top of page
Plenary Speakers
Prof Georgios Banos - The contribution of selective breeding to controlling bovine tuberculosis
Professor in Computational Biology, Animal Breeding and Genomics, Scotland's Rural College, Scotland
Prof Banos graduated from the Faculty of Agriculture at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece (emphasis on Livestock Production), before completing his MSc at the University of New Hampshire, USA and PhD at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA, in 1989, with a focus on the genetic improvement of farm animals. After a two-year post-doctoral stint at the Centre for the Genetic Improvement of Livestock at the University of Guelph in Canada, he accepted an offer to lead the newly established Interbull Centre, hosted by the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala, Sweden, with the mandate to develop and deliver international genetic evaluation services to the global bovine sector, and with stakeholders in more than 30 countries worldwide. In the process, Prof Banos completed a Master of Business Administration degree at the University of Warwick in the UK. In 2000, he returned fulltime to the academia, as a Professor at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, where he conducted research and taught genetics of livestock disease resistance. For the next 12 years, he collaborated closely with Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) in Edinburgh as a Visiting Professor. In 2012, he moved to Edinburgh to take on his current role, which is also linked to an Honorary Professorship with the University of Edinburgh. He continues conducting research on the genetics of farm animal disease resistance and performance, supervising PhD students, and teaching at the undergraduate and graduate levels. He has been keen on investigating the genetic background of animal resistance to bovine tuberculosis (bTB) and managed the research project that led to the launch of the national genetic evaluation for bTB in the UK.
Dr Maria Laura Boschiroli - Bovine tuberculosis control in a disease-free country, France: does the long and winding road really lead to eradication?
Anses (French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety), FranceDr Maria Laura Boschiroli is Research Director, head of the Bovine Tuberculosis National Reference Laboratory- OIE Bovine Tuberculosis Reference Laboratory at Anses (French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety). Laura completed her B. Sc and PhD on molecular microbiology at the Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina. Her area of expertise includes molecular-genomic epidemiology, validation and introduction of new tests for the French diagnostic scheme for TB surveillance on livestock and wildlife, control of TB diagnostic reagents. She also provides advice to the World Organisation for Animal Health and the French authorities on the national TB control programme.
https://www.anses.fr/en
Dr Sewellyn Davey - Challenges to the control of Mycobacterium bovis in livestock and wildlife populations in the South African context
Chief State Veterinarian Malmesbury (SA) Department of Agriculture: Western Cape: Animal Health, South Africa
Sewellyn Davey is a retired Veterinary Scientist with extensive experience in the diagnosis and control of bovine brucellosis and tuberculosis. After majoring in Microbiology and Zoology for a Bachelor of Science degree in 1975, she graduated with a Bachelor of Veterinary Science in 1980 from the Onderstepoort Veterinary Faculty of the university of Pretoria. Early in her career, she was stationed at first at Ermelo, Mpumalanga, and later in Kroonstad, Free State. As a laboratory vet in these regional laboratories, she concentrated on disease investigation and diagnosis and in 1982 headed up the serology section in the Kroonstad Laboratory.
In 1987 Sewellyn was appointed State Veterinarian for Animal Health in Malmesbury in the Western Cape. Disease control was her mandate. In 2020 she retired from government service. She then registered with the South African Veterinary Council and is a private consultant for bovine brucellosis, MAP and bovine TB. This in order to assist her colleagues with the diagnosis, management and control of these diseases.
Sewellyn has consulted in South Africa and abroad. She served on the OIE ad hoc committee tasked with the rewriting of the Terrestrial Code chapters on Brucellosis and Tuberculosis. From 2016 until 2020 she was chairperson of the Ministerial Technical (Min Tech) Working Group on bovine brucellosis, and member of the Min Tech working group on bovine tuberculosis.
She relies heavily on academic and research advances to inform her laboratory and field work. This has improved her diagnoses of these three complicated intracellular diseases and promoted better disease control.
