Patricia Conrad DVM, PhD is the Associate Dean for Global Programs at the School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis and Co-Director of the system-wide (10 campus) UC Global
Health Institute. Dr. Conrad is a veterinarian and Distinguished Professor of Parasitology whose research is focused on the transmission of protozoal parasites between wildlife, humans and domestic animals. She received her DVM degree from Colorado State University and PhD from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. After doing post-doctoral research on the molecular epidemiology of tick-transmitted diseases at the International Laboratory for Research on Animal Diseases in Nairobi, Kenya, she joined the faculty of the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of California, Davis. Dr. Conrad has published over 230 scientific papers and book chapters in the fields of emerging infectious diseases, parasitology, ecology of fecally transmitted waterborne pathogens and One Health. She is the recipient of the Carl J. Norden Distinguished Teaching Award, Pfizer Award for Research Excellence, the Oscar W. Schalm and Norman E. Levine Lectureships and an Aldo Leopold Leadership Fellowship. Dr. Conrad was elected to the National Academy of Medicine (formally IOM) in 2011, awarded a Fellowship in the American Academy of Microbiology in 2012 and selected as an American Association of the Advancement of Science Fellow in 2018. In 2017 she received the American Veterinary Medical Association Lifetime Excellence in Research Award for her research and contributions to the veterinary profession, taking a One Health approach that addresses the interconnectedness of humans, animals, plants and the environment. In 2018 she was awarded the UC Davis Chancellor’s Award for International Engagement.

Dr. Rosina “Tammi” C Krecek FRSSAf, PhD, MBA currently serves as Research Professor of Global One Health at Texas A&M University (TAMU), USA and Adjunct Visiting Professor, University of Johannesburg, South Africa. She received her PhD in wildlife parasitology from the University of Pretoria, South Africa. Subsequently she completed two postdoctoral positions – one with United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville, Maryland, USA, and a second at the Centre for Tropical Veterinary Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Scotland. She served on faculty at the Onderstepoort veterinary school, University of Pretoria over 20 years. In 2005 she moved to Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine, St. Kitts, West Indies as Associate Dean of Research and Professor of Parasitology, where she led the development of a college-wide research program applying a One Health approach. She served there for several years, seeing the College through to full accreditation by the American Veterinary Medical Association Council on Education. In 2013, Dr. Krecek joined TAMU as Visiting Professor and subsequently as Research Professor of Global One Health. Her areas of expertise are neglected tropical zoonotic parasitic and infectious diseases.

Dr. Krecek has published over 230 scientific papers and book chapters, presented 330 invited seminars in 43 countries, and has taught parasitology to thousands of veterinary and graduate students. Awards include the Smith-Kline Beecham Lecturer of the Year, induction as a Fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa, South African Agricultural Science and Technology Woman of the Year Award, and the Elsdon-Dew Medal for Service to Parasitology in Africa. She served as President of the World Association for the Advancement of Veterinary Parasitology (1999-2003) becoming the first woman and the first from Africa.

Timothy Geary obtained a PhD in Pharmacology in 2012 from the University of Michigan and then spent 5 years at Michigan State University working on malaria and filaria before joining the parasitology group at The Upjohn Company in Kalamazoo, Michigan in 1985. He remained at that site as it transitioned to Pharmacia and then Pfizer before joining the Institute of Parasitology at McGill University as a Professor and Tier I Canada Research Chair in 2005, serving as Director of the Institute from 2007-2019, when he became an Emeritus Professor.

Tim has received national and international funding to support his research along with a number of awards. He has published more than 225 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, is on the editorial boards of 7 scientific journals and serves as a consultant for many pharmaceutical, government and non-government organizations. His research interests are in the discovery, development and pharmacology of antiparasitic drugs and in the molecular language used to establish the host-parasite interface.

