About Dr. John B. Kaneene

Dr. John B. Kaneene is a University Distinguished Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health in the MSU CVM and is the Director of the Center for Comparative Epidemiology (CCE). Dr. Kaneene is an outstanding epidemiologist and experienced project/principal investigator who brings 40+ years of experience in international research and training in zoonotic diseases and antimicrobial resistance in livestock, wildlife, and human populations, as well as, evaluating companion animals as sentinels for human exposure to non-infectious disease agents, such as Lead and Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). As of 2023, Dr. Kaneene has trained 39 PhD students and 27 MS students, and his carrier has been enriched by a network of highly motivated colleagues and graduate students within and outside the US resulting in over 346 publications to date. Dr. Kaneene has mentored PhD candidates and has served as a committee member for MS and PhD students from Thailand, Brazil, Uganda, Ghana, Nigeria, and South Africa. Dr. Kaneene has successfully served as Principal Investigator/Director (PI) and Co-Principal Investigator (Co-PI) on major interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary projects in the USA and 11 other countries. He has also worked with universities in Thailand, China, Jordan, Brazil, India, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Kenya, Egypt, Sudan, Ghana, Nigeria, Somalia, Rwanda, South Sudan, South Africa, Malawi, Mali, Zimbabwe, and Senegal. The activities in these countries have included: scientific research in veterinary medicine and public health; university-level capacity building; livestock value chain improvements; and student and faculty training programs. Dr. Kaneene has also received numerous teaching and scientific research awards since 1981, including The Teacher of the Year Award the student chapter of the AVMA for 6 years; the Beecham Award for Research Excellence and Distinguished Faculty Award from MSU; Sigma Xi Research Society Meritorious Research Award from MSU; Distinguished Faculty Award from MSU CVM; Distinguished Alumni Research Award from University of Minnesota; and the Ralph Smuckler Award for Advancing International Studies & Programs at MSU; the Charles A. Gliozzo International Award for Public Diplomacy at MSU; and the KF Meyer-James H Steele Gold Headed Cane Award in Veterinary Epidemiology and Public Health from the American Veterinary Epidemiology Society.

About Ms. Nicole Keener

Ms. Nicole Keener is the Secretary to Dr. John B. Kaneene and the Center for Comparative Epidemiology (CCE) in the College of Veterinary Medicine. Ms. Keener has been in this position for over 15 years and has a great length of experience in the grant writing and submitting process, as well as managing and maintaining the CCE office and projects within.

About Dr. Pamela Ruegg

Dr. Pamela Ruegg is the David J. Ellis Chair in Antimicrobial Resistance and Director of the Antimicrobial Stewardship and Dairy Health Management Laboratory. Dr. Ruegg has a research and outreach program that emphasizes preharvest milk quality and safety, udder health and antimicrobial usage dairy farms as well as assessment of milking performance and dairy animal health records. Her research is centered on ensuring antibiotic stewardship on dairy farms by emphasizing evidence based antimicrobial usage. She focuses on identification of cow, environment and pathogen factors that can be manipulated to reduce exposure and development of infectious bacterial diseases, thus reducing the need for antimicrobial therapy. Dr. Ruegg maintains a well-funded research program, has published >150 peer reviewed articles and has received many awards for her research, extension, and international programs. She enjoys mentoring graduate students and early career faculty. She strives to have an impactful program that bridges the gap between the lab and the dairy farm and has an active international presence that includes work in thirty-nine countries.

About Dr. Bo Norby

Dr. Bo Norby is a Professor in Large Animal Clinical Sciences and the Associate Dean for Academic Programs in the College of Veterinary Medicine. His research interests are analytical epidemiology; ecology and transmission of antimicrobialûresistant bacteria in animal and human populations; risk factors and intervention strategies for preharvest food safety in dairy cattle; the epidemiology of bovine leukemia virus and hemotrophic mycoplasma in cattle; and developing resilient veterinary professionals and leaders. Dr. Norby shares a laboratory in the College of Veterinary Medicine with Dr. John B. Kaneene to conduct his and his graduate students’ (Christopher Kellogg) research.

