15 - 17 June 2005
Crowne Plaza Hotel
Princes Dock
Liverpool, UK
Conference Speakers
Speaker biographies are available to view on this page. For a detailed programme, please go to the programme page.
UK
Dr Debby Reynolds, Chief Veterinary Officer, England
Prof Pat Troop, CEO, Health Protection Agency
Dr Andrew Wadge, Head of Food Safety Policy, Food Standards Agency
Prof Peter Diggle, Dept of Mathematics and Statistics, Lancaster University
Dr Ruth Lysons, Head of Veterinary Surveillance Division, DEFRA
Dr Louise Kelly, Dept of Statistics and Modelling, University of Strathclyde
Dr Steve Leach, HPA Centre for Emergency Preparedness and Response
Prof Tom Humphrey, School of Veterinary Science, University of Bristol
Dr Alex Cook, Centre for Epidemiology & Risk Analysis, Veterinary Laboratories Agency, Weybridge
Derek Armstrong, UK Meat and Livestock Commission
Dr Judith Hilton, Head of Microbiological Safety Food Standards Agency
Prof Mark Woolhouse, Centre for Tropical Veterinary Medicine,University of Edinburgh
Prof Ernest Gould, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Oxford
Prof Phil Craig, School of Environmental & Life Sciences, University of Salford
Prof Diane Newell, Veterinary Laboratories Agency, Weybridge
Prof Sandy Trees, Dean of Veterinary Science, University of Liverpool
Paul Manser, Veterinary Exotics Diseases Division, DEFRA
Dr Tom Solomon, Department of Neurological Science, University of Liverpool
Prof Stephen Palmer, Director, HPA Chemical Hazards and Poisons Division
International
Dr Mary Reynolds, Poxvirus Program, Division of Viral and Rickettsial Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, USA
Dr John Roehrig, Division Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, USA
Prof Malik Peiris, Department of Microbiology, University of Hong Kong
Dr Pia Mäkelä, European Food Safety Authority
Dr Marion Koopmans, National Institute of Public Health and the Environment, Netherlands
Dr Stef Bronzwaer, DG Health and Consumer Protection, European Commission
Dr Gunnar Nylen, World Health Organisation Advisor, Control and Prevention of Zoonoses
Speaker Biographies
Dr Stef Bronzwaer
Stef Bronzwaer graduated from the College of Medicine, University of Amsterdam
in 1992 and took his Board Exam in 1995. In 2001, he completed his Master
of Public Health degree at the Netherlands School of Public Health in
Utrecht and in 2003 he was awarded his PhD at the University of Groningen
in Medical Sciences.
As a medical doctor he worked briefly at the Social Medical Centre 'Bukas Palad' in a slum-area outside Tagaytay City, in the Philippines. He then moved to the Infectious disease unit of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità in Rome, Italy, where he worked as project manager of an EU-project making an inventory of resources and means for controlling communicable diseases. From 1998 to 2002, he worked in the Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology of the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Bilthoven, the Netherlands, where he helped establish the European Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance System (EARSS), for which he served as project leader.
Since 2002, he has worked at the Directorate Public Health (DG Health
and Consumer Protection) at the European Commission in Luxembourg. He
is secretary of the Community Network on epidemiological surveillance
and control of communicable diseases and holds responsibility for the
proper functioning and coherence of a number of European surveillance
networks on communicable disease monitoring, including zoonoses.
back to top
Alex Cook qualified as a veterinary surgeon from the Royal “Dick”
Veterinary College, Edinburgh. He entered mixed practice, working particularly
with pigs, and gained the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons Certificate
in Pig Medicine. He gained an ODA award to study for a MSc in Tropical
Veterinary Medicine at the Centre for Tropical Veterinary Medicine, Edinburgh
and then worked in the Yemen Arab Republic, Zambia and Mexico for approximately
10 years, during which time he also gained a MSc in Epidemiology from
the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He returned to UK,
initially as a lecturer in Epidemiology and Farm Animal Medicine at the
Royal Veterinary College, London. He joined VLA Weybridge in 2001 and
is currently Senior Veterinary Epidemiologist, responsible for leading
the Epidemiology Work Group within the Centre for Epidemiology and Risk
Analysis (CERA). The epidemiology work group comprises 24 scientific and
support staff, who are responsible for delivering expertise to a broad
range of surveillance and research programmes including Food and Environmental
Safety, Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSEs), Statutory and
Exotic Bacteria and Viruses and endemic diseases. Within this, Alex has
particular responsibility for foodborne zoonoses surveillance projects
within VLA’s Food and Environmental Safety programme (funded by
Defra) and for leading Defra-funded research and surveillance projects
concerned with salmonella in pigs and Post-Weaning Multisystemic Wasting
Syndrome (PMWS). He was awarded de facto diplomate status in the European
College of Veterinary Public Health (Population Medicine) in 2003.