Dr Lucía de Juan - The bTB eradication programme in Spain - the role of the EU reference laboratory
Director VISAVET, Director European Union Reference, Laboratory for Bovine Tuberculosis,VISAVET Health, Surveillance Centre & Vet School.Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain
Dr. Lucía de Juan the Director at VISAVET Health Surveillance Centre, Director European at Union Reference Laboratory for Bovine Tuberculosis and an Associate Professor at the Vet School in the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Lucía graduated in Veterinary Medicine (1997) and obtained a PhD in Veterinary Sciences (2005) from the University Complutense de Madrid. Since 1998 she has been working in the Animal Health Department of the Veterinary School. After the establishment of the VISAVET Health Surveillance Centre in 2008, she has been the Head of the Mycobacteria Unit until 2014. Currently, she is professor in the Vet School (UCM) and director of the VISAVET Centre and the European Union Reference Laboratory for Bovine Tuberculosis. She is an advisor for the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment regarding the eradication programme for bovine tuberculosis. As a result of her research carrier, Dr. de Juan has published more than 80 papers in international publications and she has also participated in national and international congresses with more than 250 contributions.
https://www.visavet.es/en/visavet/staff/lucia_de_juan_ferre.php
Dr Gareth Enticott - Social Identities and the Eradication of Bovine Tuberculosis: The Role of ‘Good Farmers’ and ‘Real Vets’
Reader in Human Geography, School of Geography and Planning, Cardiff University, United Kingdom
Dr Gareth Enticott is a Reader in Human Geography at Cardiff University. His research focuses on biosecurity and animal disease surveillance and management. Dr Enticott is an expert in the ongoing controversy in the UK surrounding bovine Tuberculosis in cattle and badgers and has advised the UK government on the role of social research in helping the management of the disease. His research has also focused on the management of bovine Tuberculosis in New Zealand. Specifically his research has focused on farmers’ behaviour; farmers’ beliefs about disease transmission; and the impact of government attempts to change farmers’ biosecurity behaviour. He has also examined reforms to the veterinary profession and their effects on disease management including the use of diagnostics, and the migration of veterinary surgeons to the UK and New Zealand.
https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/people/view/363232-enticott-gareth
Dr Ron Glanville - Australia’s Colourful Path to Tuberculosis Freedom
Ex. Chief Veterinary Officer and Chief Biosecurity Officer, Queensland, Biosecurity Advisory Service, Queensland, Australia
Ron Glanville has had a career of over 44 years working in animal health in Australia, including the positions of Chief Biosecurity Officer, Chief Veterinary Officer and Chief Inspector of Stock for the State of Queensland. Career highlights include: a key role in finalising bovine tuberculosis eradication; leading Queensland’s response to the 2007 equine influenza outbreak, as well as around 30 other emergency responses; and implementing the national livestock identification system. Ron also has had extensive experience working on national committees established to coordinate programs across the country.
In relation to bovine tuberculosis eradication, Ron was a field officer early in his career, progressing to a regional veterinary manager during a critical eradication phase in the north-west of Queensland, then later managed the program at the State level. For 15 years Ron held the statutory position of Chief Inspector of Stock, which was responsible for regulatory decision making for programs such as TB eradication. He also represented Queensland nationally to negotiate and establish the program’s overall strategic direction.
Since 2011 Ron has established a successful consulting business providing quality advice to industry and governments in the area of biosecurity, including strategic advice, program reviews, facilitation & training, emergency preparedness and response support. In 2020 Ron received the David Banks Australian Biosecurity Lifetime Achievement Award.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ron-glanville-7434515b/
Prof Stephen Gordon - One Health approaches to the analysis of Mycobacterium bovis
University College Dublin, Ireland
Stephen Gordon obtained his BSc from NUI Galway, Ireland (1990), PhD from the University of Leicester, UK (1995) and pursued postdoctoral research at the Institut Pasteur, Paris as a Wellcome Trust Fellow (1995-99). He was a team leader in the TB Research Group, Veterinary Laboratories Agency, Weybridge (UK) from 1999-2007, and took up his current position in University College Dublin in 2008. His research focuses on understanding the molecular basis for virulence in mycobacterial pathogens and is funded by Science Foundation Ireland, the Dept. of Agriculture Food and Marine, Wellcome Trust, BBSRC and EU H2020.