About Dr. Annette O'Conner

Dr. O’Connor is an internationally recognized veterinarian and quantitative epidemiologist who is particularly interested in the application of epidemiology to better inform policy related to food safety, one health, animal welfare, animal health, and veterinary clinical practice. Dr. O’Connor has been a leader in veterinary science in efforts to translate research into practice by reducing research wastage and maximizing the value of research. She has led initiatives that seek to improve the reporting of all research involving animals; these initiatives have required international collaborations and have had an international impact on reporting in veterinary science. Dr. O’Connor is also internationally recognized as an expert in research synthesis and meta-analysis in agricultural and veterinary applications hosting the Systematic Reviews in Animals and Feed website (https://syreaf.org) and Meridian Network (https://meridian-network.org ): a clearinghouse of reporting guidelines related to animal research.

Dr. O’Connor's professional reputation is also documented through her extensive publications (>200 peer-reviewed manuscripts), invited national and international presentations at numerous producer and research meetings, and strong extramural funding record. Dr. O’Connor has a strong teaching and mentoring record of graduate and veterinary students. Dr. O’Connor also served as an advisor for the European Food Safety Authority and the Food and Drug Administration, as president for the Association for Veterinary Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, President of the Conference of Research Workers in Animal Diseases (CRWAD) and the Evidence-based Veterinary Committee.

About Dr. Jean Tsao

Dr. Jean I. Tsao is a Professor in Fisheries and Wildlife and has over 20 years of experience studying the ecology of Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacterium that causes Lyme disease (LD), and its vector, the blacklegged tick. Dr. Tsao helped develop a graduate certificate program at Michigan State in Fish and Wildlife Disease Ecology and Conservation Medicine and is a member of the graduate programs in Ecology Evolution and Behavior and Comparative Medicine and Integrative Biology. She contributes to courses in medical entomology and teaches a course in field ecology of disease vectors. She also trains veterinary students to investigate diseases in wildlife and diseases that move among wild animals, humans, companion animals, and livestock. As a community ecologist, Dr. Tsao has investigated the Lyme disease system in endemic, non-endemic, and emerging areas at local, regional, and continental spatial scales using both observational and experimental study designs. She has worked on basic science questions with direct applications and implications for public health. She also has had the opportunity to participate in, as well as lead, multi-investigator teams to investigate the eco-epidemiology of LD at the national level, trying to understand the ecological processes underlying the latitudinal cline in LD cases despite the widespread nature of the vector ticks throughout the eastern US. Her students and she have documented and continue to monitor the spread of the Lyme disease tick and pathogen in Michigan, using a variety of methods, including sampling for questing ticks, for ticks on wildlife hosts, and through collaborating with veterinary clinics to survey for ticks on companion animals. Dr. Tsao has worked with scientists and public health workers in state and federal agencies as well as with non-profit organizations and industry. She served as an associate editor for the international journal Ticks and Tickborne Diseases. She helped review and update the prevention section of the 2021 Infectious Disease Society of America's Guidelines for the Prevention, Diagnosis, and Treatment of Lyme disease (Lantos et al. 2021), and she served as a member of the 2018 Subcommittee for Disease Vectors, Surveillance, and Prevention to the US Department of Health and Human Services Tick-Borne Disease Working Group. She is a member of the CDC-funded Midwestern Center of Excellence for Vector-borne Disease.

About Dr. Jen Owen

Dr. Jen Owen is an Associate Professor in Fisheries and Wildlife and Large Animal Clinical Sciences. She is an expert in the ecology of zoonotic diseases, behavioral ecology of migratory birds, avian ecoimmunology and virology.