back to top
Philip graduated in 1975 with an honours degree in Applied Zoology from the University of Leeds; in 1976 he obtained a Masters in Parasitology and Applied Entomology from Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, and in 1981 he was awarded a PhD in veterinary parasitology/immunology from the University of Melbourne, Australia. From 1981-1987 he undertook research on cestode zoonoses in the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, working in Kenya, South America and China. In 1988, he obtained a lectureship in parasitology at the School. From 1992 to the present, he has held the Chair in Biological Sciences at the University of Salford.
Philip’s research interests have focussed on the cestode zoonoses caused by Echinococcus and Taenia species, with research funding in excess of £2 million since 1994. He is currently Chair of the WHO informal working group on echinococcosis and his laboratory is an OIE reference centre. He has published nearly 200 scientific papers and reviews, and in 2003 was awarded the Wright Medal of the British Society for Parsitology for contributions to parasitology.
Recent research projects include, the transmission ecology and epidemiology of echinococcosis in China and Wales, and the epidemiology of taeniasis/cysticercosis in Peru and Indonesia.
back to topPeter Diggle is Professor of Statistics at Lancaster University and Adjunct
Professor in the Department of Biostatistics at the Johns Hopkins University
School of Public Health, Baltimore. Previously, he was Chief of Mathematics
and Statistics in the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research
Organisation, Canberra, Australia. Peter's research interests are in the
development of novel statistical methods motivated by problems in the
biomedical, health and environmental sciences. His particular areas of
methodological interest concern models and methods for the analysis of
spatial and longitudinal data.
back to top
Ernie Gould has spent approximately 35 years studying arboviruses, starting in Birmingham University in 1968, and then moving to Belfast, London and finally the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) Oxford. His main interests are virus pathogenesis, epidemiology and evolution. During the past few years he has developed a major interest in emerging pathogenic arboviruses such as dengue and West Nile virus, and viruses of wildlife species such as rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus. Immediately prior to his retirement as the Acting Director of CEH Oxford in 2002, he appointed himself "Senior Research Fellow" and has continued to enjoy researching these viruses as an old age pensioner!
Ernie also sits on several national and international advisory committees.
back to top
David Harper graduated with an honours degree in microbiology in 1977 from the University of Dundee. He was awarded a PhD in biochemistry from the University of Birmingham in 1982. He moved from Birmingham to head the Microbiology Unit of the then Metropolitan Police Forensic Science Laboratory in London. From there he was appointed to lead work on microbiological pathology services and biotechnology at the Department of Health. He has occupied various roles within the Department, including Head of the Environmental Microbiology Unit and Head of the Environmental Hazards Branch. The latter covered areas such as radiation, toxicology and air pollution and, since September 11th, emergency preparedness. Last year he was appointed to the newly created post of Director of Health Protection, International Health and Scientific Development. He is the Department of Health’s Chief Scientist.
