Meet our distinguished speakers! - College of Veterinary Medicine

Veterinary Medicine (DVM)

Key Note Speakers


Dr. Patrick Redig, DVM, PhD, Professor	Dr. Ian Tizard, BVMS, PhD, Professor
"Effect of disease on wild birds populations" Dr. Patrick Redig, is co-founder and director of The Raptor Center at the University of Minnesota and a professor in the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine. He is recognized as one of the world's foremost experts on raptor diseases, medicine and surgery. In May 2000, Dr. Redig received the President's Award for Outstanding Service at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Redig is also known for his work with the restoration of endangered birds of prey, particularly the bald eagle and the peregrine falcon, which was removed from the endangered species list in 1999. In 1993, he was appointed to the California Condor Recovery Team, and was named veterinary coordinator in 1994. In 2001, he received the National Meritorious Service Award from the American Bald Eagle Foundation. In 2002, he received the Conservation Award at the Association of Avian Veterinarians Annual Conference and Expo. Dr. Redig's goal is to effect raptor, avian, and habitat conservation through the medium of veterinary medicine. He received his D.V.M. from the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine in 1974 and his Ph.D. in 1980.	"Biological consequences of sickness behavior in birds" A native of Northern Ireland, Dr. Ian Tizard has been a faculty member at Texas A&M University since 1982. He obtained his veterinary degree from the University of Edinburgh in 1965 and his Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge in 1969. He was a professor at the University of Guelph in Ontario until 1982 when he moved to Texas A&M University to become head of the Department of Veterinary Microbiology. Since 1990, he has been a professor in the Department of Veterinary Pathobiology. In 1999, he was appointed to the Richard M. Schubot Chair in Avian Health. Dr. Tizard is actively engaged in research, ranging from the development of new and improved vaccines for influenza in humans and animals to studies on bacterial diseases in parrots. Dr. Tizard is the author of the standard text on veterinary immunology now in its eight edition. He is in demand both nationally and internationally as a lecturer and speaker. As a teacher of immunology and a researcher in exotic bird diseases, he is interested in why animals develop sickness and what the consequences of this in wild animal populations are.

	Dr. Teresa Morishita, MS, DVM, MPVM, PhD, Professor "Health Risks for the Avian Health Professional" A native of Hawaii, Dr. Morishita received her B.S. and M.S. in Animal Science from the University of Hawaii and a D.V.M. and M.P.V.M. from the University of California. While at the University of California-Davis, she also completed a clinical avian/poultry residency program and subsequently became a Diplomate of the American College of Poultry Veterinarians. Dr. Morishita also received a PhD in Comparative Pathology from the University of California-Davis where her research focused on avian cholera in raptors and psittacines. She owned a private avian mobile practice and was Assistant Director of the California Raptor Center. Currently, she is a Professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Western University of Health Sciences and directs the Laboratory for Wildlife and Environmental Health. Dr. Morishita continues to investigate the health status of raptors and migratory as well as evaluating the shedding of human pathogens from avian species inhabiting urbanized areas.

	Dr. Ellen Collisson, PhD, Professor "Avian Influenza-the good, the bad and the ugly" Dr. Collisson obtained her PhD in Microbiology at University of Alabama in 1980. Her disciplines of expertise are avian virology and immunology, and the application of molecular biology to address viral disease in veterinary medicine and avian conservation. Her laboratory is currently working with avian infectious bronchitis virus, a coronavirus that causes a SARS-like disease in birds, an oncogenic avian retrovirus and avian influenza viruses. Dr Collisson joined the College of Veterinary Medicine at Western University of Health Sciences in 2007 as Professor of Microbiology.

	Dr. Tracey McNamara, DVM, Professor "Continued gaps in biosurveillance: have the lessons of West Nile virus been learned?" A veterinary pathologist, Dr. McNamara specializes in the recognition and understanding of the diseases of captive and free-ranging wildlife and is best known for her work on West Nile virus in birds. She has been profiled in numerous publications including the New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post, Readers Digest, Nature, the Smithsonian Magazine and many others. Her training as a comparative zoo and wildlife pathologist is cited as having "led her to pursue a link between viral encephalitis in birds and humans during the summer of 1999. Dr. McNamara research ultimately led to a diagnosis of West Nile virus, a virus never before found in the Western Hemisphere." In The Scientist (March 4, 2002), she is credited as having "served a central role as a unifying force, molding and sometimes forcing interrelationships between local and federal government agencies and private enterprises, enabling progress toward the common goal of monitoring a newly emerging disease in the United States." She also received the AAZV Presidential Service Award in recognition of her creation and coordination of the "surveillance for West Nile Virus in Zoological Institutions" project.

