Dr Catherine Machalaba

Dr Machalaba holds a PhD in Environmental and Planetary Health Sciences from the City University of New York School of Public Health and a Masters in Public Health from Dartmouth, both in the U.S. She serves as the Planetary Health Scientist at The Nature Conservancy. She has led multiple research and policy projects in close collaboration with partners around the world, with a major focus on One Health in biodiversity conservation, climate action, and protected area management.

She was a lead author of the World Bank Operational Framework for Strengthening Human, Animal and Environmental Public Health Systems at their Interface (“One Health Operational Framework”) published in 2018 to assist countries and development institutions in implementing One Health approaches. Her research interests center on assessing system gaps and opportunities for strengthening global and national coordination across sectors, nature-based solutions for health, and One Health economic analyses to target cost-effective strategies to reduce disease risk and impact. Dr. Machalaba was the programme officer for the IUCN Species Survival Commission’s Wildlife Health Specialist Group for 10 years and active in several biodiversity-related initiatives, including Future Earth and the Nature for Health UN Multi-Partner Trust Fund.

While serving as Chair of the American Public Health Association’s Veterinary Public Health group she led development of the Association’s One Health policy statement. Her work has been published in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization, OIE Scientific and Technical Review, Annals of Global Health, and Foreign Affairs, among other venues. She began her One Health career in 2004 as a field agent for West Nile virus surveillance in birds at a state public health office.