About Dr. Madonna Benjamin

Madonna Benjamin (nee Gemus) is an Associate Professor and swine extension veterinarian in the Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine. She achieved her DVM from University of Guelph (1995), residency in swine health, and an MS in animal welfare from Michigan State University (1998), and practiced food animal production medicine in Alberta, Canada until 2012. Dr. Benjamin’s research interests include - Precision Livestock Farming: to meld economic decisions, mitigation strategies, labor efficiencies, and individual animal welfare through 1) visual imaging to evaluate body condition and weight in cull sows, 2) establishing rural connectivity to improve farm economics and animal welfare, and 3) development of on-farm robust data collection devices; and ongoing progress in humane and sustainable care of livestock to benefit farmers and animals.

About Dr. Elizabeth Hamilton

Dr. Elizabeth Hamilton is an Assistant Professor and the Hospital Epidemiologist in the College of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Hamilton’s current research consists of Veterinary Hospital Infection Control and teaches One Health and Epidemiology for the DVM and MS in Food Safety programs. She has worked as an epidemiologist in government, non-profit, private, and academic settings. Dr. Hamilton is leading the development of an infection control program at the MSU Veterinary Medical Center (VMC) where she is creating an infection control training program and plans to develop surveillance programs for surgical site and other hospital acquired infections. Dr. Hamilton was an integral part of the CVM’s response to COVID-19 where she created veterinary-specific guidance, allowing the VMC to remain in service throughout the shutdown. She also managed tracking, reporting and contact tracing for all COVID-19 cases and contacts within the CVM during the COVID-19 pandemic.

About Dr. Catalina Picasso

Dr. Catalina Picasso is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Large Animal Clinical Science at the College of Veterinary Medicine. She is a veterinarian and epidemiologist, specializing in the study of infectious diseases affecting livestock and wildlife populations.

Her research is focused on the application of frequentist and Bayesian statistical methods to enhance our understanding of infectious disease dynamics. She leverages diagnostic data to uncover patterns related to infectious diseases and guide strategic interventions for disease management. Dr. Picasso has expertise in the epidemiology of Bovine Tuberculosis and Chronic Wasting Disease, and her contributions extend to both local and international contexts fostering global efforts to control these diseases.

About Dr. Zelmar Rodriguez

Dr. Zelmar Rodriguez is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences in College of Veterinary Medicine. As a veterinarian and quantitative epidemiologist, he teaches veterinary and graduate students how epidemiological tools can be applied in their practice to prevent animal diseases. Dr. Rodriguez’s research and extension program focus on guiding producers and advisors on effective management strategies to optimize sustainability of dairy farms through 1) animal health, 2) economic efficiency, and 3) social well-being in dairy farming community. Through his work he delivers science-based solutions to stakeholders in the dairy industry. Dr. Rodriguez enjoys collaborative research, and his contributions can be found in peer-reviewed literature and through extension efforts, underscoring his commitment to bridging the gap between research and practical application in the dairy industry.

About Dr. Heather Brake

Dr. Heather Brake is working on her PhD under Dr. John B. Kaneene as her major advisor. Dr. Brake is working and conducting research on Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and specifically how it impacts dogs and cats. Through her research project, “PFAS in Pets,” Dr. Brake intends to complete an exposure assessment of PFAS among dogs and cats living in the City of Parchment, Cooper township, and the Belmont/Rockford, Michigan areas. The outcome of this study will allow veterinarians to better identify and provide recommendations for patients who have been exposed to high levels of PFAS and lay the foundation for the development of a surveillance system using dogs and cats as sentinels for human exposure.

Dr. Brake is a board-certified veterinarian with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. Brake received her Bachelor of Science at Hope College, her Master of Veterinary Science from the University of Kentucky, her Aquatic Medicine certificate from AQUAVET, and her veterinary degree from Michigan State University. In 2017, Dr. Brake was assigned to the National Center for Environmental Health and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (CDC/ATSDR) where she is currently employed.