The Land Grant University for the 21st Century
Washington State University - Agency 365
2009-2011 Operating Budget
Request
Performance Level Decision Package
–Policy Level "GH"
School for Global Animal Health
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Updated Aug 25, 2008
Agency Recommendation Summary:
WSU requests $6.4 million for the creation of a new WSU School for Global Animal
Health to provide
practical, innovative solutions to infectious disease challenges through
research, education, global outreach, and application of disease control at the
animal-human interface. The funding will secure eight faculty positions, four of
which will be key senior-level, internationally-recognized faculty, to launch
the school in the areas of animal-human disease transmission, vaccine
development, disease surveillance and global animal health policy. The School
for Global Animal Health will advance science, people, and policy to discover
novel approaches for disease intervention and delivery of preventive health care
for animals and humans.
Fiscal Details:
Narrative Justification and Impact Statement:
This
proposal is at the forefront of the university’s strategic plan led by President
Elson Floyd to create research centers that are world-renowned and that bring
direct benefits to the state. Infections transmitted from animals to humans
account for more than 70 percent of human infectious diseases, including
emerging diseases like Avian influenza and West Nile Virus, and those existing
diseases which are poorly controlled and not easily prevented such as
Salmonella and
E. coli. Through its mission
of providing innovative solutions to global infectious disease challenges at the
animal-human interface, the School for Global Animal Health will advance
science, people and policy to discover novel approaches for disease intervention
and delivery of preventive health care for animals and humans.
The
Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine has developed an
extraordinary amount of expertise in identifying, controlling, researching, and
preventing diseases that are transmitted between animals and humans. Dr. Terry
McElwain, for instance, directs WSU’s
Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, which has led efforts to
safeguard public health.
This
$6.4 million biennial operating request seeks eight key scientific faculty
positions in four clusters that will build a university program second to none
in the nation. Closely aligned with the
Department of Global Health at the University of Washington, the School for
Global Animal Health will provide a unique and critical contribution that will
make the state of Washington a leader in addressing global health issues at the
animal-human interface, and will give the state
of Washington maximum capability to deal with emerging disease threats.
Matching the
State’s
Investment
State
investment in this proposal has already been matched by private and federal
funding. Through a $25 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation,
a new building with critical modern global animal health research space on the
campus of Washington State University will serve as the centerpiece for the
School. Increased State investment should prove to be a catalyst for still more
non-state funding.
The New
Faculty
This request will provide
funding for targeted recruitment of new faculty to strengthen existing expertise
and to add new expertise not currently present within WSU, UW, or other research
institutions in the state. These
individuals are essential for fulfilling the mission of the School, developing
an internationally leading graduate program and strengthening existing
inter-institutional linkages. The specific areas of expertise targeted for
faculty clusters are detailed below.
· Zoonotic Disease Transmission
–
provides new expertise in mapping routes of transmission of pathogens such as
E. coli, from animals and their
environment to humans, with emphasis on new strategies for blocking
transmission. This faculty cluster will
complement the existing strengths in zoonotic disease control at Washington
State University.
·
Vaccine Development
– provides new
expertise in developing vaccines targeted at animals with the goal of preventing
ongoing transmission to humans. This
faculty cluster will be linked inter-institutionally with members of the
Washington Vaccine Alliance (Fred Hutchison Cancer Research Center, Infectious
Diseases Research Institute, Palouse Area Therapeutic Horsemanship, Pacific
Northwest National Laboratory, Seattle Biomedical Research Institute, UW and
WSU) and will provide the expertise underlying innovative approaches to vaccine
development, specifically including the joint State of Washington-Queensland
initiative for development of a vaccine to prevent livestock transmission of
E. coli to humans.
·
Emerging Disease Surveillance
– provides unique new
expertise in detection of emerging diseases at the global level that threaten
human and/or animal health within the state, and focuses on development of novel
testing procedures and screening methodology.
·
Global Animal Health Policy and Metrics
–
provides needed expertise in measuring intervention outcomes and formulating
science-based policy to control
international spread of animal and zoonotic diseases.
New
faculty will be recruited as clusters composed of a senior scientist with an
existing extramurally funded research program, a junior level faculty member,
two research technologists, and two post-DVM Graduate Research Assistant
positions. This cluster approach provides
both the depth and breadth within targeted areas (Zoonotic Disease Transmission,
Vaccine Development, Emerging Disease Surveillance, and Global Animal Health
Policy and Metrics), and is a key element in attracting internationally
recognized scientists, providing an opportunity for new senior faculty to
recruit personnel or bring existing associates with them.
These new faculty will join existing faculty with extramurally funded
programs (NIH, USDA, and the Wellcome Trust among others) in disease diagnosis
and surveillance, epidemiology, economics and policy, and vaccine development.
WSU scientists are internationally recognized for their work in food and
water-borne diseases (e.g. E. coli and
Salmonella), emerging disease
surveillance (e.g. West Nile Virus and Avian Influenza), vector-borne disease
control (infections spread by insects), and vaccines.
