Agricultural Experiment Station (AES) Faculty
Within the University of California system there are Instruction and Research (I&R) faculty with AES appointments meaning that in addition to their instruction and research responsibilities they engage various stakeholders groups in order to disseminate science based information to California farmers and other interested parties.
FACULTY
Dr. John Angelos
Dr. John Angelos' research focus is on the pathogenesis and prevention of infectious bovine keratoconjunctivitis (IBK; ‘pinkeye’), the most common eye disease of cattle. Dr. Angelos is currently exploring intranasal vaccination to prevent IBK and the development of better vaccines to stimulate mucosal immunity against pathogenic factors from bacterial agents implicated in causing IBK.
Dr. Rob Atwill
Dr. Rob Atwill’s research focuses on developing and validating management strategies for minimizing microbial contamination of food and water, characterizing processes for environmental dissemination and waterborne transport of microbial pathogens, and clarifying the epidemiology of zoonotic pathogens in livestock and wildlife populations.
Dr. Munashe Chigerwe
Dr. Munashe Chigerwe’s research focus is on the effects of colostral immunity on health and survival in dairy calves. Dr. Chigerwe’s current research focus is on comparing pre-weaned calf health management practices, and designing intervention programs to improve preweaning calf health between conventional and organic dairies.
Dr. Lark Coffey
Dr. Alan Conley
Dr. Alan Conley’s research has two major focuses. He studies the endocrine mechanisms coordinating the physiological preparation for birth in the fetus and dam as it influences neonatal viability in livestock. Additionally, his laboratory develops and validates endocrine biomarkers for the management of reproduction and the diagnosis of reproductive diseases for veterinary applications.
Dr. Sarah Depenbrock
Dr. Rodrigo Gallardo
Dr. Rodrigo Gallardo’s research focus is on poultry respiratory diseases with an emphasis on avian influenza (AI), Newcastle disease and infectious bronchitis. Specifically, Dr. Gallardo studies genetic variation, viral interaction with the host, viral persistence and methods of prevention associated with poultry respiratory diseases. Dr. Gallardo also investigates other diseases causing losses in commercial poultry such as avian Reoviruses and encephalomyelitis. Finally in order to address food insecurity issues in California Dr. Gallardo is also working with small poultry flock owners in order to address poultry health and management issues including the prevalence and risk of poultry respiratory diseases in backyard flocks.
Dr. Laurel Gershwin
Dr. Laurel Gershwin’s research focus is on bovine respiratory disease complex (BRDC) with particular emphasis on the immune response to bovine respiratory syncytial virus. This disease is important to dairy calves and to feedlot cattle and is a major cause of economic loss to the cattle industry. The Gershwin laboratory has collaborated on a multistate project to study genetic susceptibility to BRDC. Most recently we have developed and tested a subunit vaccine for two of the major pathogens of the BRDC. Continuing studies focus on the use of immune modulator drugs and an antiviral drug to treat bovine respiratory syncytial virus infection.
Dr. Meera Heller
Dr. Meera Heller’s research focus is in juvenile immunity and the innate immune system, with respect to susceptibility to infectious diseases and whether we can augment the innate immune system to prevent disease. Dr. Heller’s current research focuses on bovine respiratory disease with cross-interest in intracellular pathogens, other calf-hood diseases and acupuncture and its uses in food producing animals as a strategy to increase welfare and reduce drug residues.
Dr. Amir Kol
Dr. Amir Kol's research focus is stem cell biology and regenerative medicine in veterinary animal species. Dr. Kol focuses on the development of bovine intestinal organoids and their use as a model system to study the effects of altered metabolism, inflammation and infection on bovine intestinal barrier structure and function
Dr. Terry Lehenbauer
Dr. Terry Lehenbauer’s research focus is on epidemiology of infectious diseases with respect to clinically important diseases of dairy cattle, including bovine respiratory disease and mastitis, and the relationships of those infectious diseases to preventive health and other strategies that will promote antimicrobial stewardship.
Dr. Fabio Lima
Dr. Lima's research program focus on improving reproductive performance, antimicrobial stewardship, and productivity of dairy cows. Recent efforts include studying how genomic prediction for fertility traits translates into measurable reproductive outcomes and the characterization of the estrous synchronization responses and endocrine profile associated with fertility traits. He is also investigating the integration of cow, environment, and microbial-related data to predict the cure and self-cure of metritis using classic statistical inferences and machine learning algorithms and host-genome and gut microbiome interactions modulating the milk production and feed efficiency traits in dairy cows.
Dr. Beatriz Martinez-Lopez
Dr. Martinez Lopez’s research focus is on disease modeling and surveillance research with a focus on understanding the emergence, evolution and spread of infectious diseases, including those at the wildlife-domestic-human interface. In addition, Dr. Lopez’s uses the above information to provide science based recommendations to more cost-effectively prevent, control, or eradicate animal diseases and mitigate their associated adverse economic impacts. Dr. Lopez is the director of the Center for Animal Disease Modeling and Surveillance (CADMS) which serves as a core research program for faculty and students interested in animal disease modeling and surveillance research.
