Lea Knopf is a veterinary epidemiologist by training and has been working on the human-animal-environmental interface (focusing on animal and human health), throughout her career in different settings around the world. She joined GIZ as an advisor for One Health at the end of 2020.
She has over 20 years of experience working in and with international, multidisciplinary and cross-sectoral teams or networks. This includes science-based problem-solving approaches, capacity building, and beneficiary-centric policy development processes over a wide range of topics - at national, regional and global level. She started her career at the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, subsequently acquired several years of experience at the science – policy interface with emphasis on zoonoses and wildlife surveillance systems and risk assessments at the Swiss Veterinary Services and later at the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE). Further she repeatedly served as a consultant on zoonoses to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). As staff of the Global Alliance for Rabies Control (GARC), she gained first-hand experience on the NGO perspective. Just before her current position at GIZ, she worked for 5 years on Neglected Zoonoses at the NTD Department of the World Health Organization (WHO) Headquarters.