Dr Bernadette Abela works in the Department for the Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) of the World Health Organization (WHO) as the lead on neglected zoonotic diseases, snakebite and One Health. She was a member of the core drafting group of the new NTD roadmap and is closely involved in advancing common areas of work with the tripartite partners FAO, WOAH, WHO and UNEP, other global actors in health and beyond. Bernadette is a veterinary epidemiologist by training and previously worked in the WHO Department of Food Safety and Zoonoses, for the US Food and Drug Administration on antimicrobial resistance, for l’Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD) in Cameroon on emergence novel viruses from the wild, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the U.N. on veterinary public health, and in clinical veterinary practice.