Ep. 49 Where Data Meets Discovery: A One Health Conversation with Adam Schaefer

In this episode of One Health Wednesdays, Dr. Ginger Dixon sits down with Adam Schaefer, a One Health epidemiologist whose career has taken him everywhere from hospital infectious disease work to marine mammal health assessments, shark sampling, necropsy labs, conservation, and multidisciplinary public health research. Adam brings a rare blend of epidemiology, project management, and research leadership to the conversation, offering a practical look at what it means to do One Health in ways that are collaborative, strategic, and deeply grounded in real communities.Together, they explore how sentinel species can help us detect risks before they fully surface in human populations, why environmental data deserves more attention in One Health work, and what it takes to translate complex science into action. Adam shares powerful examples from his work tracing environmental exposures across wildlife, waterways, food systems, and human health, showing how the most meaningful solutions often emerge when the right disciplines and communities are at the same table.This conversation is a thoughtful reminder that One Health works best when we build trust, connect silos, and stay curious enough to see patterns others might miss. If your work centers on public health and epidemiology, environmental health, conservation, data with community in mind, or the future of cross-sector collaboration, this is an episode you will want to hear.