In recognition of his services to health, in 2002 he was awarded the
honour of Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
back to top
Judith Hilton trained at the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine and
then specialised in Medical Microbiology, gaining Membership of the Royal
College of Pathologists in 1985. After a number of years at St Mary’s
Hospital, Paddington, Judith joined the Department of Health to work in
Medicines Division as a medical assessor in the New Drugs section. She
subsequently worked in the fields of policy on sexually transmitted diseases,
waterborne diseases and non-food borne zoonoses before moving to a food
safety post in 1988. This transferred to the new Food Standards Agency
in 2000, where she became Head of the Microbiological Safety Division
in 2002.
back to top
Tom Humphrey is Professor of Veterinary Bacterial Zoonoses in the School of Clinical Veterinary Science, University of Bristol. Tom trained initially as a meat technologist and spent some time in the meat industry before becoming a research technician for a group working on zoonotic infections in food animals. After completing a PhD and conducting research as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of East Anglia, Tom moved to Seale-Hayne Agricultural Collage to be a lecturer in Food and Agricultural Microbiology. In 1981 he joined the Public Health Laboratory Service (PHLS), where he worked for 20 years. His final post in PHLS was as head of the Food Microbiology Research Unit.
Tom now heads the Bristol Food Borne Zoonoses Group, which undertakes
research on the epidemiology of Salmonella and Campylobacter infection
in poultry and egg production and on population dynamics and stress responses
in these important pathogens. The Group also has a growing interest in
susceptibility of animals to infection with Salmonella and Campylobacter
and how this is affected by diet, stress and commensal flora. Tom has
published over 200 scientific papers and is a member of the UK Advisory
Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food (ACMSF) and three ACMSF
working groups. He also advises the World Health Organisation on food
safety issues. Tom’s particular expertise lies in the fields of
bacterial physiology; epidemiology of food borne disease both in animals
and humans and the interactions between animal welfare and infection.
back to top
Dr Louise Kelly has a PhD in Mathematical Modelling from the University
of Strathclyde. From 1996 to 2004, she was the Risk Assessments Manger
at the Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA). She currently holds a joint
appointment with the VLA, where she is Workgroup Leader of the Modelling
Science and Statistics Group, and the University of Strathclyde, where
she is a lecturer in statistics in the Department of Statistics and Modelling
Science. She has considerable experience in risk assessment and mathematical
modelling relating to animal disease and zoonoses. She has been involved
in several WHO/FAO food safety risk assessments and has contributed to
the developments of guidelines in this area. In addition, she regularly
undertakes risk assessment teaching in the areas of animal health and
food safety. She has supervised several risk assessment PhDs and currently
supervises 2 mathematical modelling PhDs.
back to top
Marion Koopmans (DVM, PhD) completed her training in Veterinary Medicine
at the Utrecht University, Veterinary Faculty. She worked as an associate
professor at the same Faculty to become a specialist in Large Animal Internal
Medicine and Nutrition. In parallel, she did a PhD in Veterinary Sciences
(Virology; 1990), studying novel enteric viruses and their importance
as pathogens for cattle. She continued to study enteric viruses during
a fellowship and as visiting scientist at the Centers for Disease Control
from 1991 until 1994. She returned to The Netherlands to become section
chief of the enteric virus group at the National Institute of Public Health
and the Environment (RIVM). She is coordinator of a European research
and surveillance network on enteric viruses, and, since 2000, holds the
chair of the Virology Division of the Diagnostic Laboratory for Infectious
Diseases at RIVM. Her responsibilities include reference diagnostics,
syndromic surveillance and emergency preparedness for viral diseases,
including research aimed at improving the response capacity of a public
health laboratory.
back to top
Dr Leach obtained his first degree in biological science at Oxford University
and his PhD in microbial physiology and epidemiology at Imperial College
and Centre for Emergency Preparedness and Response (CEPR, formerly CAMR).
He has 25 years experience in microbiological research, heading up teams
investigating the potential impacts of microbial pathogens on public health,
including work on dangerous pathogens, bioterrorism, microbial risk assessment
(MRA), statistical analysis and mathematical modeling. In his current
role, he heads up a multidisciplinary team of epidemiologists, microbiologists,
mathematicians and GIS and IT/Database specialists developing MRAs for
bioterrorism, and new and emerging infectious disease problems. He is
a member of the Society of General Microbiology, has sat on a number of
advisory panels and Workshops including most recently the HPA Expert Advisory
Group on SARS, and has authored many reports on mathematical modelling
and risk assessment for bioterrorism and emerging infectious disease issues.
Recent relevant publications include: Kerrod E, Geddes AM, Regan M, Leach
S (2005). Surveillance and control measures during smallpox outbreaks.