Wes attended MIT as an undergraduate and Cornell Medical College and Rockefeller University (RU) for his MD/PhD degrees. At RU, he was the first to discover and characterize human dendritic cells (antigen presenting accessory cells). Wes’ PhD advisor, Dr. Ralph Steinman, was awarded the 2011 Nobel Prize for Medicine for Dr. Steinman’s discovery of dendritic cells. Wes worked in Brazil, studying leprosy, and resolved to work on problems of global health importance. He trained in Internal Medicine at UC San Francisco and ID at UW.

Wes practices medicine, teaches, and until July 1 2017, led the Division of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (95 faculty and >250 staff) at UW. Wes is the Director of CERID, the Center for Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases at the UW, located in a new building at 750 Republican St. in Seattle. CERID takes a multidisciplinary approach to identifying and developing diagnostic, therapeutic and vaccine solutions to emerging IDs.

For the past 25 years, Wes works on pre-clinical drug development for malaria, trypanosomes, leishmania, and cryptosporidium. He works extensively in target-based drug development and, where possible, uses iterative structure-based drug development. Wes’ lab is now characterizing a new preclinical drug candidate for the treatment of cryptosporidiosis, toxoplasmosis, and several animal diseases; the same compound shows promise for blocking malaria transmission. In July 2014- June 2015, he was on sabbatical at the Medicines for Malaria Venture, a non-profit drug development agency stimulating malaria drug research and development in Geneva Switzerland, where he served as a medical advisor. He has published over 260 peer-reviewed papers and won numerous academic awards.

Lucienne Tritten obtained her PhD in Microbiology in 2012 from the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, University of Basel (Switzerland). Between 2012 and 2015, she worked as a postdoctoral fellow in Prof. Geary’s lab at McGill University (Canada). In 2015, she joined the Institute of Parasitology of the University of Zurich (Switzerland), as a postdoctoral fellow. She became an independent junior group leader at the same institute in 2017.

She has received many Swiss and international grants, and is the author of several peer-reviewed articles on helminth parasites of human and veterinary importance.

Her research interests lie in the molecular negotiations in host-parasite interactions. Her current work is focused on the functional characterization of excretory/secretory material released by nematode worms at the parasite-host interface and how this serves to manipulate their hosts’ immune system to favor the development of chronic infections.

Dr. Dipl. Biol. Daniel Kulke, Head of Research Parasiticides III at Bayer Animal Health GmbH, Drug Discovery and External Innovation, Monheim, Germany and Adjunct Assistant Professor for Biomedical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine at Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA.
Daniel obtained his academic degrees from Heinrich-Heine-University, Düsseldorf, Germany (Dipl. Biol. in 2009 supervised by Prof. Dr. Heinz Mehlhorn) and from the Freie Universität Berlin, Germany (Dr. rer. nat. in 2014 supervised by Prof. Dr. Georg von Samson-Himmelstjerna). Both theses were co-supervised by Prof. Dr. Dr. Achim Harder, former head of Anthelminthic Research at Bayer Animal Health GmbH.

During his studies, Daniel worked as visiting scientist at several academic institutions including the International Trypanotolerance Centre (Gambia), the University of Southampton (UK), McGill University (Canada) and the University of Georgia (USA). For his thesis, he received the Gerhard-Piekarski-Award from the German Society of Parasitology.
Since 2013, Daniel has worked in different functions along the discovery and early development of anthelmintic compounds at Bayer Animal Health GmbH. In his current function, Daniel acts as responsible parasitologist within an interdisciplinary research team with the mission to identify novel and highly innovative chemical lead classes and to drive those to proof of concept. Also, he is member of the preclinical team developing emodepside as adulticide treatment option against river blindness for human use (collaborative program of DNDi and Bayer).
Daniel acts as reviewer for 12 scientific journals and has published more than 50 articles, conference abstracts and patents.

