
We welcome you to join us for GHI’s next Global Health Tuesday Webinar on Tuesday, October 29, 2024, from 9-10am (CST), when UW–Madison Global Health Institute Director Jorge Osorio moderates a timely conversation about Bird Flu in Cattle with researchers from the UW–Madison community and the University of Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory.
Panelists include:
Amie Eisfeld, Scientist in Kawaoka Lab, Department of Pathobiological Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine
Peter Halfmann, Research Associate Professor, Department of Pathobiological Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine
Keith Poulsen, Director, UW Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory
Nailah Smith, Veterinary Medical Officer, USDA APHIS’s Office of Interagency Coordination
Watch the recording on our YouTube Channel here.
MEET THE MODERATOR:

Jorge Osorio, DVM, Ph.D., M.S., is a professor in the Department of Pathobiological Sciences in the School of Veterinary Medicine at UW–Madison. Osorio has had a lengthy career in medical sciences, including virology, field epidemiological studies, vaccinology, antivirals and vector control programs. He is also the co-director of a Colombia-Wisconsin One Health Consortium, a joint effort between the University of Wisconsin and Universidad Nacional in Colombia that is studying emerging diseases and one-health issues. Osorio recently founded VaxThera, a Colombian-based company that will produce vaccines and biologicals for Colombia and the region. He was also a co-founder and chief Scientific officer of Inviragen, a biotechnology company that developed a novel chimeric tetravalent dengue vaccine that recently completed successfully Phase 3 clinical trials. He also developed vaccines against chikungunya, influenza, rabies, plague and many other emerging infectious diseases. Osorio also has served as vice president of Research and vice president of Government Affairs for the Vaccine Business Division of Takeda Pharmaceuticals. His industry career also included positions at Heska Corporation (Ft. Collins, Colorado), Merial LTD (Athens, Georgia), and Chiron-Powderject Vaccines (Madison, Wisconsin). He has more than 30 years of research and industry experience with more than 130 scientific publications in international journals and 32 patents.
MEET THE PANELISTS:

Amie Eisfeld, a scientist in Yoshihiro Kawaoka’s lab in the Department of Pathobiological Sciences, in the School of Veterinary Medicine, is a molecular virologist whose research focuses on RNA viruses that have caused major epidemics or pandemics in humans, including influenza viruses and Ebola virus. Her principal interests are in understanding viral and host factors that regulate viral pathogenesis.

Peter Halfmann is an assistant professor at the Influenza Research Institute, within the Department of Pathobiological Sciences at the School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Halfmann’s research is dedicated to understanding emerging and re-emerging viruses, including filoviruses, coronaviruses, and influenza viruses. His work focuses on elucidating the mechanisms of pathogenicity and transmission, as well as identifying viral and host determinants that contribute to the pandemic or outbreak potential of these viruses. As a visiting scientist at NIAID’s high containment biosafety level-4 facility at Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton, Montana, he evaluates medical countermeasures against Ebola viruses. Additionally, Dr. Halfmann focuses on understanding the landscape of known and unknown viruses with collaborators in Sierra Leone. Working closely with Waisman Biomanufacturing at UW–Madison, he is progressing his novel whole-virus Ebola vaccine to clinical trials. His research goals are to advance our understanding of viral threats and develop effective countermeasures.

Dr. Keith Poulsen earned his DVM and PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2004. He is a specialist in large animal internal medicine and has been a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine since 2008. He holds an appointment in Medical Sciences at the School of Veterinary Medicine and is the Director of the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (WVDL) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The WVDL specializes in infectious disease diagnostics and diagnostic testing of cattle and bovine germplasm for the purposes of international export and trade. Keith is the president of the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians (AAVLD) and is an active member their government relations committee. He is also a member of the Board of Directors for the International Council of Veterinary Assessment and represents Wisconsin in the House of Delegates for the American Veterinary Medical Association. Dr. Poulsen is active with service-related projects in the United States, South America, Asia, and Africa that focus on infectious and zoonotic diseases and export market development.

Nailah Smith is a veterinary medical officer in USDA APHIS’s Office of Interagency Coordination (OIC). Within OIC, she is a member of the One Health Coordination Unit and supports collaboration with federal One Health partners such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Food and Drug Administration. Prior to joining USDA APHIS, she earned her dual DVM/MPH at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.