	Mr. John Aikin, Director of Conservation, San Francisco Zoo "California bald eagle conservation by the San Francisco Zoo" As the Director of Conservation since July of 2006, John works to enact policy and implement programs focused on wildlife conservation. From 1985 to 2007, the Zoo operated the largest and most successful captive breeding effort in the world for bald eagles, hatching and releasing 103 eagle chicks on the Channel Islands of California to restore a naturally-breeding population to a place where they once thrived. Having helped to reestablish the species over a significant portion of its former range in California, the successful program achieved its ultimate goal in 2007 when the federal government removed the bald eagle from the endangered species list. John believes that people have the intelligence and compassion to turn the current extinction crisis around; they just need some help to get motivated. That's why the zoo has set a goal of inspiring the one million people who visit the Zoo each year to take some form of conservation action. Individually and collectively, zoos already have tremendous reach into large audiences of interested individuals who come to them to be entertained, amazed, moved, and even inspired. John's dream is to inspire a love of wildlife and a commitment to conservation.

	Dr. Miguel Saggese, DVM, MS, PhD, Assistant Professor "Conservation medicine in action: The case of the endangered Crowned Eagle" A native from Argentina, Dr. Saggese joined Western University of Health Sciences in 2007 as an Assistant Professor in Microbiology and Avian Diseases. He obtained his veterinary degree in 1995 at the University of Buenos Aires. In 2004 Dr. Saggese completed a three years residence and a MS program at The Raptor Center-University of Minnesota. During these years he studied the effect of West Nile virus on birds of prey and the efficacy of West Nile virus vaccines. Between 2004 and 2007 his research focused on avian tuberculosis while completing his PhD in Microbiology at The Schubot Center, Texas A&M University. Dr. Saggese defines himself as an ornithologist as well as veterinarian and combines both disciplines to better understand the impact of diseases in avian populations. He is actively involved in several organizations like the Raptor Research Foundation, Association of Avian Veterinarians and the Eagle Conservation Alliance among others. His current research focuses on molecular epidemiology of mycobacterial infections and on the impact of diseases in endangered birds

	Dr. Robert Dahlhausen, DVM, MS "Molecular diagnosis of avian diseases-an update" Dr Dalhausen received his bachelors (1979) and Masters (1980) degrees in Animal & Avian Physiology from the Ohio State University and his DVM degree from the Ohio State University (1983). He is the director of Veterinary Molecular Diagnostic Laboratory, the first commercial laboratory to provide molecular-based diagnostics for avian diseases. Throughout more than 15 year history, the laboratory in Ohio earned a reputation of reliability and accuracy in service to the avian community. It was the first lab to offer DNA testing for Avian Polyomavirus, Psittacine Beak and Feather Disease Virus, and Avian Herpes virus. He is a consultant for the United States Department of Agriculture and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Department. At his lab, Dr. Dalhausen researched and developed the application of Terbinafine Hydrochoride for the treatment of aspergillosis in pet birds and developed the COX-2 treatment protocol for successfully treating birds affected with Proventricular Dilatation Disease-PDD. Furthermore, Dr. Dahlhausen laboratory is currently investigating the molecular diagnosis of several diseases that affect bird, including avian mycobacteriosis, avian ganglioneuritis (PDD), adenovirus, reovirus and West Nile virus.

	Dr. Janna Wynne DVM "Diseases of California Condors" Dr. Wynne is a 1989 graduate of the University of California, Davis and is currently an associate veterinarian at the Los Angeles Zoo. Dr. Wynne has a very diverse background. She started her animal career working at an exotic animal compound and in wildlife rehabilitation before attending veterinary school. After vet school, she spent seven years in small animal/exotic private practice. Realizing that wasn't her calling, she tried lab animal medicine for some time. But she found her true love was Zoo Animal Medicine. Dr. Wynne started as a volunteer at the zoo about 10 years ago and eventually this passion progressed into a full time position where she currently serves as the Los Angeles Zoo Condor Program coordinator. She especially enjoys the large and varied animal collection but has a special interest in anesthesia and pharmacology, both areas we deal with a lot with at the zoo.

	Dr. Yvonne Drechsler, PhD, Assistant Professor " "Current vaccination strategies for the conservation of the endangered Attwater's Prairie Chicken" Yvonne Drechsler, PhD, graduated with a Master of Science in 1997 and with a PhD in Immunology in 2001 from the University of T ¼bingen, Germany. After obtaining her doctoral degree she worked as a postdoctoral researcher first at the University of Massachusetts followed by postdoctoral research at the College of Veterinary Medicine, Texas A&M University. She recently started her position as Assistant Professor of Immunology at the College of Veterinary Medicine Western University of Health Sciences. Her current research focuses on avian viruses, including the study of pathogenesis and vaccine development. She is particularly interested in the conservation of the endangered Attwater's prairie chicken. Efforts to repopulate these birds are severely impeded by reoccurring infections with REV. Dr. Drechsler has developed a more specific PCR to screen for the virus in those birds as well is currently studying the efficacy of a newly designed DNA vaccine.