Emerg Infect Dis. Feb; 11(2):291-7; Medlock JM, Snow KR, Leach S. (2005)
Potential transmission of West Nile virus in the British Isles: an ecological
review of candidate mosquito bridge vectors. Med Vet Entomol. Mar; 19(1):2-21;
Gani R, Leach S (2004). Epidemiologic determinants for modeling pneumonic
plague outbreaks. Emerg Infect Dis. Apr;10(4):608-14. Ferguson NM, Keeling
MJ, Edmunds WJ, Gani R, Grenfell BT, Anderson RM, Leach S (2003). Planning
for smallpox outbreaks. Nature. 425(6959):681-5. Gani R, Leach S (2001).
Transmission potential of smallpox in contemporary populations. Nature.
414(6865):748-51.
back to top
Ruth Lysons graduated from Cambridge in 1982 with a veterinary degree.
She worked for several years in a farm animal practice, dealing mostly
with pigs. She then became a Veterinary Officer in the Ministry of Agriculture,
Fisheries and Food, followed by a Veterinary Investigation Officer in
the Veterinary Investigation Service. Ruth next took up the position of
Veterinary Research Officer, later becoming Head of Department of Laboratory
Testing, VLA Weybridge. In 1996, she obtained a MSc in Molecular Pathology
from University College London and she became a Member of the European
College of Veterinary Public Health in 2004. Her present duties, as Head
of New, Endemic and Zoonotic Disease Division in the Department of the
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, include the development and implementation
of the UK Government Veterinary Surveillance Strategy, including the ‘RADAR’
Surveillance Information Management System, as well as policy responsibility
for new and emerging issues and endemic animal disease (including zoonoses
and the implementation of the EU Zoonoses Directive).
back to top
Pia Mäkelä graduated from Helsinki Veterinary College in 1986.
After that she worked for 5 years in the Department of Food Hygiene of
the same college. She then joined the National Food Administration and
later the Ministry of Agriculture, working mainly with issues related
to food hygiene. She completed her thesis on food microbiology in 1993.
She become a detached national expert in the Health and Consumer Protection
Directorate General in the European Commission during 2000. In the Commission
her tasks included preparation of Community legislation on microbiological
risks. Since January 2004 she has worked in the European Food Safety Authority.
She is responsible for the coordination of the data collection system
for zoonoses based on Directive 2003/99/EC.
back to top
Paul Manser is a graduate of the University of Bristol Veterinary School. After a period in general practice he was appointed as a Veterinary Investigation Officer in the then Veterinary Investigation Service (VIS) of MAFF. He held a number of posts in the VIS (now part of the Veterinary Laboratories Agency), including that of Head of Veterinary Surveillance Department. Particular areas of interest included biocontainment and laboratory quality systems, the latter included responsibility for ensuring that all of the VIS regional laboratories obtained accreditation from the United Kingdom Accreditation System (UKAS). During this period he also obtained a postgraduate qualification in Animal Health.
In 2000, he was appointed Deputy Head of the Veterinary Exotic Diseases
Division in DEFRA. Specific areas of responsibility include the Pet Travel
Scheme (PETS), the scheme for reporting exotic diseases in dogs and cats
(DACTARI), exotic diseases in horses and the biocontainment of dangerous
and exotic pathogens.
back to top
Diane Newell trained as an immunologist. She became involved in research
on gut pathogens while working for the Public Health Laboratory Service
(PHLS) at Southampton University and then at the Centre for Applied Microbiology
and Research (CAMR). Since 1991, she has worked at the Veterinary Laboratories
Agency and is a senior consultant within the Food and Environmental Safety
Programme. Her areas of special interest include the pathogenesis, detection
and control of food borne bacteria, in particular campylobacters. She
holds honorary posts as Visiting Professor at the University of Bristol
and the University of Utrecht. Over the last 2 years Diane has been responsible
for the development and implementation of Med-Vet-Net. She is the elected
Project Manager and holds leadership responsibility for co-ordinating
the efforts of the 300 or so scientists involved in the project. Recently
Diane has co-ordinated a further EU-funded network, EUUS-SAFEFOOD, which
aims to develop a transatlantic strategic alliance between food borne
zoonoses research networks in the European Union and the United States.