Global Implications
WSU researchers are currently leading efforts to thwart disease outbreaks
through surveillance and early detection, and are developing new strategies to
reduce pathogen levels below the thresholds required for transmission.
The School for Global Animal Health and its partners within the
Washington Global Health Alliance will implement innovative and cost-effective
approaches to reduce the impact of animal disease on human health and economic
security. Examples of the effectiveness
of this approach are the control of human rabies through animal vaccination and
the virtual elimination within the U.S. of human tuberculosis caused by
ingesting infected milk.
WSU scientists have a rich history in global animal health
–
starting in Kenya in the late 1970s to develop novel vaccines against tropical
infections and now expanded to include disease surveillance and epidemiology.
The outcomes extend far beyond animal health to directly impact the
levels of economic development and security in the poorest countries.
“Progress
in education and health in the poorest countries relies upon animal health,”
according to Guy Palmer, who will serve as director of the WSU School for Global
Animal Health and who is a member of the National Academy of Sciences Institute
of Medicine.
“The
loss of even a single cow, where the average herd size is less than 10, can
result in premature termination of a child’s
education or the inability to purchase needed medicines,”
Palmer said.
Implications for Washington State
The School for Global Animal
Health will extend the current leading role WSU plays in both disease
surveillance and protection of the food supply.
This will bring direct economic benefit to the state by attracting new
federal and private research funding in global health.
Economic impact analysis of global health in the state of Washington
reveals the creation of nearly 14,000 direct jobs (mean annual wage of $55,937)
and a 3.2 total job/direct job multiplier, resulting in greater than 43,000
total jobs. This employment generates
greater than $4B in total business activity and total tax revenue to the state
of $141M. The total business activity
generated by global health research and teaching at WSU and UW exceeds $130M and
has a total expenditure/state expenditure multiplier of approximately 4:1.
Additional benefits will be
generated through protecting and expanding national and international markets
for Washington agricultural products.
Animal agriculture is a $1.5B industry in Washington state.
Our agricultural markets, including aquaculture production, are dependent
on maintaining or verifying disease free status in animals or their live
products. Early recognition of a disease
which can shut off exports is vital to limiting the impact on agricultural
markets, and surveillance is the key.
As we have experienced with BSE, this can have a serious and prolonged
impact on the economy. The need for rapid
surveillance of emerging disease is clearly illustrated by the $13B economic
loss attributable to the 2001 Foot and Mouth disease outbreak in the U.K.
Models based on this outbreak predict that each hour of delay in diagnosis will
result in an additional $10M economic loss in livestock intensive areas.
The School for Global Animal Health will increase our capacity to
identify, develop and implement novel control solutions to both newly emergent
pathogens and long-standing disease problems (e.g.
Salmonella and
E. coli) to meet the dual goals of
protecting human health and our animal agriculture industry.
Additional products such as vaccines for use in animals and novel
diagnostic assays would provide a direct market return for the Washington State
biotechnology industry.
A new graduate program
designed to dynamically collaborate across institutional boundaries with the UW
and health institutions across the state of Washington has been initiated using
private foundation support. The graduate program in the School for Global Animal
Health, which integrates laboratory and field studies with policy and is the
first of its kind in the nation, will drive expansion of graduate education at
WSU by attracting new competitive federal funding (NIH and USDA) and by
continuing to attract international students fully supported by their home
countries. Based on our current programs,
we expect an increase of 4 doctoral students per new faculty with a 4:1
multiplier of total graduate students per state funded student.
Importantly, these graduates will further enrich the human resource
capabilities with the state through development of novel methods to control
diseases at the animal-human interface and by implementation of science-based
policy.
While this request is
centered on recruitment of the faculty expertise needed for the first phase of
development, the School for Global Animal Health will seek federal and private
funding as well to provide needed facilities, additional new junior faculty with
unique expertise, and support for cross-institutional and global outreach.
Expected Outcomes for the
State:
This budget request
addresses two primary strategic Priorities of Government – “Improving
the Health of Washingtonians” and “Improving
the Economic Vitality of Businesses and Individuals”.
It is expected that full funding will:
1 - Enhance global health
partnerships among Washington’s premier state, federal and private institutions
2
- Solidify the leadership of
the State of Washington in global health through development of
interdisciplinary and inter-institutional research and graduate education
3 - Transform current strengths
at Washington State University into preeminence in the control of infectious
diseases at the animal-human interface by catalyzing new federal and private
investment
4
- Mitigate the impacts of
infectious diseases such as avian flu, foodborne diseases and foot and mouth
disease on animal and human health, the food supply and agricultural markets
through development of novel methods of intervention at the animal-human
interface.
5
-
Improve global competitiveness of Washington State in the animal and human
health sectors
Calculations:
For more information,
contact Larry Ganders, Assistant to the WSU President, Olympia, at 360-534-2333