	Dr. Janis Ott Joslin, DVM, Professor "Understanding Chlamydophila psittaci, risk to bird and you" Dr. Joslin is a Professor of Primate, Zoo and Wildlife Medicine at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine. She graduated from Northwestern University with a BA in Biology with Honors and from The Ohio State College of Veterinary Medicine graduating Cum Laude with her DVM degree. She completed a residency in Primate Medicine at the California Primate Research Center in Davis CA. She has over 25 years experience as a zoo veterinarian, working at the Chicago Zoological Society (Brookfield Zoo), Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle Washington and the Phoenix Zoo. Dr. Joslin is actively involved in the American Association of Zoo Veterinarians where she has served as Present and Chairperson for numerous Committees. Dr. Joslin has written numerous scientific papers and chapters on zoo and wildlife medicine including birds.

	Dr. Arno Wuenschmann, DVM, Dr. med.-vet, Assistant Professor "West Nile virus infection: a bird's eye view" Dr. Arno Wuenschmann studied veterinary medicine at the Justus Liebig University in Giessen, Germany, where he graduated in 1992. After spending one year in a mixed private practice, he joined the Institute for Veterinary Pathology at his alma mater. He completed his doctoral thesis and residency in 1998. He spent two years at the Department of Veterinary Biosciences at the Veterinary College of the Ohio State University during which he passed the America Veterinary Pathology board examination in 1999. Since 2000, he works at the Minnesota Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory of the College of Veterinary Medicine in St. Paul, Minnesota. Having a particular interest in the pathology of infectious diseases and the pathology of exotic and wild animals and hence collaborating with e.g. Minnesota's Raptor Center, he followed the WNV epidemic closely since the virus spread to Midwest in the summer of 2002.

	Dr. Pamela Govett, DVM, Dipl. ACZM, Assistant Professor "Avian malaria: inside the red blood cell" Dr. Govett has long held an interest in ocean life and after graduating from the University of Arizona with a BS in Ecology, began her career researching cetacean vocalizations. She received her veterinary degree graduating with honors from the University of Florida in 2000, after which she completed an internship in small animal medicine and surgery at the University of Georgia. Next came a residency in zoo, wildlife, and aquatic animal medicine at North Carolina State University, followed by a position as interim associate veterinarian at the New England Aquarium in Boston. She served as Head Veterinarian at Atlantis, Paradise Island resort in the Bahamas, where she assisted them in gaining American Zoological Association accreditation and developed the veterinary program and facilities, looking after birds but also after dolphins, sea turtles and fishes. Dr. Govett joined the Western University College of Veterinary Medicine team in September 2007.

	Dr. Heather Nevill, DVM, Associate Professor "Current problems faced by marine birds: what we can learn from each other" Dr. Heather Nevill is an Associate Professor of Small Animal Medicine and Surgery at the Western University of Health Sciences College of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Nevill received her B.S. from Louisiana State University and her D.V.M. from Cornell University, where she volunteered on a variety of wildlife projects. She worked in private small animal / exotics practice in Fairbanks, Alaska, where she provided pro bono wildlife care for local rehabilitators and assisted with field studies of native birds. Since moving to California, Dr. Nevill has worked clinically in small animal practice and has served for three years as the clinical veterinarian for International Bird Rescue Research Center in San Pedro, a non-profit organization involved in oil spill response worldwide. Her current research interests include disease surveillance in pelagic birds and the use of colloids to treat hypotension in pelagic birds.

	H.L. Shivaprasad, MS, DVSc, Ph.D. Professor "Diclofenac toxicity in vultures" I have been Professor of Avian Pathology with the California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory System (CAHFS) â œ Fresno Branch, University of California, Davis since 1989. I obtained my BVSc (DVM) in 1969 from India, PhD from the Ohio State University in 1977 and training in Veterinary Pathology from Purdue University, 1978-1980. I was also a faculty member in Veterinary Pathology at University of Illinois (5 years) and Cornell University (4 years) before joining CAHFS. I am board certified by the American College of Poultry Veterinarians. I have been involved in avian diagnostics, teaching and research for almost 30 years. My primary research interests are in identifying novel etiologies and diseases of both infectious and noninfectious nature in avian species. I have published extensively in journals, books and proceedings and presented numerous papers in national and international conferences. I have traveled to nearly 30 countries primarily for teaching.