back to top
Gunnar Nylén studied medicine in Gothenburg, Sweden and graduated
in 1991. After a few years of clinical practice, he was an EPIET fellow
(European Programme for Intervention Epidemiology Training) based at CDSC
Wales 1996-1998. Gunnar has since worked in general public health, gained
further clinical experience in infectious diseases, been involved in epidemiological
research based in Guinea-Bissau and served as medical officer for WHO,
Surveillance and Response, Regional Office for Europe before joining the
unit for Strategy Development and Monitoring of Zoonoses, Foodborne Diseases
and Kinetoplastidae (ZFK), WHO Geneva.
back to top
Stephen Palmer graduated in medicine from Cambridge University and trained in epidemiology at St Thomas’ Hospital, CDSC Colindale, Bristol University and the Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta. He was appointed as Regional Epidemiologist in Wales in 1983 and headed the Welsh Unit of CDSC until 1998. He was appointed to the Mansel Talbot Chair in Epidemiology and Public Health at the University of Wales College of Medicine in 1998. In April 2003, he was appointed Head of the Chemical Hazards and Poisons Division, Health Protection Agency.
Professor Palmer was Chairman of the PHLS / HPA Advisory Committee on
Zoonoses until 2003 and was a member of the UK Zoonoses Committee. He
was a member of the Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of
Food from 1990 to 2000. Currently he is an expert member of National Expert
Panel on New and Emerging Infections and Science Committee of Biobank.
Major research interests include zoonoses, food borne disease, epidemiology,
chemical exposure and health, as well as environmental epidemiology, including
links between housing, neighbourhoods and health.
back to top
Malik Peiris is presently Chair Professor of Microbiology at The University of Hong Kong and is Chief of Virology at the Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong. His recent research interests have focussed on the ecology, epidemiology, clinical disease burden, evolution and pathogenesis of animal and human influenza. Working together with relevant Government Departments and other colleagues at the University of Hong Kong, he contributed to the efforts that have resulted in Hong Kong being protected from the current wave of avian flu (H5N1) sweeping the region. In March 2003, he played a key role in the discovery that a novel coronavirus was the aetiological agent of SARS. He continues to have a strong interest in viral diseases affecting humans with an emphasis on respiratory viral diseases. Previous research interests have included the pathogenesis and epidemiology of arboviruses and herpesviruses.
His publications include those in high impact journals such as Nature, Nature Medicine, Science, New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet and Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, USA, among others. He serves as associate editor of the Journal of Clinical Virology and is on the editorial board of The Lancet Infectious Diseases and PloS Medicine
He was invited by the European Society of Clinical Virology to give the prestigious Gardner Lecturer in January 2004. He has also given invited plenary lectures at the Royal Society, UK, National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the WHO Global Conference on SARS in June 2003, and at the Inter-science Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy in Chicago (2003).
Dr Peiris was born in Sri Lanka and received his undergraduate medical
training at the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. He received his training
in virology at the University of Oxford, UK and is a Fellow of the Royal
College of Pathologists, U.K, the College of Pathologists, Hong Kong and
the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine.
back to top
Debby Reynolds has been Chief Veterinary Officer and Director General
Animal Health and Welfare in the Department for Environment Food and Rural
Affairs since March 2004. From 2001 to 2004, she was Veterinary Director
for the Food Standards Agency in London with responsibility for veterinary
policy advice to the FSA Board, Executive Management Board and Health
Ministers on a whole range of issues to do with meat safety including
TSEs. She joined the Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food (MAFF)
in 1984 working as a Veterinary Investigation Officer in Reading before
moving to Tolworth to take responsibility for Salmonella in Poultry policy
and then to the Veterinary Laboratories Agency in 1994 to lead research
and surveillance on TB, food borne zoonoses and other zoonoses. In 2001,
she returned to MAFF headquarters with responsibilities for Endemic Animal
Diseases and Zoonoses including TB.
back to top
Mary Reynolds graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1998 with
a degree in Biomedical Sciences and Parasitology. After a period as a
post-doctoral research fellow in Evolutionary Biology at Emory University
in Atlanta, she joined the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
as an Officer in the Epidemiologic Intelligence Service in the Viral and
Rickettsial Zoonoses Branch. There she performed epidemiologic studies
and outbreak response activities relating to multiple zoonotic diseases
including typhus, rabies, anthrax, cat-scratch disease, Ebola, SARS, and
monkeypox. Since 2003, Mary has served as Team Lead for epidemiology in
the Poxvirus Program within the Division of Viral and Rickettsial Diseases.