Dr. Bret McNabb
Dr. Brian Murphy
Dr. Brian Murphy’s research is feline-focused: working towards a better understanding of feline infectious peritonitis and feline immunodeficiency virus pathogenesis and a gene therapy approach to treating cats with chronic renal failure associated anemia.
Dr. Pramod K Pandey
Dr. Alda Pires
Dr. Heidi Rossow
Dr. Heidi Rossow’s research focus is on dairy nutrition management. The Dairy Nutrition and Metabolism Lab is located at the Veterinary Medicine Teaching and Research Center (VMTRC) in Tulare, California. Areas of research include computer modeling of nutrient metabolism and systems analysis of dairy feed management and production including developing methods to evaluate cow and calf performance and feeding consistency.
Dr. Wilson Rumbeiha
Dr. Wilson Rumbeiha’s research focus is on One Environmental Health Toxicology. He is currently studying health effects of inorganic bromide in pregnant cattle, and its impact on the calf. Dr. Rumbeiha is also currently engaged in translational veterinary diagnostic toxicology research, developing new techniques for diagnosis of sodium monofluoroacetate poisoning in animals
Dr. Karen Shapiro
Dr. Karen Shapiro's research program focuses on food- and waterborne zoonotic pathogens, with an emphasis on protozoan parasites. Dr. Shapiro is currently working with multiple stakeholders including shellfish producers in the state of California to understand spatial and temporal risk factors for seafood contamination with protozoan parasites including Toxoplasma, Cryptosporidium and Giardia.
Dr. Esteban Soto Martinez
Dr. Esteban Soto’s research focus on the pathogenesis of important infectious diseases of wild and aquatic animals and the development of best management strategies for prevention and treatment of these diseases. Dr. Soto’s laboratory is currently investigating the use of mucosal vaccines against Columnaris diseases, piscine lactococcosis, and mycobacteriosis using both in-vitro and in-vivo models of infection.
Dr. Woutrina Smith
Dr. Woutrina Smith’s research focus is on the interaction between climate change, sustainability and their effects on human and animal health. Dr. Smith is the Co-Director for the UC Global Health Institute Center for Planetary Health, a consortium of faculty and partners working together across the 10 UC campuses and the national labs to conduct research, training, and outreach related to climate change and sustainability issues with a focus on the interactions between humans, animals, and their shared environments.
Dr. Jeffrey Stott
Dr. Jeffrey Stott's research focus is on the development and implementation of control measures for foothill abortion (epizootic bovine abortion; EBA) including but not limited to vaccine development, pathogenesis studies, epidemiologic studies and improving diagnostics.
Dr. Lisa Tell
Dr. Lisa Tell’s research focus is on expanding therapeutic options for treating minor food producing animal species through pharmacokinetic studies designed to assess drug depletion, avoid violative drug residues and protect human food safety. Dr. Tell serves as the Western Regional Director for the Food Animal Residue and Depletion (FARAD) Program which provides expert advice to help mitigate chemical residues including drugs and pesticides in products derived from food animals. In addition, Dr. Tell oversees the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine Hummingbird Health and Conservation Program.
Faculty Page Food Animal Residue and Depletion (FARAD) Program UCD Hummingbird Health
Dr. Richard Van Vleck Pereira
Dr. Richard Van Vleck Pereira’s research focus is on the epidemiology of antimicrobial resistance and enteric pathogens of importance to humans and domestic animals. Dr. Pereira’s studies comprises field and laboratory experiments to evaluate and quantify the impacts of dosing and treatment regimens of specific antimicrobials in food animals. Recent emphasis areas include impacts of drug residues on selection of antimicrobial resistance and disruption of enteric microbiota (e.g. ingestion of waste milk by calves), and effects on animal health and farm management from recent legislation changes related to antimicrobial drug use in food animals (e.g. The FDA’s Veterinary Feed Directive and California Senate Bill-27).
Dr. Bart C Weimer
Dr. Bart Weimer’s laboratory is focused on host/microbe association and interactions using population genomics and integrated multi-comics approaches. His primary focus is centered on zoonotic pathogens that are largely associated with food and animals and how genetic diversity influences disease. He has extensive programs in Salmonella, Campylobacter, and Listeria along with other organisms. To complement whole genome sequencing, his group uses metagenomics extensively to define how pathogens shift the microbiome during disease.
EMERITI FACULTY
Dr. Walter Boyce
Dr. Pat Conrad
Dr. Bruno Chomel
Dr. Bruno Chomel’s research focus is on vector-borne zoonoses with a focus on Bartonella infection in domestic animals and wildlife. Dr. Chomel is also doing epidemiological surveys in wildlife for tularemia, plague and Q fever.
Dr. James Cullor
Dr. Jim MacLachlan
Dr. Jim MacLachlan’s research focus is on viral diseases of livestock that impact international commerce including emerging diseases such as bluetongue and African horse sickness that are transmitted by Culicoides biting midges. Bluetongue virus infection of cattle and other domestic and wild ruminants occurs throughout much of the United States, including California, and is of increasing global concern. In order to help mitigate the spread of these diseases, Dr. MacLachlan has served as an expert advisor to numerous organizations including the World Organization for Animal Health (O.I.E), the United States Departments of Agriculture, Homeland Security, and the European Union.
