2026 One Health Systems Summit
October 31, 2026 | San Antonio, TX
Pre-Conference Workshop | 2026 APHA Annual Meeting and Expo
FREE to Attend | NO Registration Fee
The One Health Systems Summit is a one-day, plenary-only convening that brings together leaders from across health, housing, social services, animal welfare, education, and policy to address the structural failures affecting families with pets. Held as a pre-conference workshop at the 2026 APHA Annual Meeting and Expo—the largest public health gathering in the United States—the Summit is designed not as a traditional conference, but as a field-building movement focused on redesigning governance, policy, workforce integration, and funding structures so that systems better reflect the needs of modern families.
The One Health Systems Summit at a Glance
| Time | Session |
|---|---|
| 8:00 – 8:30am | Arrival & Informal Networking |
| 8:30 – 8:50am | Welcome & Framing |
| 8:50 – 9:35am | Opening Keynote: From Fragmentation to Alignment |
| 9:45 – 10:40am | Session I — The Human–Animal Bond |
| 10:55 – 11:50am | Session II — How Systems Assume Family (Part 1) |
| 12:00 – 12:50pm | Session III — How Systems Assume Family (Part 2) |
| 12:50 – 1:45pm | Lunch |
| 1:45 – 2:30pm | Session IV — Insights from the One Health Clinic |
| 2:45 – 3:35pm | Session V — Why Are We Not Aligned |
| 3:50 – 4:35pm | Session VI — What Aligned Systems Would Require |
| 4:40 – 5:15pm | Session VII — From Vision to Action + Closing |
The morning sessions diagnose how systems define family, where those definitions collide with reality, and what the resulting fragmentation looks like in practice. The afternoon shifts to repair: examining lessons from a Pop-Up One Health Clinic, identifying the structural barriers to alignment, exploring working models, and building a shared action agenda.
Delivered in partnership with the University of Washington Center for One Health Research, Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine, The Street Dog Coalition, and Street Medicine San Antonio the Pop-Up One Health Clinic will be held concurrently with the Summit as a real-time systems stress test.
By integrating human health care, veterinary services, and social supports in one setting, the clinic reveals where systems function effectively and where gaps persist. Insights from the clinic will be shared during Session IV, anchoring the afternoon’s structural discussions in direct, lived experience.
Who Should Attend
The Summit convenes professionals across four sectors whose collaboration is essential to systems change:
Health and Well-Being
Veterinarians, clinicians, public health professionals, social workers, mental health providers, animal welfare leaders, and animal control officers
Education, Policy and Research
Animal law scholars, policy researchers, veterinary and medical schools, think tanks, and community outreach programs
Housing and Transportation
Housing advocates, municipal policy experts, real estate developers and property managers, public transit professionals, and pet transport services
Economic and Community Support
Funders, foundations, community health organizations, faith-based and civic groups, employers, and nonprofit leaders
No single sector can solve these challenges alone.
The Summit is designed to create the conditions for cross-sector collaboration that lasts.
Intended Outcomes
- A shared, cross-sector framework for One Health systems alignment
- Identification of structural barriers in law, policy, funding, and governance that impede coordinated care for pet-inclusive families
- Actionable policy directions and near-term pathways for continued collaboration
- Strengthened partnerships among animal welfare, human health, housing, and social service organizations
- A credible, sustained platform for advancing pet family health equity beyond the Summit itself
For questions about the Summit, attendance, or partnership inquiries:
