Originally published: January 2026
There’s an old adage that says even just one person can make a difference, and San Diego Public Health Laboratory’s Veterinarian Dr. Julie Breher is definitely proving that to be true. The County of San Diego (CoSD) Public Health Laboratory (PHL) created this much-needed veterinary position using Future of Public Health (FoPH) funding. This PHL veterinarian role is critical for the county as it's responsible for everything from testing and preventing the spread of zoonotic diseases (ranging from rabies to Avian Influenza) to responding to bioterrorism threats such as anthrax.
“The PHL veterinarian has a broad range of responsibilities – everything from disease surveillance to food safety to animal welfare to research and development and public policy as well. This is a crucial position for us and we’re grateful for the Future of Public Health funding that made it possible.”
– San Diego County Public Health Officer, Dr. Sayone Thihalolipavan
Once hired, Dr. Breher wasted no time. She played an intrinsic role in the design of CoSD’s new PHL facility, which broke ground in October of 2023, and had its ribbon cutting in May of 2025. While much of the design was already finalized by the time Dr. Breher came on board, she was immediately able to contribute to schematic design changes that increased the space’s efficiency and safety. Dr. Breher consulted on layout, equipment, lighting, and as a result, the new laboratory’s rabies and necropsy spaces are superior in quality and are cost efficient and functional. They're all being used to investigate and test specimens for various zoonotic pathogens, which help the county safeguard public health overall. FoPH funding also supports 19 additional staff positions in the PHL, which are vital to long-term sustainability.
The outside of the San Diego Public Health Laboratory
The expansion of county animal testing for rabies was one of Dr. Breher’s first major achievements, and she did extensive outreach to all county local animal health officer (LAHO) jurisdictions to provide training and support on animal bite management and specimen submissions. This integrated approach has resulted in a streamlined rabies testing process that is much more efficient in terms of cost and communication, and it's anticipated to be very useful to multiple CoSD departments, such as the Vector Disease and Diagnostic Laboratory, the Department of Animal Services, and the San Diego Humane Society, as well as the public. To ensure continuity, Dr. Breher created and hosts quarterly LAHO meetings.
Dr. Breher also began building a robust, and unprecedented, network with external entities such as the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), the California Department of Fish & Wildlife (CDFW), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the University of California Davis, Cornell University, private and commercial industry, and other county and state public health branches and laboratories.
Building these braided relationships has fostered a One Health collaborative approach, working at the local, regional, national and global level to achieve optimal health outcomes that recognize the interconnections between people, animals, plants and their shared environment.
Closing Loops and Streamlining
FoPH funding also allowed the CoSD PHL to begin building a testing model for zoonotic disease investigation processes to help close the epidemiological loop on zoonotic disease outbreaks in humans. For example, during recent outbreaks of salmonella and Shiga Toxin-producing E. Coli (both reportable zoonotic diseases in humans), Dr. Breher and the PHL technical team were able to establish testing processes of specimens from animals to which some or all of the human patients had been exposed.
This enhanced the investigation by helping to rule in or out potential point sources as well as providing faster results. This model will now be a regular testing stream to more thoroughly complete epidemiological investigations.
But Wait! There’s More
And, as if that’s not enough, Dr. Breher, along with the epidemiology team that is also funded by FoPH, established a data hub within PHL of all zoonotic disease commercial testing results for companion animals within the county by developing relationships with the two largest national veterinary diagnostic laboratories. CoSD has already started using this information to develop a heat map by zip code to demonstrate trends in the various diseases, and the future goal is to use a One Health approach to overlay this data with that from human, environmental, and wastewater testing to create predictive disease models.
Taking Notice
The PHL Veterinarian’s stellar work has not gone unnoticed. Dr. Breher has received recognition at both the state and national levels for her expertise, and she recently participated in a three-part consortium on One Health and wildlife zoonotic disease management. In June, Dr. Breher traveled to Calgary, Canada, to present at the International Symposium of the World Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians. She also served as a panelist for a national and international University of California Davis Grand Challenges webinar on Avian Influenza, and she was selected to join the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) Human and Animal Food Committee (through which she co-created and co-hosted a One Health workshop at the annual APHL conference in May of 2025).
“Having a veterinarian on staff at a local PHL has not historically been part of our core team, but with a One Health approach, having this expertise on staff has been invaluable. Scrutinizing the human-animal interface and rapidly identifying potential spillover events will create an opportunity for enhanced surveillance of humans who come in contact with zoonotic disease carrying animals,” said Public Health Laboratory Director, Dr. Jeremy Corrigan.
The impact of the CoSD PHL Veterinarian position is undeniable. It’s solid proof that this investment of FoPH funding is going a remarkably long way in modernizing public health laboratory One Health practices. CoSD’s well-spent FoPH funds are having an immeasurable positive impact on the health and wellbeing of not only animals but also on humans and the environment.
Images Courtesy of: San Diego County Public Health
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