Anna Willoughby
PhD Candidate,
Center for the Ecology of Infectious Diseases (CEID),
Odum School of Ecology,
University of Georgia
Swine Pathogen Horizon Scan with Estimates and Experts
Anna Willoughby studies how wildlife behavior, disease, and communities change across various anthropogenic gradients. She approaches these questions through complementary modeling and field methods, with a view towards translating her research into conservation and wildlife management policy. In the past, she has looked at dynamics of macroparasites in South African baboons, virus diversity among cave-roosting bats. Willoughby is a PhD student in the Odum School of Ecology at the University of Georgia, working under the direction of Dr. Sonia Altizer and Dr. John Drake.
Charles (Chuck) Taylor
Associate Wildlife Biologist,
Graduate Research Assistant,
Savannah River Ecology Lab (SREL)
University of Georgia
History, management, and current research on wild pigs (Sus scrofa) in the United States
Chuck Taylor is a master’s student in the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources at the University of Georgia and works out of the Savannah River Ecology Lab. Chuck graduated from the University of Montana in 2017 with a B.S. in Wildlife Biology. After graduation, he worked for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, and USDA APHIS Wildlife Services for several years before coming to UGA. His graduate research is focused on evaluating the performance and robustness of different models for estimating wild pig abundance as well as quantifying the effectiveness and efficiency of different trap types at capturing wild pigs. His major advisor is Dr. James Beasley.
Susan Hills
Medical Epidemiologist,
Division of Vector-Borne Diseases
US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Panelist: What happens if JEV comes to North America?
Dr. Susan Hills, MBBS, MTH, is a Medical Epidemiologist in the Division of Vector-Borne Diseases at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Fort Collins, Colorado. She has worked as a public health physician for more than 25 years, with a particular focus on arboviral diseases. Susan’s interest in Japanese Encephalitis (JE) began in 1998 when she had the opportunity to investigate the first case of JE on the Australian mainland. Later she worked for many years on a project on global control of JE with the non-government organization PATH, in Seattle. She has spent the last 13 years working at CDC, where she led the Work Group developing JE vaccine recommendations for US travelers and has been investigating the impact of JE vaccination in Asia.
Paul Sundberg
Executive Director,
Swine Health Information Center (SHIC)
Panelist: What happens if JEV comes to North America?
Dr. Paul Sundberg is the Swine Health Information Center’s Executive Director. The mission of the Swine Health Information Center is to protect and enhance the health of the United States swine herd through coordinated global disease monitoring, targeted research investments that minimize the impact of future disease threats, and analysis of swine health data. Dr. Sundberg is responsible for implementing the Center’s mission and objectives.
Dr. Sundberg was named to this position in July 2015. Before leading the Swine Health Information Center, he was a Vice President with the National Pork Board and responsible for the programs and personnel of the Science and Technology Department.
Dr. Sundberg attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where he earned his bachelor’s degree in education. He completed his veterinary medicine curriculum and master’s degree in clinical science/preventive medicine at Iowa State University. He also earned a doctorate degree in veterinary microbiology with a specialty in preventive medicine from Iowa State University. He is board certified in the American College of Veterinary Preventive Medicine and is a past president of the College.
Dr. Sundberg is a member of the American Veterinary Medical Association, the American Association of Swine Veterinarians and the Iowa Veterinary Medical Association.
Natalia Cernicchiaro
Associate Professor, Veterinary Epidemiology
Department of Diagnostic Medicine and Pathobiology
College of Veterinary Medicine
Kansas State University
A model of JEV Importation risk
Natalia Cernicchiaro’s research focus is on the application of epidemiological concepts and methods, including multi-level modeling and knowledge synthesis and translation techniques, to design, implement and interpret observational and experimental studies pertaining to food safety, zoonoses, arthropod-borne diseases and production medicine. She is an Associate Professor of Veterinary Epidemiology at Kansas State University, where she teaches basic and advanced epidemiology courses and mentors students in the MPH, MS, and PhD programs.
