Research

Epidemiology, Food Safety and Public Health

Over the past four decades, many WCVM faculty members have conducted studies that link animal and human health issues such as the epidemiology of zoonotic diseases, monitoring and surveillance of infectious and parasitic diseases, vaccinology and immune response to infection, and antimicrobial resistance in animal species and humans.

That expertise is the basis for a number of successful research collaborations with the Saskatoon Health Region, provincial health and agriculture departments, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the Public Health Agency of Canada. WCVM researchers also collaborate with other scientists at colleges and research institutions on campus including the Colleges of Medicine, Nursing, and Pharmacy and Nutrition. As well, WCVM's involvement in regional and national organizations like the Centre for Coastal Health in B.C., the Canadian Cooperative Wildlife Health Centre and the Canadian Global Food Animal Residue Avoidance Databank (CgFARAD) system are instrumental in developing research initiatives that address some of today's most pressing public health issues.

In the past few years, these partnerships have led to many novel investigations including studies of West Nile virus, Cryptococcus gattii, avian influenza, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, chronic wasting disease, Johne's disease, antimicrobial resistance issues in food animals, food safety measures at the farmgate and industry levels, plus the development of better disease surveillance and monitoring methods in food animals and wildlife.

Another key aspect of WCVM's enhanced public health focus is its involvement in the new U of S School of Public Health. The two-year Master of Public Health program was developed by an interdisciplinary team of people from WCVM, the Colleges of Medicine and Nursing, and the Saskatoon Health Region. The U of S initiative was the first in the country with established links to a veterinary college.

• Campbell, John
  Epidemiology of bovine trichomoniasis, vitamin E and selenium status of cow-calf herds, and factors affecting culling of breeding bulls.
• Chaban, Bonnie
  Detection and characterization of Campylobacter in companion animals.
• Chicoine, Al
  Drug residues in food animals, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics.
• Clark, Chris
  Cattle lameness and the control and prevention of infectious disease. Dr. Clark has a particular interest in clinical pharmacology and is involved in the Canadian gFARAD initiative (Global Food Animal Residues Avoidance Databank).
• Dowling, Trisha
  Clinical pharmacology of antimicrobials and calcium channel blocking drugs.
• Epp, Tasha
  Zoonotic diseases, public health and epidemiology.
• Gerdts, Volker
  Development of neonatal vaccines; innate immunity at the respiratory surfaces (antimicrobial peptides); basic mechanisms of intestinal immunity; lymphocyte trafficking; mucosal immunology; chemokines; enteric infections; and knowledge transfer of basic research into applied clinical research and producers.
• Gow, Sheryl
  
• Hill, Janet
  Microbial ecology, livestock and human disease, phylogenetics and taxonomy, molecular diagnostics and development of cpnDB, a chaperonin sequence database.
• Jelinski, Murray
  Changing demographics of the veterinary profession in Western Canada, and the ecology and epidemiology of Mycoplasma bovis in the feedlot.
• Jenkins, Emily
  Public health and food safety including involvement in studies looking at the circulation of diseases between dogs, wildlife and people in the North.
• Koester, Wolfgang
  Various aspects of food and water safety, virulence mechanisms of pathogenic bacteria and host-pathogen interactions.
• Leighton, Frederick A. (Ted)
  Pathology and epidemiology of non-infectious and infectious diseases of wild animals, disease surveillance and management, avian influenza viruses in wild birds, transmission dynamics of chronic wasting disease, and epidemic disease in double crested cormorants.
• Parker, Sarah
  Evaluation of diagnostic tests for surveillance of foodborne disease, risk factors for occurrence of pathogens during management prior to slaughter, health risk analysis comparing pathogen loads and chemical residue levels, and the epidemiology of food-borne disease.
• Potter, Andrew
  Application of genomics to the animal health field. Dr. Potter's work also focuses on forging links between the animal and human infectious disease research communities to ensure that technologies common to both fields can be leveraged to their greatest benefit.
• Townsend, Hugh
  Infectious disease epidemiology, vaccine formulation, delivery and efficacy; and the immune response to infection. Dr. Townsend's recent research focuses on the investigation of a foal's immune response and its susceptibility to Rhodococcus equi pneumonia.
• Waldner, Cheryl
  Examining the factors affecting the health and productivity of cow-calf herds in Western Canada. Dr. Waldner's current research includes drought related nutritional issues, BVDV, Neospora, zoonotic E. coli, antimicrobial resistance, and Cryptosporidia spp. and Giardia spp. in cow-calf herds. She also has a continuing interest in environmental epidemiology.
• Zhou, Yan
  Molecular biology, pathogenesis and vaccine development of influenza virus.