Keynote and Plenary Speakers

Pre-Congress Workshop

August 11 - 14, 2013

"Molecular Epidemiology Applications in Foodborne, Nosocomial, and Vector-borne Infectious Diseases of Global Significance"

Lectures by:

  • Prof. Wondwossen Gebreyes (Ohio State)- Nosocomial and Foodborne MDR Bacterial diseases
  • Prof. Daniel Janies (UNC)- Biomedical Informatics and Geocoding
  • Prof. Celso Oliveira (UFPB)- Foodborne bacterial diseases
  • Prof. Lee Riley (UC Berkeley)- MDR Tuberculosis

 

ICOPHAI 2013 CONGRESS

 August 15 - 17, 2013
 

Keynote  Speaker

Lonnie King (Keynote, Day 1)

"One Health" and Zoonoses in the Context of Developing Countries and Emerging Economies

Dr. King is an internationally-renowned scientist and member of the Institute of Medicine; a former Director of the CDC National Center for Zoonotic, Vector-borne and Enteric Diseases and currently the Dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine and Executive Dean of Health Sciences at The Ohio State University (OSU). Formerly, Dr. King was appointed administrator for the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), U.S. Department of Agriculture. Dr. King also served as the U.S. chief veterinary officer for five years and worked extensively in global trade agreements within NAFTA, the World Trade Organization, and the World Animal Health Association (OIE). For more information on Dr. King- http://vet.osu.edu/cvm/dr-lonnie-king

 

Plenary Session speakers

Plenary Session # 1: One-Health, Meta-Leadership and Implementation

Berhe Tekola

Dr. Berhe G. Tekola, a national of Ethiopia, holds a Doctor’s degree in Veterinary Medicine from the University of Camaguey, Cuba; a Master’s degree in Veterinary Science from l’École nationale vétérinaire de Toulouse, France and a PhD from l’Institut national polytechnique de Toulouse, France.
In 1986, Dr. Tekola started his professional career as Field Veterinarian, then worked and led the National Veterinary Institute (Vaccine Production Laboratory) and finally he was appointed to the position of Director, Animal and Plant Health Regulatory Directorate, within the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Ethiopia. One Health initiative has always been his area of interest in using it as a tool, to bring a collective efforts of animal, human and ecosystem health on board, so as to tackle diseases at its source.
Since August 2011, he joined the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (UN-FAO)as Director of the Animal Production and Health Division, leading the Animal Health Service (AGAH), the Animal Genetic Resources Branch (AGAG) the Livestock Production Systems Branch (AGAS) and the Livestock Information, Sector Analysis and Policy Branch (AGAL).

Plenary Session # 2: Vector-borne Zoonoses

Matias Szabó

Human behavior: an underestimated factor for the control of tick-borne zoonoses in Brazil

Dr. Szabó is a pathologist specialized on the host-parasite relationships. He has published over 80 papers, the majority exploring aspects of tick-host-pathogen-environment interface in Brazil. His knowledge relies on laboratory gained information coupled with data collection for almost to two decades in several Brazilian Biomes, including the Atlantic rainforest, Cerrado (the Brazilian savannah) and the Pantanal (one of the world's largest tropical wetland areas).  A major background of his work is an effort to establish parasite baseline values to discriminate natural events from those under anthropogenic effect. Currently at the Pathology Sector from the Veterinary School of the Federal University of Uberlândia, Minas Gerais, Brazil, he is a scientific advisor for several Brazilian and International research funding agencies and has refereed articles for close to thirty scientific journals.

Plenary # 3: Emerging Infectious Diseases and the Role of Wildlife

Jonna A. K. Mazet

Professor Mazet serves as the Director of the One Health Institute and Wildlife Health Center in the University of California Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. She is the PI and Global Director for an international early warning system for zoonotic diseases, PREDICT, that is supported by the United States Agency for International Development’s Emerging Pandemic Threats Program. PREDICT is establishing a global surveillance system for potentially pandemic diseases emerging from wildlife using geospatial modeling, epidemiology, genomics, molecular virology, and targeted field surveillance at hot zoonotic disease transmission interfaces. She leads a network of NGOs and governmental agencies to build capacity to develop surveillance systems and complete the necessary research in an attempt to diminish the potential for and severity of pandemics. For more information, please visit: http://faculty.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/faculty/jkmazet/

Plenary # 4: Drug Development and Antimicrobial Resistance

Thomas R. Shryock

Antimicrobial Development and Antimicriobial Resistance

Dr. Shryock is a Senior Microbiology Research Advisor for Elanco Animal Health, a Division of Eli Lilly & Co, interacting with various government authorities, animal health organizations and professional societies on issues surrounding the use of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance in food animals, food and people. He also contributes to new antibacterial product support activities and assists with evaluation of novel technologies. Dr. Shryock joined Elanco in 1991 to evaluate the in vitro  and in vivi efficacy of new antibacterial products and was the Chairholder of the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) Veterinary Antimicrobial Susceptiblity Testing subcommittee from 2002-2006. Dr. Shryock aslo co-founded and Chaired Division Z, Animal Health Microbiology, American Society for Microbiology in 1999-2002. Currently he serves as a reviewer for Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. 