Prof Christian Gortázar - Can we ever eradicate TB from wildlife - a look into the future
Head. Health & Biotechnology (SaBio) group at IREC, National Wildlife Research Institute IREC (CSIC and Universidad de Castilla - La Mancha), Spain
Prof. Christian Gortázar is the Head of the Health & Biotechnology (SaBio) group at IREC in Spain. Christian (San Sebastián, 1967) received a Degree in Veterinary Sciences at Universidad de Zaragoza, in 1990, and a PhD at the same University in 1997. Since 1999, he is Professor at IREC, a multidisciplinary research institute dealing with conservation and management of wildlife and their habitats (www.IREC.com). His lecturing on wildlife diseases is part of IRECs MSc and PhD programs, where he has mentored >20 successful international PhD students. He has acted as principal researcher in numerous grants and contracts on wildlife epidemiology and disease control. Co-author of >350 scientific publications, his research interests include viral, bacterial and parasitic diseases of wildlife, with emphasis on the epidemiology and control of relevant infections shared with livestock and humans, such as tuberculosis.
http://www.researcherid.com/rid/E-7918-2012
Prof Vivek Kapur - Wicked Problems and Bovine Tuberculosis
Professor and Huck Distinguished Chair in Global Health, Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University, USA
Vivek Kapur is Professor of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases in the Department of Animal Science and Huck Distinguished Chair in Global Health. He is also Associate Director for strategic initiatives at the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences at Penn State. He is also appointed as Professor of Infectious Diseases and Global Health at the Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science and Technology in Tanzania.
As an early adopter in the field of microbial genomics, Prof. Kapur’s research team has led the complete genome sequencing of some of the most important pathogens that cause diseases in animals and humans and conducted related investigations in infectious diseases and genomics. These studies have led to key insights on the evolution, physiology, and mechanisms of pathogenesis of these organisms, as well as the identification of numerous targets for diagnostic test development and vaccines. His current research effort focusses on the development, assessment, and implementation of strategies to accelerate control of tuberculosis and other zoonotic infections in low and middle-income countries.
Prof. Kapur trained in veterinary medicine at the University of Agricultural Sciences in Bangalore, India, received a Ph.D. in Veterinary Sciences from Penn State, and conducted post-doctoral research at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. He has previously held faculty and leadership positions at Baylor College of Medicine, the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine and Medical School, where he served as Director of the Biomedical Genomics Center.
Dr James McCormack - Horizon scanning- what next for TB control in England?
Head of Science Advise to Defra TB policy, Animal and Plant Health Agency, United Kingdom
Dr James McCormack is Head of Science Advice to Defra TB policy at the Animal and Plant Health Agency in the United Kingdom. James has a degree in genetics from Trinity College Dublin and a PhD on the genetics of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease from the University of Edinburgh. He has worked for Defra/APHA since 2003, initially managing Defra’s research portfolio in different animal disease areas, including TSEs and Bovine TB. Since 2013 he has been a scientific advisor to Defra’s TB programme.
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/animal-and-plant-health-agency
Prof Christine Middlemiss - Bovine TB control in the 21st century- the UK experience
Chief Veterinary Officer, Department of Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, United Kingdom
Prof Christine Middlemiss is the UK’s Chief Veterinary Officer. She was appointed on 1 March 2018 having been working as the CVO in New South Wales, Australia since July 2016 where she led major improvements to biosecurity across many farming sectors. This work included implementation of new outcome focused, risk based biosecurity legislation; online animal certification processes; improving evidence and risk based disease control approaches. Prior to moving to Australia, Christine led Defra’s Animal Traceability and Public Health policy team, and also previously surveillance including detection and response to new and emerging diseases such as Schmallenberg and Porcine Epidemic Diarrhoea. She is an experienced veterinarian. Before joining the UK government services in 2008, Christine worked in private practice with specific interest in research, meat processing and livestock genetics for a number of years in Scotland and the north of England prior to joining the Animal Health Agency (now part of Animal and Plant Health Agency) as a Divisional Veterinary Manager in Scotland. Christine comes from a farming family in the Borders of Scotland, with a background in beef cattle and sheep. In August 2019, Christine was appointed the role of Visiting Professor of Practice at Harper Adams University.