Michael Kimber is an Associate Professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine, Iowa State University whose lab integrates a diverse range of molecular biology and physiology techniques to better understanding the biology of parasitic nematodes. A major research focus is the intersection between host-parasite interactions and anthelmintic drug mechanism of action. Parasitic nematodes have developed strategies to actively manipulate the host immune response but mechanisms are poorly understood. Similarly, whilst some molecular targets for anthelmintic drugs are established, the pathways from molecular activity to therapeutic activity are more equivocal. Recent research from the Kimber lab links these two knowledge gaps. A paradigm is emerging by which parasitic nematodes actively secrete proteins and small, regulatory RNAs (microRNAs, miRNAs), and deliver them to host tissues via extracellular vesicles (EVs). The overarching hypothesis is that this EV-mediated modulation is critical to successful parasitism. Investigation of this pathway is helping identify new molecules fundamental to nematode parasitism and provide mechanistic insight into how they induce their genetic and cellular effects. Further, the recognition that EV release pathways are sensitive to some anthelmintic drugs is adding to our understanding of how these medicines exert their therapeutic effects and suggests a new phenotype that may be leveraged in novel anthelmintic screening platforms.

Prior to his faculty appointment, Michael Kimber was a postdoctoral associate at Iowa State University studying parasitic helminth neurobiology and he obtained his Ph.D. in Molecular Parasitology from Queen’s University Belfast, United Kingdom.

Mostafa Zamanian is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathobiological Sciences, University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine. The goal of his research is to identify and validate new parasite drug and vaccine targets and to connect this effort to a better understanding of the complex interactions that occur between parasites and their hosts. Current projects in his laboratory are focused on the parasite tissues, receptors, and pathways that mediate host-parasite communication and fundamental sensory and neuromuscular behaviors in human and animal filarial nematodes. Dr. Zamanian’s research blends molecular and computational approaches in pursuit of these objectives, while leveraging genetically tractable model nematode systems to complement the direct study of parasites. In the interests of open and collaborative science, the laboratory is motivated to contribute new genomic resources and tools for the phenotypic screening and manipulation of helminth parasites. Prior to his faculty appointment, Mostafa Zamanian trained as a postdoctoral fellow at McGill University (Molecular Parasitology) and Northwestern University (Quantitative Genetics), and received his PhD in Neuroscience from Iowa State University.

Russell graduated from the University of Calgary in 2012 with a Bachelor of Health Sciences – Biomedical Sciences (Honours) degree. During his degree he completed an undergraduate honours thesis studying the viral diversity of HIV-1. He subsequently started his PhD program in Veterinary Medical Sciences, under the supervision of Dr. John Gilleard in the fall of 2012, studying gastrointestinal nematodes of livestock. Russell’s work has focused on the development of molecular assays and next-generation sequencing approaches to investigate community structure and drug resistance in these gastrointestinal nematodes. This work spawned the term “nemabiome” to conceptually describe the community of nematodes that inhabit a host. In 2018, Russell was awarded the AAVP-Merck Outstanding Graduate Student Award. Russell defended his PhD in December of 2017, and is currently working in the Gilleard lab as a Research Associate. He is presently working on the application of these techniques to investigate and characterize the human soil transmitted helminth nemabiome.

Graduate in Veterinary Medicine on 31/07/1984, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Naples, Italy. Full professor of Veterinary Internal Medicine since 2001. Dean of this Faculty since 2016. Current research interests: Evaluation and testing of new antileishmanial drugs; Epidemiological, clinical and immunological aspects of leishmaniasis in the dog. Leishvet group member.

