White House, initiating the USDA wide One Health Joint Working Group, the Federal Interagency One Health Working Group, and finally founding and leading the USDA One Health Coordination Center.

Dr. Annelli sees the biggest challenge for Public Practice Veterinarians and One Health in general the lack of acknowledgement that agriculture and animal health really are the first line of defense for human health. Often times, animal health agencies are considered Livestock agencies limited to animal health and animal welfare. But if you take a step back, you’ll see that the true role is to ensure that agriculture provides wholesome, abundant, affordable food for the US and the World. When I say “wholesome,” it’s encompasses food that is nutritionally rich and rid a of disease, and while the programs may be focused on animals, ultimately they are ensuring human health. For example, when dealing with rabies, we develop animal vaccines, yes, but if we were to focus on developing human vaccines, we’d only be addressing a symptom of the problem and not the root cause itself—rabies.

Today, Dr. Annelli continues to advance the cause of One Health. Post retirement, he has started a consulting business called “Practical One Health Solutions” and has been consulting with the World Health Organization on the development of a Zoonotic Disease Guide and has pulled together a global consortium to submit a proposal on measuring countries National AMR Action Plans, influencing Congress to include One Health in the Pandemic and All Hazards Preparedness Act to name a few. And more recently advocating for the “Advancing Emergency Preparedness through One Health Act” a bicameral bipartisan Bill introduced into the US Congress this year.

Dr. Annelli joined NAFV in 1986 and remained a lifelong member since then. He was recruited to take on the role of Executive Vice President in 2019 and expanded communications with members, redesigned the website and added member benefits and training opportunities. He continues to expand member engagement with a new membership management database, website and a mobile app to access a member directory and forum discussions.