https://www.gov.uk/government/people/christine-middlemiss
Dr Daniel J. O'Brien - The devil you know and the devil you don’t: current status and challenges of bovine tuberculosis eradication in the United States
Veterinay Specialist, Wildlife Disease Laboratory, Michigan Department of Natural Resources, USA
Dr Daniel J. O’Brien is a wildlife veterinary specialist at the Wildlife Disease Laboratory in the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, USA. Dan holds doctoral degrees in Veterinary Medicine (1987) and Epidemiology (1998) from Michigan State University, where he is Adjunct Professor in the Departments of Fisheries and Wildlife and Large Animal Clinical Sciences. His Ph.D. research under Dr. John Kaneene compared the spatial epidemiology of cancer in dogs and humans. His current responsibilities include the investigation, surveillance, and research of various diseases occurring in wildlife, particularly bovine tuberculosis and chronic wasting disease of cervids, as well as formulation, implementation and evaluation of practical control policies. He also provides clinical veterinary support for MDNR’s field biology and wildlife research programs. Prior to coming to MDNR in 1999, he worked for several years in clinical veterinary practice, and several more as a risk assessment toxicologist for the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. This is his fourth International Conference on Mycobacterium bovis, having presented plenary addresses in Dublin in 2005 and Wellington in 2009.
https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,4570,7-350-79136_79608_83071-25019--,00.html
Prof Jonathan Rushton - Do we know the burden of bovine tuberculosis? – Introduction and a request from the Global Burden of Animal Diseases programme
Professor of Animal Health and Food Systems Economics, Institute of Infection and Global Health, University of Liverpool, United Kingdom
Prof Jonathan Rushton is an agricultural economist who specialises in the economics of animal health and food systems. His principal research interests are the: Global Burden of Animal Diseases (GBADs) where he leads a global program; economics of antimicrobial use and resistance in livestock; and assessment of the multidimensionality of food quality and public health. He has recently completed study on the economics of antimicrobial use in livestock in SE Asia for FAO and the economics of new livestock vaccines for the EU funded SAPHIR project. Jonathan embraces One Health approaches in the search for solutions to society’s health problems. Jonathan is based at the Institute of Infection and Global Health, University of Liverpool, leads a University Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Food Systems (https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/centre-for-sustainable-food-systems/) and is part of the N8 Agrifood programme (http://www.n8research.org.uk). He is also adjunct Professor in the School of Behavioural, Cognitive & Social Sciences of the University of New England, Australia and president of the International Society for Economics and Social Sciences of Animal Health (http://www.isessah.com)
Dr Eoin Ryan - The Irish bTB Eradication Programme: Combining Stakeholder Engagement and Research-Driven Policy to Tackle Bovine TB
Senior Superintending Veterinary Inspecor, Head of Ruminant Animal Health & ERAD Division, Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Ireland
Dr Eoin Ryan is a Senior Superintending Veterinary Inspector & Head of theRuminant Animal Health & ERAD Division in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Ireland. Eoin qualified as a vet from UCD in 2002. Following two years in mixed practice, he did a PhD in foot-and-mouth disease in the Pirbright Institute, UK, and subsequently completed an MSc in epidemiology with the Royal Veterinary College. He has worked as a post-doctoral researcher on FMD transmission, and spent two years working with the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation on the control of FMD in the regions bordering Europe. Since joining the Irish Dept of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, he has worked mainly on bovine disease investigation, control and eradication, including work on BSE, BVD, IBR, FMD, Q fever and other infectious diseases. Since 2017 he has been head of veterinary policy on TB eradication and currently heads Ruminant Animal Health & ERAD Division within the Irish veterinary service.