Laia Solano-Gallego received her DVM degree and PhD from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) in 1996 and 2001, respectively. Her PhD concerned the epidemiology, immunology and diagnosis of canine leishmaniosis. She did a post-doctoral clinical research in vector borne diseases of dogs and cats at the School of Veterinary Medicine of the North Carolina State University (USA) during 2002-2003. She did a small animal rotating internship at the Veterinary Teaching Hospital of the Purdue University (USA) during 2003-2004. She worked at the private hospital and laboratory of San Marco (Padova, Italy) during 2004-2007 where she performed clinicodiagnostic activity and clinical research in clinical pathology and internal medicine with predominant interest in vector borne diseases of dogs and cats. She worked as a lecturer in Veterinary Clinical Pathology at the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) of the University of London during 2007-2011. Currently, she works as an associate professor at the School of Veterinary Medicine of the UAB. She is Diplomate of European College of Veterinary Clinical Pathology (ECVCP) since 2006. Laia Solano-Gallego leads a group that investigates the adaptive and innate immunity such as toll like receptors in canine leishmaniosis but also works on clinical, diagnostic and therapeutically aspects. The research group also works in feline leishmaniosis as well as other vector-borne pathogens such as Bartonella.

Dr. Baneth graduated from the Hebrew University Koret School of Veterinary Medicine in Israel in 1990. He did a Small Animal internship and residency at the Hebrew University until 1994 followed by a fellowship in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases Research at the College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University during 1994 and 1995. He received a PhD in veterinary parasitology from the Hebrew University in 2000. Prof. Baneth served as the head of the Small Animal Internal Medicine Department at the Hebrew University Veterinary Teaching Hospital. He is a diplomate of the European College of Veterinary Clinical Pathology (ECVCP), an associate member of the European Veterinary Parasitology College (EVPC) and an editorial advisory board member for the Journal Veterinary Parasitology since 2006. He is the chairman of the World Small Animal Veterinary Association (WSAVA) Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC), the vice president of the LeishVet group for standardization of the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of canine leishmanioasis and a member of Board of Directors, Israel Society for Parasitology, Protozoology and Tropical Diseases. His research interests focus on the pathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment of veterinary and zoonotic vector-borne infectious diseases including leishmaniosis, relapsing fever borreliosis, canine ehrlichiosis, babesiosis, hepatozoonosis, trypanosomiasis and dirofilariasis. Prof. Baneth is involved in the study of zoonotic and veterinary diseases in the Mediterranean Basin, Uzbekistan, Ethiopia, Southern Europe and North Africa. He is the author of more than 250 scientific publications and book chapters. Prof. Baneth served as an advisor to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) on leishmaniosis. He is currently the director of the Koret School of Veterinary Medicine at the Hebrew University in Israel.

Guadalupe Miró qualified from the Madrid Veterinary School where she completed her PhD thesis. She has held a permanent position as Full Professor in Parasitology and Parasitic Diseases at the Animal Health Department (Universidad Complutense of Madrid). Diplomate of the European Veterinary Parasitology College (EVPC). Director of the diagnostic laboratory of pet parasites (PPL) at the UCM. Currently in charge of the Consultant of Infectious diseases at the Veterinary Teaching Hospital of the Madrid Veterinary School with a special focus on infectious diseases of small animals. Her areas of research specialization are canine leishmaniosis, shelter medicine involving the epidemiology and control of zoonotic diseases, mainly canine and feline vector borne diseases, intestinal parasitoses and soil contamination in urban and rural areas. She is a member of the Spanish Society of Parasitology (SOCEPA) and of the World Association for the Advancement of Veterinary Parasitology (WAAVP) and founding member of ESCCAP (Spain representative) and LeishVet group. She is also a member of the main Spanish Associations of Veterinary Practitioners’ (AMVAC and AVEPA). Her scientific output consists of numerous peer-reviewed scientific articles in international journals and several books in the field.

