From earning his Ph.D. and master’s degree at the University of Florida to returning as the director of the One Health Center of Excellence, Michael von Fricken is a Gator through and through.
“This is an exciting opportunity to implement a campus-wide shared vision of refocusing One Health back toward the interface between human, animal and environmental health and the threats that occur in this space,” von Fricken said.
As an experienced researcher and educator with a focus on global public health initiatives, von Fricken explains that this intersection provides an opportunity for emerging diseases and threats to occur, impacting vital human and animal populations and the ecosystems in which they thrive.
This includes common public health issues researchers encounter like vector-borne threats and diseases.
The center functions as a cross-collaborative effort between the numerous colleges and institutes across UF, including the College of Public Health and Health Professions, the College of Veterinary Medicine, the Emerging Pathogens Institute and the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. Von Fricken has already begun interacting with other campus entities to foster engagement with the center in his new role.
Von Fricken, an associate professor in the UF Department of Environmental and Global Health at the College of Public Health and Health Professions brings an extensive background to this position with advanced master’s and doctoral degrees in epidemiology and environmental and global health from UF. He also spent several years as a postdoctoral associate in infectious diseases at Duke University School of Medicine.
“But it’s not about me or my experiences,” he noted. “It’s about using this platform to lift others up.”
Now, along with his role as the One Health director, von Fricken also contributes to UF’s graduate degree programs in One Health by teaching courses grounded in the One Health theory. This affords him the opportunity to bring his global research and capacity-building experiences to the classroom, so students are exposed to how the One Health approach is implemented in real-world settings.
“A strength of von Fricken’s portfolio is the vast network of agencies and collaborators that are at the forefront of One Health research and practice,” said Dr. Tara Sabo-Attwood, former professor and chair of the UF Department of Environmental and Global Health. “The One Health Center is well poised to serve as a hub where these partnerships can be integrated and nurtured.”
Von Fricken first became interested in the realm of public health in 2009 while living in Kenya and working with communities impacted by HIV/AIDS. Since then, he has spent a year living in Mongolia, where he researched tick-borne diseases in nomadic pastoralists.
“I’ve enjoyed working with tick-borne diseases given their impact, both on human and animal health,” he said. “There are still a lot of gaps that need to be addressed to improve our understanding of disease burden and drivers of infection.”
For example, it is vital to identify the human behaviors that increase risk of contact with vector-borne diseases. These “risk profiles” vary depending on lifestyle, region and environment.
Additionally, von Fricken has spent time studying malaria in Haiti and Equatorial Guinea, with an emphasis on surveillance and control.
His international experiences have taught him invaluable lessons that stress the importance of taking a One Health approach to tackling complex issues.
“It’s critical that you understand your team’s strengths and weaknesses, and that you have the right people at the table when deploying a One Health approach,” he said. “To ensure success in solving complex issues, you have to leave egos at the door and remain focused and committed to your end goal, which — for me — is to save lives and prevent the emergence of new threats and diseases.”
Von Fricken also highlights the importance of partnering with in-country decision makers to work toward practical solutions that meet community needs. While it can be common to solely work with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in a public health space, institutional and government partners will be the ones ultimately making decisions for their populations, he added.
After serving as a postdoctoral associate at Duke University, von Fricken became an assistant professor at George Mason University, where he also worked as a research associate at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. This role allowed him to participate in the USAID One Health Workforce: Next Generation, providing professional development and training opportunities for partners in Kenya.
Von Fricken credits his successes globally to his commitment to adopting a One Health mindset across projects, something he hopes to engrain in student mentees here at University of Florida.
“I’d really like to create collaborative teams to address some of our most complex and wicked problems facing vulnerable populations around the world,” he said. “And this is possible at UF because of our strong institutional support, top-rated veterinary and human medicine programs, world renowned virologists and environmental and global health experts and the extensive investment in AI. Pull these together, and you have a recipe to get things done.”
With years of research and teaching experience under his belt, von Fricken envisions a future for the One Health Center of Excellence that not only takes advantage of the resources, faculty and students at UF, but creates a competitive hub where we can compete for large funding opportunities that prepare students for careers in research, public health, clinical practice and policy, all while serving the state of Florida.
“It’s an exciting time to be working in One Health,” he said. “Florida is a frontline territory for disease emergence, we need to make sure our graduates and the communities we serve are ready to respond.”
He added that his proudest accomplishment thus far has been providing opportunities for students both in the U.S. and abroad to open doors and launch their own research careers. At UF, von Fricken aspires to push his students beyond the textbooks and to translate classroom material into real-world experiences.
“I finally hit a point in my career where my early trainees have mentees of their own.” he said. “At the end of the day, our legacy is our students.”