Texas Tech and the Texas Tech Health Sciences Center have announced the joint appointment for the newly formed institute.
Texas Tech University and the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) have announced Naïma Moustaïd-Moussa as the inaugural executive director of the Institute for One Health Innovation (OHI) beginning July 1.
The position is a joint appointment between Texas Tech and TTUHSC to better facilitate collaborations between the Lubbock-based institutions and other members of the Texas Tech University System (TTU System.)
“Dr. Moustaïd-Moussa was integral to the establishment of OHI,” said Texas Tech Vice President for Research & Innovation Joseph Heppert. “Her experience working across disciplines and institutions, including with collaborators at TTUHSC, made her the ideal candidate for this position. I'm excited to see OHI grow under her outstanding leadership.”
Moustaïd-Moussa is a Horn Distinguished Professor and the founding director of the Obesity Research Institute (ORI) along with being an associate vice president in the Office of Research & Innovation at Texas Tech. She has a proven track record of building interdisciplinary teams through her work with the ORI and will now be tasked with creating programming and opportunities that unite all aspects of One Health research across the TTU System.
“I am very honored and very excited to step into this important role as inaugural director of the Institute for One Health Innovation,” Moustaïd-Moussa said. “This is a unique opportunity for us to synergize collaborations across the TTU System and address the interconnectivity between the health of animals, humans and ecosystems in new ways.”
One Health is a collaborative approach to research that examines the interface between human and animal health, human and plant health, or any combination of the three to improve the health of all species, taking into consideration both lifestyle and environmental influences.
Moustaïd-Moussa said the OHI's ultimate goal is to identify innovative solutions for health and healthcare challenges in rural West Texas by training scientists and healthcare professionals in leading transdisciplinary research.
“For this inaugural directorship of an institute being launched at the TTU System level, we needed to identify an accomplished scholar and health researcher with abundant patience, professionalism and an unrelenting commitment to consensus building in a complex administrative environment,” said TTUHSC Senior Vice President for Research and Innovation Lance McMahon. “Dr. Moustaïd-Moussa is the clear frontrunner among a talented group of such individuals at our system universities and we are thrilled she accepted our offer to fill this important and pioneering role.”
Through OHI Texas Tech, TTUHSC and the TTU System are bringing together physicians, veterinarians, environmental scientists, engineers, nutritionists and public health professionals. By building bridges among disciplines they will make a positive impact on every aspect of the ecosystem humanity calls home.