Dr. Cernicchiaro obtained her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) degree at the School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Uruguay, in Montevideo, Uruguay in 2003. While attending veterinary school she started collaborating in several research projects pertaining to the monitoring and surveillance of diseases of economic or public health importance in the dairy and beef production systems. She also completed a Master of Science from the University of Minnesota, focusing on the epidemiology of Johne’s disease in dairy cattle farms and validation of rapid methods for detection of Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis and classification of farms’ status, as well as a PhD at the Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, under Dr. David Pearl’s supervision, with a focus on the application of multi-level modeling techniques to the evaluation of associations between management, demographic and health factors with the prevalence of E. coli O157 in feedlot, cow-calf and dairy cattle operations. She has also worked as a private contractor for the Public Health Agency of Canada. She held a post-doctoral fellowship under Drs. David Renter and Brad White at Kansas State University, where she applied epidemiological and economic methods to the analysis of associations between performance, demographic and other operational factors with Bovine respiratory disease morbidity in feedlots.
Michael F. Neafsey
One Health Coordinator,
USDA-APHIS (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service)
The Federal Strategy for Animal Surveillance, Information Sharing, and Disseminating Guidance
Panelist: What happens if JEV comes to North America?
Michael Neafsey is the APHIS Veterinary Services One Health Coordinator who regularly works with state, federal and industry partners to address emerging One Health issues.
Michael works with APHIS to promote preparation for zoonotic disease outbreaks, as well as furthering understanding of antimicrobial resistance and environmental factors that impact disease dynamics.
Neafsey has worked with APHIS for eight years in multiple roles including District Epidemiology officer for North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia, and U.S. Virgin Islands. Prior to his time with APHIS Neafsey worked with USDA FSIS and Clemson University as a Supervisory Veterinary Medical Officer conducting meat and poultry inspection to ensure a safe and wholesome food product for consumers.
Neafsey is a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine with a Master’s in Public Health with concentrations in infectious disease and population medicine both from Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine. He is also a diplomat of the American College of Veterinary Preventive Medicine.
Diyar Mailepessov is a scientist at the Environmental Health Institute, National Environment Agency, Singapore. He has worked on JEV surveillance in Singapore for the last 6 years, contributing to the discovery and isolation of JEV in rural areas of Singapore for the first time since the abolishment of pig farms. His other work includes development of a wastewater surveillance protocol for national SARS-CoV-2 surveillance in Singapore. As of late, Mailepessov is involved in data analytics work producing insights from the various types of data collected by the National Environment Agency.
David Williams
Lead, Diagnosis and Mammalian Infectious Disease Research Group
Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)
“Arbovirus Surveillance in Australia: Pivoting to JEV”
Dr. David Williams leads the Diagnosis and Mammalian Infectious Disease Research group at ACDP in Geelong, which comprises multidisciplinary capability that contribute to national and regional emergency animal and zoonotic disease diagnostics and surveillance. The teams in this group were heavily involved in the recent outbreak of Japanese encephalitis in Australia. Williams’ research interests include the detection, diagnosis, and epidemiology of emerging and exotic viruses that affect humans and animals. This work has focussed on mosquito-borne viruses such as Japanese encephalitis virus and related flaviviruses. Williams is a member of the Australian National Arbovirus and Malaria Advisory Committee and co-chairs the Australian Expert Review Panel for JEV Diagnostics.
“Japanese encephalitis virus – an Australian industry experience”
Dr. Kirsty Richards is a veterinarian with the SunPork Group, Australia’s largest pig farming integrator. Richards obtained her Bachelor’s degree in veterinary science from the University of Queensland and a Masters degree in Veterinary Public Health Management from the University of Sydney. Richards is an experienced veterinarian of 20 years, and in 2020-21 undertook an emergency animal disease liaison role for the Australian Government Department of Agriculture in collaboration with Australian Pork Limited.
“Japanese encephalitis virus – an Australian industry experience”
Bernie Gleeson graduated with a Bachelor of Veterinary Science from The University of Sydney and completed a Graduate Diploma in Veterinary Clinical Studies from the same institution. More recently, Gleeson was accepted as a member of the Australian and New Zealand College of Veterinary Scientists in the discipline of Pig Health and Production.
Gleeson has been a veterinarian in the pig industry since 2004, consulting to pig farms throughout Australia on all matters of biosecurity, swine health, welfare and production. Gleeson is a member of the veterinary team for SunPork Farms, Australia’s largest pig producer.