Dr. Christine Petersen’s scholarly work has focused on the recognition and prevention of zoonotic diseases, primarily the epidemiology and immunobiology of vector-borne and parasitic diseases. Dr. Petersen is the immediate past-President of the American Council on Cellular, Molecular and Immunoparasitology (2018-2020), the parasitology basic science group within the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Dr. Petersen is the US/non-vector borne disease region representative to the international veterinary group that provides recommendations regarding treatment and prevention of leishmaniosis; Leishvet. Dr. Petersen’s collaborative group works in Brazil, India and Ethiopia via NIH/Fogarty International Center and NIAID-funded work focused on understanding the interplay of tranmission routes and host species immune susceptibility for leishmaniosis in these endemic locations. Dr. Petersen’s published and patented work demonstrates the ability to target reservoir species for immunologic and parasitologic control of chronic infections to promote disease elimination. As director of the Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases, Dr. Petersen coordinates One Health activities focused on understanding, detecting and preventing emerging zoonotic disease gloablly. Dr. Petersen is an Associate Professor at University of Iowa, College of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology. She teaches joint medical, veterinary and global public health coursework related to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of infectious and paticularly zoonotic diseases within all populations.

Patrick Bourdeau graduated from the Maisons-Alfort Veterinary College where he completed his PhD thesis and National Agregation in Veterinary Parasitology. He was assistant then assistant professor during 12 years before to move to Veterinary School of Nantes where he became professor. He developed the Unit of Parasitology focused on companion animals and equine, combined to Veterinary Dermatology and Mycology. He is diplomate of the European Veterinary Parasitology College (EVPC) and director of the diagnosis laboratory of Dermatology /Parasitology/Mycology (Lab. DPM). He is head of the clinics of Dermatology – Parasitology (small animals and equine) and related preventive medicine at the veterinary Hospital. He is one of the first members of the European College of Dermatology (ECVD), director of the formalized residency program in Dermatology and founding member of the Leishvet group. His main areas of research in Parasitology are related to ectoparasites and their control, epidemiology diagnosis and control of most important parasitic and vector borne diseases in dogs, cats and equine. A specific interest was devoted to leishmaniosis in veterinary medicine since 1983. Other areas of research are related to veterinary mycology, and veterinary dermatology (allergies, skin biology, epidemiology). These approaches also include comparative medicine and zoonotic aspects in the more global concept of One Health.

Veterinarian and entomologist with more than 30 years of experience in the research and development of technologies for integrated parasite management. Contributed to advancement of veterinary parasitology through international collaborations enabled by work in the private sector and federal research laboratory. Adjunct faculty appointments allow the training and development of talent in aspects of arthropod vector biology that influence vector-host-pathogen interactions. Scientific endeavors during the last decade resulted in breakthroughs in the control and eradication of livestock pests. Interests in transdisciplinary research translated into the sequencing of genomes of economically important ectoparasites of domestic animals some of which are vectors of zoonotic diseases. This genomic information is mined to innovate control technologies. A systems approach facilitates the application of the One Health concept to research towards the adaptation of best practices for areawide vector management to prevent vector-borne diseases.

Dr. Nicole Lewis graduated from the Atlantic Veterinary College, in Prince Edward Island, Canada, with a Master’s in Epidemiology in 2012 and her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine in 2013. After graduation she moved to New Jersey where she worked as an associate veterinarian in a mixed animal practice for 3 years, seeing small animal and exotic patients. Since then she has worked as a field veterinarian for the New Jersey Department of Agriculture, Division of Animal Health. In this role she investigates any regulated and potential foreign animal diseases and humane cases and performs surveillance for various diseases, such as avian influenza, throughout the state. Dr. Lewis is also currently a 2019 candidate for Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Preventive Medicine. In her spare time, she enjoys hiking, traveling, volunteering with various veterinary organizations and reading.

Sarah is an Associate Professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Texas A&M University. She runs a research lab focused on the ecology and epidemiology of diseases that emerge at the human-wildlife-domestic animal interface. She trains undergraduate, graduate, veterinary, and public health students in research methods, and teaches epidemiology and a new field-based course in vector collections. Her BS and MS are from University of Illinois in Natural Resources and her PhD and DVM are from Michigan State University in Wildlife Ecology. In 2016 she became board certified in veterinary preventive medicine.