Announcing the 2025-26 Global One Health Fellows

We are pleased to announce the 2025-26 cohort of the Global One Health Fellows. The following five students were selected from a highly competitive pool of over 60 excellent applications from across seven academic colleges here at NC State University. As fellows, these students will broaden their knowledge in multiple domains of One Health while learning from peers and mentors to bring new perspectives that facilitate a deeper understanding in their field of study.

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Ashley Cave

Ashley is a fourth year DVM/PhD student in the Comparative Biomedical Sciences program at North Carolina State University, advised by Drs. Matthew Breen and Gregory Lewbart. Ashley is researching exposures to environmental and anthropogenic contaminants in domestic animals and wildlife. Additionally, she is investigating the adverse health consequences of such exposures. Through this research and her clinical veterinary training, Ashley seeks to enhance our understanding of the scope of anthropogenic pollution in our environment and the harmful effects that these chemicals may have on all species.

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Jessica Ding

Jessica is a first year PhD student in the Entomology program, where she studies insecticide resistance and vector-borne disease at the intersection of ecology, public health, and genetics & genomics. Her current research focuses on the spatiotemporal dynamics of pyrethroid resistance in Aedes albopictus, an invasive mosquito species and a major vector of human disease. Drawing from her background in health & medical geography, Jessica hopes to study how social, economic, and environmental factors shape disease risk and mosquito population dynamics across heterogeneous landscapes. Her work bridges genetic and ecological methods with place-based inquiry, and she is particularly interested in how disease emergence and environmental health intersect in rapidly changing environments.

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Cassidy Oliverio

Cassidy is a second year Ph.D. student in the Department of Chemistry, working in the lab of Dr. Gavin Williams. Her research focuses on the development of genetically encoded biosensors to use as tools in terpene biosynthetic pathway engineering strategies. She focuses on two terpenes, nootkatone and artemisinin, which aid the global fight against malaria. Cassidy believes that by using microbes for the production of these molecules, rather than extracting from plant life, we can have a more reliable source that is less damaging to the planet.

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Emma Sell-Goodhand

Emma Sell-Goodhand is a first-year Ph.D. student in Applied Social Psychology, working under the mentorship of Dr. Laura Widman. Her research aims to explore the impact of climate migration on youth sexual health outcomes.

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Kelly van Woesik

Kelly van Woesik is a first year Ph.D. student in the Geospatial Analytics program and a 2024 Goodnight Doctoral Fellow, advised by Dr. Natalie Nelson. Broadly, Kelly’s research interests include linking spatial analyses, machine learning, remote sensing, and ecology to better understand and preserve land-sea systems in a changing climate. Her dissertation research is at the intersection of environmental and public health, studying coastal water-quality impacts from sea-level rise, and she is excited to join the 2025-2026 cohort of Global One Health Fellows.