In this capacity, she oversees epidemiologic and natural history investigations
geared toward improving our understanding of risks for exposure to zoonotic
poxviruses including monkeypox, vaccinia (and derivatives), Tanapox and
parapox viruses.
back to top
John Roehrig is Chief of the Arboviral Diseases Branch (ADB), Division of Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases (DVBID), U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in Fort Collins, Colorado, USA. John received his B.S. degree in microbiology from the University of Illinois-Urbana, and his Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He completed his post-doctoral training in the laboratory of Milton J. Schlesinger, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri. John moved to the CDC in 1980 where he has worked for the last 25 years. He has been Branch Chief of the ADB for the last 10 years. John also has held an affiliate faculty appointment in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology, Colorado State University, since 1980. He is a member of the American Society for Microbiology, the American Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, the American Society for the Advancement of Science, the American Committee for Arthropod-borne Viruses, The Subcommittee for the Interrelationships of Registered Arboviruses, and the American Society for Virology. He is the Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Group for Pre-Clinical Research for the Paediatric Dengue Vaccine Initiative, and immediate past member of the World Health Organization (WHO) Steering Committee for Flavivirus Vaccine Development.
The ADB contains all of CDC’s expertise in vector-borne viral diseases.
The Branch is comprised of over 80 professionals that include entomologists,
epidemiologists, veterinarians, vertebrate ecologists, immunologists,
virologists, and molecular biologists. The ADB houses one of two WHO Collaborating
Centers for Arboviruses located in North America. The ADB has been responsible
for the U.S. national response to the introduction of West Nile virus
into the U.S. ADB scientists routinely participate or direct epidemic
response teams throughout the world. Recent international outbreak investigations
have occurred in Africa, South America, Europe, and Asia. John’s
particular expertise lies in the field of arboviral immunochemistry, primarily
focusing on the antigenic structure of and immune response to medically
important alphaviruses and flaviviruses. His laboratory has most recently
studied Venezuelan equine encephalitis, dengue, and West Nile viruses.
He has published over 100 scientific papers, and collaborated with many
distinguished arbovirologists of the United Kingdom including James Porterfield,
Alan Barrett, John Stephenson, Tom Solomon, and Ernie Gould.
back to top
Tom Solomon trained in medicine in Oxford, and began studying viral CNS
infections in Vietnam, with the support of a Wellcome Trust Training Fellowship.
After gaining a PhD he joined Allan Barrett's group at the WHO Collaborating
Centre / University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston USA, as part of
a four year Wellcome Trust Career Development Fellowship. He currently
is a Senior Lecturer in the Departments of Medical Microbiology and Neurological
Science at the University of Liverpool.
back to top
“Sandy” Trees qualified from the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary
Studies, University of Edinburgh, in 1969 and immediately went on a research
expedition to Kenya to work on cattle tick-borne disease. After over a
year in mixed general veterinary practice in Derby, he returned to Edinburgh
to do research for his PhD on bovine babesiosis. This was followed by
3 years working for Elanco as veterinary adviser for their Middle-East/North
African operations based in Rome. In 1980, he was appointed lecturer in
Veterinary Parasitology at the University of Liverpool. Based in the world-famous
Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) he has retained strong links
with the tropics and developed a particular interest in the connections
between veterinary science and human health. Awarded a personal chair
in 1994, he was head of the Parasite and Vector Biology Division of the
LSTM from 1994-1997. Major current research interests are in bovine parasitic
nematodes as models for human “river blindness” and in protozoal
diseases, especially neosporosis. Funded by over £4.9 million of
external grants, his research has led to over 100 papers in scientific
journals, as well as numerous presentations at national and international
conferences and regional veterinary meetings. As a busy teacher, he has
an active interest in veterinary education, has chaired the British Veterinary
Association (BVA) Working Group on Veterinary Education and was president
of the Association of Veterinary Teachers and Research Workers in 1996-1997.