https://www.agriculture.gov.ie/animalhealthwelfare/diseasecontrol/bovinetb/
Ms Jane Sinclair - Bovine TB control in New Zealand – the journey from epidemic towards eradication
Area Disease Manager/Vet. epidemiologist/ Analyst, OSPRI, New Zealand
Ms Jane Sinclair is the Area Disease Manager in OSPRI New Zealand. Jane is a veterinary epidemiologist & analyst. The first 26 years of Jane's career was spent in clinical practice which were exciting and rewarding but ultimately the physical challenges deemed it necessary to re-train in a field of veterinary science that required more mental rigour rather than brawn. Jane commenced a second masterate at Massey University’s EpiCenter which reinvigorated a love for epidemiology and led directly to a job with the then Animal Health Board in bovine TB control in 2006. That position was very practical, hands on management of bTB infected farms, diagnostics and possum control planning. The successful decline in infected herds over the last 10 years have led to a change in focus away from the management of individual herds to the overall management of disease across the country. Studies have been conducted to maximise lessons learnt from policy changes and to implement the changes required for the final phase of the eradication process. Jane's research focus has been on the performance of livestock bTB diagnostic tests as they are applied in the field in New Zealand and surveillance strategies as the disease prevalence continues to decline.
https://ospri.co.nz/
Nicolas Valdivieso Cariola - Is it possible to control bovine tuberculosis without compensation? Reviewing ten years of the Chilean program and its progress
Livestock and Agriculture Service, Ministry of Agriculture, Chile
After graduating as a veterinarian, Nicolas moved from Santiago de Chile, to the extreme north of the country to be part of a foundation that seeks to overcome poverty in rural areas. In the northen valleys and highlands, he worked as a field veterinarian with goats, sheep and camelids, providing technical assistance and developing investment projects to improve the income and sustainability of small producers.
In 2007 he started to work for the Livestock and Agriculture Service (SAG), and then, in 2009 he obtained a scholarship from the World Bank for postgraduate studies. Nicolas studied a master program in animal production systems, along with a minor degree in public policy at Wageningen University, the Netherlands. Upon his return to Chile in 2011, Nicolas returns to the official veterinary service, but this time at the central level, to work in epidemiology focused in monitoring and controlling animal endemic diseases. In 2015, he took on the challenge of the bovine tuberculosis control and eradication program, where he has integrate the public policy and epidemiology knowledge to control the bTB in a Chilean context, where infected animals are not compensated. Regardless, he has managed to reach consensus and update the program regulation, as well as reach agreement with Universities to carry out applied research. The most relevant projects it has been a pilot program of vaccination with BCG in highly infected dairies herds. This pilot was launched in 2016 and it has shown significant results not only in reducing bTB incidence, but also improving production indicators.
At the beginning of 2021, Nicolas moved to the Aysén region, in Patagonia, to work again at the local level as regional head veterinarian at the SAG, where he has taken on challenges such as to achieve the regional status of free from bTB.
Dr Bouda Vosough Ahmadi - Challenges and opportunities of public-private partnerships in efforts to prevent, control and eradicate animal diseases
Livestock-health Economist,EuFMD/FAO,Italy
Dr Bouda Vosough Ahmadi is a vet and agricultural economist, specialized in economics of livestock health and welfare. His research interests include assessing and evaluating agricultural policies and in particular prevention and control policies of contagious animal diseases as well as animal welfare. He is currently working as a consultant in economics of livestock health to the European Commission for the Control of Foot-and-Mouth Disease (EuFMD) which is one of the units of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) based in Rome. Previously he worked for about 10 years as a senior agricultural economist in the Policy Analysis Team of Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) based in Edinburgh. His research was mainly focused on policy analysis and socioeconomic impact assessments using quantitative methods and economic models applied to livestock health and welfare. In 2016, he worked for one year at the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) based in Seville, where his main role was project management and contributing to further development and usage of an EU-Wide Individual Farm Model for Common Agricultural Policy (IFM-CAP) analysis. He has authored and coauthored a number of interdisciplinary peer-reviewed articles and he is the board member of the International Society for Economics and Social Sciences of Animal Health (ISESSAH).
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Bouda_Vosough_Ahmadi
bottom of page