	Dr. Cynthia Stringfield, DVM "Environmental obstacles to the recovery of the California Condor" Dr. Cynthia Stringfield graduated from UC Davis with a B.S. in Zoology in 1986 and a DVM in 1990. She completed an internship in small animal surgery, radiology and emergency medicine in 1991, and worked in private practices specializing in Avian and Exotic pets, including Wilshire Animal Hospital in Santa Monica, until 1994. She then spent 10 years at the Los Angeles Zoo where she expanded the veterinary program, hospital and quarantine facilities, leaving as Chief Veterinarian in 2004. In 1994 she also became the Veterinary Coordinator for the California Condor program, managing the health of released California Condors. In 2001 she was asked to join the California Condor Recovery Team, the management advisory group for the USFWS for this endangered species. In 2004 she became the veterinarian for America's Teaching Zoo and faculty in the Exotic Animal Training and Management Program and Animal Science departments at Moorpark College.

	Dr. Suzana Tkalcic, DVM, PhD, Assistant Professor "CSI: birds" (ins and outs of avian necropsy) A native of Croatia, Dr Tkalcic has earned her DVM degree in 1995 from the University of Zagreb . Upon graduation, Dr Tkalcic continued her graduate studies in the USA, and has completed her PhD and residency training in veterinary pathology at the Department of Veterinary Pathology and Athens Diagnostic Laboratory, College of Veterinary Medicine , University of Georgia . She joined Western University of Health Sciences in summer of 2003 as an Assistant Professor of Veterinary Pathology, and among other duties, she served a term as a Director for Zoo Animal and Wildlife Clinical Rotations. Her avian pathology experiences started with graduate studies at the Department of Avian Medicine (Chicken anemia virus) in 1996, along with teaching activities and exotic avian pathology experiences during the routine diagnostic services at UGA. Since her appointment at WesternU she is involved in collaborative research and various voluntary activities involving birds and marine mammals (Oiled bird rescue, Marine Mammal Care Center ). She is currently a member of the medical advisory board for the Los Angeles Zoo.

	Filipe Miguel Reis Martinho, DVM â œToxoplamosis in wild birdsâ Dr. Martinho graduated in Veterinary Medicine from Faculdade de Medicina Veterin ¡ria, Universidade T ©cnica de Lisboa, Portugal in 2002. He is currently teaching Parasitology in Faculdade de Medicina Veterin ¡ria, Universidade Lus ³fona de Humanidades e Tecnologias, Portugal and completing his Master in Emerging Infectious Diseases with a work thesis concerning zoonosis of wild birds. He is also partner of an environment consulting business. Dr Martinho interests include studying scientific illustration in Universidade Aut ³nona de Lisboa, Portugal. He is currently involved in a number of projects and fieldwork related with avian and other wildlife medicine.

	Susie Kasielke "The avian egg: where everything starts" Susie Kasielke started her career as an Animal Keeper in at the Los Angeles Zoo 1977 and has been Curator of Birds there since 2001. She earned a bachelor of science degree in Avian Sciences at the University of California at Davis. Through her involvement with the California Condor Recovery Program, she worked with the staff at Los Angeles to develop and refine propagation, incubation and rearing methods for condors and other vultures. She teaches workshops on avian egg incubation for zoo groups in North America. She has also taught aviculture at Pierce College and is a guest lecturer at Moorpark College, UCLA and UC Davis. She is a member of the California Condor Recovery Team and Vice Chair of the Andean Condor Species Survival Program.

	Elizabeth Rega, MA, PhD Dr. Elizabeth Rega received her M.A. and doctorate from the University of Chicago in Biological Anthropology. She has taught human and comparative anatomy and paleopathology at medical and undergraduate institutions, including the University of Sheffield, England, The Claremont Colleges and Cal State San Bernardino. She is currently a tenured professor of anatomy at COMP. Dr. Rega's research focuses on ancient skeletal remains of fossils and humans. Her research on dinosaur pathology most recently resulted in a television appearance on Discovery Science Channel, where you can see her currently in T-Rex: New Science New Discoveries. She is also a consultant to the animation industry animation, working with Walt Disney and Sony on films such Pocohantas, Mulan , Brother Bear, Dinosaur, and John Henry, amongst others.

	Dr. Andrew Pumerantz Andrew S. Pumerantz, DO, is Associate Professor and Interim Chair, Department of Internal Medicine and Chief, Division of Infectious Disease at Western University of Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific. A graduate of Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, Dr. Pumerantz completed residency at New York s Beth Israel Medical Center and fellowship at Yale Medical School. He lectures on a myriad of ID topics and is Curriculum Coordinator for the second-year DO students at Western. Dr. Pumerantz is investigating novel antimicrobial delivery mechanisms to address emerging MRSA vancomycin resistance. He is board-certified in internal medicine and infectious disease.