The Conservet veterinary externship examines the relations between human, animal and ecosystem health, accepting the One Health premise that an impact on the well-being of any one of the three compartments has consequences for the other two. Remedial actions to achieving wellness can range from traditional veterinary and human clinical interventions to the formulation of preventative policies that work farther upstream in the chain of disease causation.
The goal of Conservet is to recognize different perspectives from different stakeholders, using a critical thinking, problem solving approach to explore solutions to complex global health issues that have not only technical, but also socioeconomic dimensions. Conservet seeks to enlarge the veterinary footprint through a systems thinking approach by engaging a variety of human, animal and ecosystem communities in a montane rainforest in Costa Rica.
Conservet began in 2014, hosted at the Texas A&M Soltis Center northwest of San Jose, Costa Rica. Subsequent workshops have been conducted at Soltis, as well as in the Monteverde region through the Monteverde Institute and the University of Georgia Costa Rica campus. From the start there has been a focus on the need to support and protect ecosystem services and biodiversity as the key investment in global health security.
The Soltis Center, opened in 2009, has been the foundational host for Conservet, providing the field support and logistics needed, set in a secondary rainforest that is strategically positioned between small family farms and protected primary rainforest. This juxtaposition provides a natural platform from which to explore the dynamic interface between human activities, wildlife and primary tropical rainforest, allowing field and laboratory studies on both domestic and wild animals in the context of global and regional issues, including climate change, biodiversity, emerging diseases, conservation, health care, agriculture, energy sources, etc.
The Institute for Global Health & Health Policy (IGHHP) is a U.S. federally-registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization incorporated in 2013 and designed to explore the applications of One Health concepts. While the organization has research and clinical components, a primary focus since its inception has been in the form of educational courses, including Conservet, that offer introductory training and perspectives in the One Heath, big-picture approach to wellness by exploring the need for transdisciplinary collaboration in assessing the fundamental drivers of regional and global health dysfunction as it affects humans, animals and the environment.
Complete the online application if you are interested in attending a Conservet summer externship in 2023.
Once we receive your application, we will contact you to provide you with more information.
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OTHER IGHHP EXTERNSHIPS
MARVET Mexico-Marine Animal Medicine
MARVET Cayman-Marine Animal Medicine
ABOUT Conservet
One Health Externship
Costa Rica - Soltis Center
Conservet is an educational workshop conducted by
The Institute for Global Health and Health Policy,
which is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
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