Prof. Dr. Jakob Zinsstag is a veterinarian with a PhD in tropical animal health. He spent eight years in West Africa at the International Trypanotolerance Centre in The Gambia and four years as the director of the Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques in Côte d’Ivoire. Since 1998 he heads a research group on human and animal health at the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute. Since 2011 his is deputy head of department of Epidemiology and Public Health at Swiss TPH. He focuses on the control of zoonoses in developing countries and the provision of health care to mobile pastoralists using a One Health approach. He is past president of the International Association for Ecology and Health and former president of the scientific board of the Transdisciplinary network of the Swiss Academies. He is editor-in-chief of CABI One Health resources https://www.cabi.org/products-and-services/one-health-resources-cabi/

He received the Meritorious Award by the World Organization of Animal Health (WOAH) in 2023.