He was a council member of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and
Hygiene from 1997-2000, and has been a member of the council of the Royal
College of Veterinary Surgeons since 2000. He is a member of the scientific
editorial board of Trends in Parasitology, and formerly of the Wellcome
Trust Veterinary Medicine Interest Group. He became dean of the Faculty
of Veterinary Science, University of Liverpool in 2001.
back to top
Professor Troop has 35 years experience as a doctor and manager in Public Health and Health Care. In Public Health she has worked in improving health care services, including those for people with disability; promoting positive health, such as better diet and levels of exercise; and protecting the health of the community from health hazards. Before taking up her current role, she was Deputy Chief Medical Officer at the Department of Health, with an emphasis on public health, including health protection and international health. Amongst other things, on behalf of the Chief Medical Officer and working across government, she led the health response to the events of September 11 and the subsequent threats.
Previously Professor Troop has been a Chief Executive of a Health Authority
and in 2003 was appointed to establish a new, unique organisation, the
Health Protection Agency. Public Health has always been strong in the
UK, and the Agency has drawn in a number of expert organisations and developed
new services to create an integrated health protection service. This has
a network of local and regional services, backed up by a number of highly
specialist and internationally recognised centres. It takes a multi-hazard
approach, including infectious diseases, chemical hazards and poisons,
radiation, and emergencies, including deliberate release. The service
works closely with the National Health Service, other emergency services,
such as the ambulance, fire and police services, and the security services
to ensure a coordinated response. Its staff led the health planning and
coordination for the Commonwealth Games in Manchester in 2002, its specialist
services in dangerous pathogens supported Greek health officials in the
Athens Olympic Games, and it regularly supports major sporting events
in London such as the London Marathon. Having established itself as a
world-class health service, Professor Troop is now strengthening the Agency’s
further development.
back to top
Andrew Wadge started his career at Westminster Medical School, carrying out Research on the effects of environmental pollution on health. He continued research in this area and was awarded a PhD from King’s College London in 1985.
After a short spell of post-doctoral research, he worked as a government scientist, first within the Department of Health where he continued to work on the health effects of environmental pollution. This brought him into contact with a range of topical issues including air pollution and asthma, clusters of disease near industrial sites and the Camelford water pollution incident. In 1996, he was appointed Head of the Food Chemical Safety Unit within the Department of Health, with responsibility, amongst other things, for providing the secretariat to the Committee on Toxicity. Under Andrew’s leadership, this independent expert committee produced major reports on complex issues such as Organophosphate Sheep Dips and Food Intolerance. He steered the expert committees into a much more open and transparent way of working.
In April 2000, he moved to the Food Standards Agency, bringing together
teams from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) and
the Department of Health (DH ) to form one multidisciplinary team of 70.
Under his leadership, the Agency produced advice to consumers on issues
including dioxins in salmon, peanut allergy, acrylamide and food additives.
Research programmes were re-focused in line with the Agency’s strategic
aims. Andrew was appointed as Director of Food Safety Policy in August
2003. He is a regular media spokesman for the Agency on food safety issues.
back to top
Mark E.J. Woolhouse is Professor of Veterinary Public Health and Quantitative
Epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. He trained as a
population biologist with a BA from Oxford (UK), a MSc from York (UK)
and a PhD from Queen’s (Canada) before turning to epidemiology,
holding research posts at the University of Zimbabwe, Imperial College
London, Oxford and, now, Edinburgh. He heads a large research group working
on in the epidemiology and pathogenesis of animal and human infectious
diseases, covering a variety of infectious disease systems ranging from
prion diseases to viruses, bacteria, protozoa and helminths, with a special
focus on zoonoses and emerging diseases. The common theme is the development
of a formal, quantitative understanding of the dynamics of parasites and
pathogens within their host populations with particular emphasis on informing
the design of disease control programmes. Professor Woolhouse is a Fellow
of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and was awarded an OBE for his work
on foot-and-mouth disease.
back to top
