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Trenton, NJ 08625-0360

For Release:
August 8, 2025

Jeffrey A. Brown
Acting Commissioner

For Further Information Contact:
Office of Communications
(609) 984-7160

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³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ One Health Task Force Approves Strategic Plan and ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ Department of Agriculture Announces OneHealthConnect Listserv

(TRENTON) – At its May 23, 2025, quarterly public meeting, the ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ One Health Task Force (OHTF) approved its first Strategic Plan.

³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ was the first state in the nation to legislate a One Health initiative by establishing the OHTF (). “One Health” is a concept that recognizes the strong connections and interdependencies between human, animal, and environmental health, and calls for a collaborative, multi-sector, and transdisciplinary approach. The OHTF is comprised of members representing a variety of disciplines, including human and veterinary medicine, public health, epidemiology, and academic research. Read more about One Health and ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ’s One Health Task Force on the ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ Department of Agriculture (NJDA) website.

The Strategic Plan sets forth six major goals for the OHTF to accomplish:

  1. Strengthening One Health Coordination and Collaboration,
  2. Stimulating Interdisciplinary Health Research and Innovation,
  3. Developing a One Health Cognizant Workforce,
  4. Increasing Public Awareness of the Importance of One Health,
  5. Improving Data Accessibility Across Sectors and Disciplines, and
  6. Ensuring Sustainability for the One Health Approach in ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ.

Each goal is supported by underlying short-term (one-year) or longer-term (3-5 year) objectives. The Task Force’s Strategic Planning Committee will revisit and revise these goals and objectives annually to assess progress.

“Agriculture sits at the crossroads of human, animal, and environmental health,” said ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ Agriculture Secretary Ed Wengryn. “From food safety to animal disease to soil and water quality, each challenge we face is deeply interconnected. By addressing them holistically, we can ensure the resilience of our agricultural systems.”

“Through the One Health Task Force, ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ is working to advance our scientific understanding of the complex relationships between public health, our environment, and plant and animal health,” ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Shawn M. LaTourette said. “This first Strategic Plan will help spur a coordinated, multi-disciplined response to growing threats to wildlife and agricultural commodities, ultimately better protecting public health.”

"Protecting the public’s health requires understanding and responding to diseases and other health threats that spread between people and animals. It also requires recognizing how these challenges impact our globally connected environment,” said ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ Department of Health Acting Commissioner Jeff Brown. “This strategic plan puts ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ at the vanguard of science and public health, providing a roadmap for building the infrastructure that will undergird this complex and essential work.”  

As reported at the May 23 meeting, several Strategic Plan objectives are actively underway, and more are planned in the near future. The ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ OHTF looks forward to its work with the goal of improving the health of ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ residents, animals, plants, and ecosystems.

The ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ Department of Agriculture also announces the release of a new tool to facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration in ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ, the OneHealthConnect listserv. Anyone can register for the listserv, and users can choose to receive rolling email updates or weekly digests. The listserv may prove useful in sharing One Health related articles, webinars, and resources; establishing connections between experts in other fields to share data, samples, or ideas; and organizing interdisciplinary projects or grants. 

to stay up to date with the NJ One Health initiative!