Plenary Session # 5: Food-Borne and Water-Borne Diseases

Samuel Kariuki 

Dr. Kariuki is the Director of the Center for Microbiology Research (CMR), which is one of the oldest research centers of the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI). The CMR collaborates with many research institutes locally and internationally to help expand their research capabilities. CMR also houses the regional laboratory of Antimicrobial Resistance Testing and Surveillance as well as the local chapter of the Association for Prudent use of Antimicrobials. Dr. Kariuki's major ongoing projects focus on the molecular epidemiology of infectious diseases, in particular enteric pathogens including Salmonella typhi and non-typhi Salmonella. By applying molecular techniques, the research center is able to determine the genotypic relationships of strains in outbreak-related and un-related infections. In addition, the molecular characterization of drug resistance is useful in determining the genetic basis of resistance and possible methods for control of emergence and spread of resistance. For more information, please visit:  http://www.kemri.org/index.php/centres-a-departments/cmr  

Plenary Session # 6: Genomics and Molecular Detection Systems

Walter Lilenbaum

Bacteriological, serological and molecular approach for the understanding of the epidemiology of animal leptospirosis

Dr. Lilenbaum is currently an Associate Professor of Bacteriology at the Universidade Federal Fluminense. He has experience in the field of Veterinary Medicine and Microbiology with an emphasis on Infectious Diseases of animals, working mainly in diagnosis of leptospirosis and tuberculosis. Dr. Lilenbaum is a Scientific Fellow of CNPq, level 1 c and “Scientist of our State” by Faperj (since 2008). He is a founding member of the Academy of Veterinary Medicine in Rio de Janeiro and Associate Editor of BMC Veterinary ResearchBrazilian Journal of Microbiology and Brazilian Journal of Veterinary Science. He coordinated the area of Veterinary Microbiology in Brazilian Society for Microbiology (2005-2011) and since 2009 is Coordinator of Animal tuberculosis at the TB National Network. He has more than 130 papers published in peer-reviewed journals and is currently Coordinator of graduate studies and research at the Universidade Federal Fluminense.Dr. Lilenbaum received his Bachelor's degree in veterinary medicine from Universidade Federal Fluminense (1987), Master in Physiopathology of Animal Reproduction from the Universidade Federal Fluminense (1994), Doctorate in Microbiology from the Universidade Federal of Rio de Janeiro (1998) and Post-doctorate in Preventive Veterinary Medicine from the University of São Paulo (USP, 2006) and Leptospirosis (Institut Pasteur, France, 2012). 

Plenary Session # 7: Environmental Health and Global Impact

Michael Bisesi

Dr. Bisesi is an environmental and occupational health scientist and Associate Professor at the Ohio State University. Dr. Bisesi is also the director of Center for Public Health Practice. He is a Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH) and recognized as a Fellow by the AIHA. Dr. Bisesi has authored/co-authored several scientific articles and chapters and is the author of the textbook Industrial Hygiene Evaluation Methods (2nd ed), as well as co-editor of two volumes of the Handbook of Environmental Health (4th ed). He has served on several local, state and national committees and workgroups and is the past Chair of the ABET Applied Sicence Accreditation Commission. Dr. Bisesi's major areas of interest and expertise include assessment of human exposure to and control of chemicial and biological agents; environmental-related human exposure, disease and prevention; mechanistic toxicology/pathophysiology; applied environmental chemistry/microbiology; and emergency preparation, recognition and response. 

Plenary Session # 8: Immunology, Host-Pathogen Interaction and Vaccine Development

Linda J. Saif

Dr. Linda Saif is a Distinguished University Professor at The Ohio State University in the Food Animal Health Research Program and the Veterinary Preventive Medicine Dept. She is a virologist and immunologist, whose research focuses on comparative aspects of enteric and respiratory viral infections (coronaviruses, rotaviruses and caliciviruses) of food animals and humans. She also studies mucosal immunity, vaccine development, enteric virus interactions with the gut microflora and the impact of malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies on vaccines. Current research emphasizes novel bioengineered virus-like particle (VLP) vaccines and adjuvants (vitamin A, probiotics) to prevent viral diarrheas in humans and animals and their evaluation in germfree animal disease models. Her lab discovered new enteric viruses (group C rotavirus, caliciviruses) and developed novel cultivation methods, diagnostic assays and vaccines for them.  Her lab also investigates the interrelationships among animal viruses and their human counterparts to assess their zoonotic potential and mechanisms of interspecies transmission.
Dr. Saif is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the Argentine Academia Nacional de Agronomía y Veterinaria. She is an elected Fellow of the American College of Veterinary Microbiologists, the AAAS and the American Academy of Microbiology. She has served as a member of of advisory teams for various organizations  (USAID, CDC, WHO, etc) and serves on several journal editorial boards (including PNAS). Her laboratory serves as a WHO International Reference Lab for Animal Coronaviruses within the SARS Coronavirus Network and as an International Reference Lab for TGEV porcine coronavirus for the Office International des Epizooties, Paris, France. Dr. Saif has authored or coauthored over 290 journal publications and 57 book chapters pertaining to her research.