In this episode, host Lisa Koontz talks with Daniella Chusyd about how studying elephant health can reveal new insights into human aging, resilience, and disease prevention. Chusyd explains why elephants are a powerful model for understanding longevity, cognitive health, and cancer resistance, and how factors like early-life trauma, pollution, and habitat change affect health over time. The conversation explores how animal research fits into public health through a One Health approach, showing how human, environmental, and animal health are deeply interconnected.
Daniella Chusyd, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Indiana University School of Public Health–Bloomington whose research uses elephants from a comparative approach to study health, aging, and resilience. Her interdisciplinary work examines how genetics, early-life experiences, environmental exposures, and human activity shape long-term health outcomes in both elephants and people. By studying elephants, which share long lifespans and complex social structures with humans but experience far lower rates of cancer and potentially neurodegenerative disease, Dr. Chusyd seeks insights into healthy aging, disease resistance, and the biological impact of stress and environment. Her research also informs conservation and public health policy through a One Health lens that connects human, animal, and environmental well-being.
Host Lisa Koontz is the Director of Faculty Operations at the Indiana University School of Public Health, Bloomington. In this role, she works closely with faculty across disciplines to support research, teaching, and community engagement initiatives that address real-world public health challenges. With a deep understanding of how public health research moves from idea to implementation, Koontz brings an insider’s perspective on how academic work translates into programs, policies, and practices that affect everyday life. As host of Living Well: Public Health for All, she guides conversations that connect research to lived experience, helping listeners understand not just what researchers study, but why it matters for Hoosiers.