Dr. Laura H. Kahn is a physician, policy researcher, educator, and author. For 15 years, she was a research scholar in the Program on Science and Global Security at Princeton's School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University. Her education and training encompass nursing, medicine, public health, and public policy.
In April 2006, she published Confronting Zoonoses, Linking Human and Veterinary Medicine in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Journal of Emerging Infectious Diseases which helped launch the One Health Initiative, a global movement promoting the health of all species by increasing communication and collaboration between human, animal, plant, environmental, and ecosystem health professionals.
Princeton University awarded her course, Hogs, Bats, and Ebola: An Introduction to One Health Policy, with a 250th Anniversary Fund for Innovation in Undergraduate Education. She converted the course into a free, online Coursera course, Bats, Ducks, and Pandemics: An Introduction to One Health Policy that enrolled over 9000 students from around the world from 2020 to 2023. It is now available on YouTube.
Dr. Kahn is the author of several books. The first, "Who's in Charge? Leadership during epidemics, bioterror attacks, and other public health crises", was originally published in 2009 by Praeger Security International. In 2020, a second edition was issued with a new preface discussing leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic. Her second book, "One Health and the Politics of Antimicrobial Resistance", was published in June 2016 by Johns Hopkins University Press. Her third book, "One Health and the Politics of COVID-19", was published in October 2024 by Johns Hopkins University Press. She has written online columns for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and has published in many peer-reviewed journals.
A native of California, Dr. Kahn holds a bachelor's degree in nursing from UC Los Angeles, a doctorate in medicine from the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, a master's degree in public health from Columbia University and a master's degree in public policy from Princeton University. Dr. Kahn is a fellow of the American College of Physicians. In 2007, the New Jersey Chapter of the American College of Physicians awarded her with their highest honor, the Laureate Award. In 2014, the American Association of Public Health Physicians awarded her with a Presidential Award for Meritorious Service, and in 2016, the American Veterinary Epidemiology Society (AVES) awarded her with their highest honor for her work in One Health: the K.F. Meyer-James H. Steele Gold Head Cane Award.
Selected Publications
- Kahn LH. Perspective: The one-health way. Nature. March 30, 2017; 543: S47: Link.
- Kahn LH. Antimicrobial resistance: a One Health perspective. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 2017; 111: 255-260: Link.
- Kahn LH. Integrating a One Health approach into epidemiology to improve public policy. International Journal of Epidemiology. August 31, 2019: 1-3: Link.
- Kahn LH. "A One Health Approach to Preventing the Next Pandemic." Issues in Science and Technology. May 6, 2020: Link.
- Kahn LH. "Developing a One Health Approach By Using a Multi-Dimensional Matrix." One Health. Dec. 2021. 13: 100289: Link.
- Kahn LH. (2022) "Historical Perspective of Zoonoses and One Health," in Zoonotic Diseases in Animal Agriculture and Beyond: A One Health Perspective. Special Publication of Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST). No. 33. Pages 4-5: Link.
- Kahn LH. (2023) Chapter 2: "One Health from a Physician's Perspective," in More-Than-One Health. Humans, Animals, and the Environment Post-COVID. Edited by Irus Braverman. Routledge. New York, NY 10158. Pages 43-53: Link.
- Kahn LH and Dunham B. (2023) Chapter 11 "One Health and AMR Governance," in Steering against Superbugs. The Global Governance of Antimicrobial Resistance. Edited by Olivier Rubin, Erik Baekkeskov, and Louise Munkholm. Oxford University Press. Pages 141-155: Link.
- Kahn LH. “Lessons From Ecuador: A One Health Perspective.” PEAH—Policies for Equitable Access to Health. February 12, 2024: Link.