Maurice Pitesky

Maurice Pitesky

Specialist in Cooperative Extension

Population Health & Reproduction

Office
4007 VM3B, Davis, CA 95616

Licenses
California State License to Practice Veterinary Medicine
Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Preventive Medicine (ACVPM)
Education
1996, BS, University of California, Los Angeles
2008, DVM, University of California, Davis
2009, MPVM, University of California, Davis
2018, BMEA Academy attendee, UC Davis,
Active Research Grants
Principal Investigator, Connecting the Dots between Social Media, Disease Modeling & Extension to Improve Preparation and Response to vND in Southern California, (Principal Investigator), USDA
Principal Investigator, Fostering Next-Gen Poultry Vets at High School via Gamification & Discussion of a Documentary in an Under-Represented Area of California , (Principal Investigator), USDA-NIFA
Principal Investigator, Development of a mobile app in targeted California and Oregon counties for pre and post disaster planning, (Principal Investigator), USDA-NIFA
Principal Investigator, Agricultural Biosecurity: Collaborative Poultry, Waterfowl Science & Management to ID Risk Factors & Mitigate HPAI in Commercial Poultry, (Principal Investigator), USDA-NIFA
Principal Investigator, Correlating Biosecurity Data to Waterfowl Risk Scoring using the WaterFowl Alert Network (WFAN) to Identify Novel and Actionable Risk Factors Associated with Commercial Poultry Farms Affected by Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), (Principal Investigator), Egg Industry Center
Principal Investigator, Two Strong Wings, Cover Crops and Veggies: Developing the Next Generation of Integrative Farmers in California, Iowa and Kentucky , (Principal Investigator), USDA-NIFA-BFRDP
External Links
UC Poultry Website
Most Recent Five Book Chapters
2017 Pitesky ME: Case #11: Marek’s Disease - Avian, Gershwin L, (ed), Case Studies in Veterinary Immunology , . .
2005 Schaldach CM, Bench G, DeYoreo JJ, Esposito T, Ferreira J, Gard EE, Grant P, Horn J, Huser T, Kashgarian M, Knezovich J, Lane S, Pitesky ME, Talley C, Woods B, Jen Wu K, Velsko SP: Chapter 13: Non-DNA methods for biological signatures, Breeze RG, Budowle B, Schutzer SE, (ed), Microbial Forensics, . 251-94, IV-VI.
Research Focus
  • Application of classic and spatial epidemiology in disease surveillance, food safety management, and other processes associated with poultry health.
  • Application of computational linguists in the spatio-temporal relationship of poultry diseases
  • Interface of science and policy with respect to food safety and public health.
  • Application of 'One-Health' principles with respect to domestic poultry, wildlife, the environment, and food safety.
  • Utilizing Next Generation Sequencing to understand bacterial pathogenicity
  • Collaboration, communication, and outreach with stakeholders including commercial and backyard owners.
Specialty Focus
Poultry Health and Food Safety Epidemiology
Ten Recent Publications

2025
Hardy MJ, Williams CK, Ladman BS, Pitesky ME, Overton CT, Casazza ML, Matchett EL, Prosser DJ, Buler JJ
Examining inter-regional and intra-seasonal differences in wintering waterfowl landscape associations among Pacific and Atlantic flyways

2025
Pitesky M, Isa M, Rivera C, Streba E, Gendreau JD
Comparing traditional surveys and web-scraped data to understand the pigeon racing industry in Southern California

2025
Tobar Z, Lee KY, Gaa ME, Moore BP, Li X, Pitesky ME^
Evaluation of 16s Long Read Metabarcoding for Characterizing the Microbiome and Salmonella Contamination of Retail Poultry Meat

2024
Riggs BM, Tobar BZ, Cadena MM, Clamp O, Le T, Abbas S, Francis HU, Juan MGE, Martinez AM, Cole AM, Pitesky ME^
Determining how gavaging laying hens with lead (Pb) effects lead concentration in table eggs, bone, blood, and liver

2024
Bolkenov B, Lee KY, Atwill ER, Pitesky ME, Rickard M, Hung-Fan M, Shafii M, Lavelle K, Huang A, Sebti J, Tanaka MM, Yang X, Li X
Phenotypic and genotypic characterization of antimicrobial resistance of non-typhoidal Salmonella from retail meat in California

2024
McDuie F, Overton CT, Lorenz AA, Matchett EL, Mott AL, Mackell DA, Ackerman JT, De La Cruz SEW, Patil VP, Prosser DJ, Takekawa JY, Orthmeyer DL, Pitesky ME, Díaz-Muñoz SL, Riggs BM, Gendreau J, Reed ET, Petrie MJ, Williams CK, Buler JJ, Hardy MJ, Ladman BS, Legagneux P, Bêty J, Thomas PJ, Rodrigue J, Lefebvre J, Casazza ML
Mitigating Risk: Predicting H5N1 Avian Influenza Spread with an Empirical Model of Bird Movement

2023
Hill G, Sayadi A, Gendreau JD, Tobar Z, Liu Y, Pitesky ME, Simmons CW
Assessment of the variation in nutritional composition and safety of dried recovered food from United States households and prospects for use in chicken feed

2023
Simmons CW, Duan F, Pitesky ME, Liu Y, Tobar Z
Incorporation of recovered food and food scraps into poultry feed: A systematic review

2023
Lee KY, Lavelle K, Huang A, Atwill ER, Pitesky M, Li X
Assessment of Prevalence and Diversity of Antimicrobial Resistant Escherichia coli from Retail Meats in Southern California

2023
Sohi M, Pitesky M, Gendreau J
Analyzing public sentiment toward GMOs via social media between 2019-2021